Hurricane Irma, September 8–11, 2017, Impact on South Florida Water Management System

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Hurricane Irma, September 8–11, 2017, Impact on South Florida Water Management System 2019 South Florida Environmental Report – Volume I Appendix 2-2 Appendix 2-2: Hurricane Irma, September 8–11, 2017, Impact on South Florida Water Management System Wossenu Abtew and Chelsea Qiu1 INTRODUCTION Documenting hydrologic events such as hurricanes, storms, and droughts provides supporting information for water management decision making and evaluating the vulnerability of infrastructure. The 2017 hurricane season was an active year with landfalls from the Caribbean islands to the United States mainland with destruction and losses of life recorded. In 2017, there were 17 named storms with 10 hurricanes (6 of which were major hurricanes), and 7 tropical storms (Figure 1). Of these 17 storms, the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD or District) area was most impacted by Hurricane Irma. Hurricane Irma developed around 16o N latitude and 28o W longitude near the Cape Verde Islands on August 30, 2017, and later intensified to a Category 5 hurricane. It caused catastrophic damage to Barbuda and the Virgin Islands before impacting Cuba and making landfall in the Florida Keys on September 10, 2017, as a Category 4 storm. Hurricane Irma caused catastrophic damage before crossing the Florida peninsula for a second landfall in the United States near Marco Island as a Category 3 hurricane (Figure 2). Irma was one of the costliest hurricanes on record in the Atlantic basin with a total of seven landfalls with four as a Category 5 (Cangialosi et al. 2018). Table 1 shows the range of wind speeds for hurricane Categories 1 through 5 and number of 2017 tropical storms and hurricanes. Table 1. 2017 tropical systems and categories. Wind Speed Number of Category Type (miles per hour) Storms <35 Tropical Storm 6 Category 1 74–95 Hurricane 4 Category 2 96–110 Category 3 111–130 Category 4 131–155 Major Hurricane 6 Category 5 ≥155 1 The authors acknowledge Tracey Piccone for assistance in accessing emergency management reports and pictures and reviewing the report; and Eric Swartz for providing material and reviewing the report. App. 2-2-1 2019 South Florida Environmental Report – Volume I Appendix 2-2 Figure 1. 2017 hurricane and tropical storm paths and durations (Cangialosi et al. 2018). App. 2-2-2 2019 South Florida Environmental Report – Volume I Appendix 2-2 Figure 2. Hurricane Irma’s path August 30–September 10, 2017. (Original source: National Hurricane Center satellite montage of Hurricane Irma using geostationary satellite infrared images and National Hurricane Center advisories. Courtesy of University of Wisconsin Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies.) App. 2-2-3 2019 South Florida Environmental Report – Volume I Appendix 2-2 RAINFALL FROM HURRICANE IRMA Daily rainfall is reported from SFWMD operations rain gauge network from 7:00 a.m. the previous day to 7:00 a.m. the reporting day. Theissen weighted areal average rainfall is also reported for each rain area (Figure 3). Rainfall from Hurricane Irma started on the morning of September 8, 2017, when the center of the hurricane was east of the Dominican Republic (Figures 1, 2, and 4a). The Florida Keys and the southern tip of mainland Florida started getting rainfall with a District average of 0.2 inches (7:00 a.m. September 8 to 7:00 a.m. September 9) and 3 inches in Everglades National Park (ENP). Most of the rainfall from Hurricane Irma over the District occurred from 7:00 a.m. on September 9 to 7:00 a.m. on September 11 (Figures 4a through 4c and Table 2). As shown in Figures 4b, 4c, and 4d and Table 2, the highest rainfall areas were generally areas closer to the west and south; Southwest Coast, ENP, East Caloosahatchee, East Everglades Agricultural Area, and West Everglades Agricultural Area (Figure 5). However, the Martin/St. Lucie area received one of the highest rainfalls from Hurricane Irma as a band of rainfall concentrated on that area ahead of the hurricane landfall. The Palm Beach rain area was spared from high intensity rainfall bands as shown in Figures 4b and 4c. Figure 4d depicts total rainfall for the major impact days September 9 to 11, 2017. The highest rainfall at a site from the hurricane was in ENP at rainfall station N-206 (21.79 inches) followed by the Southwest Coast and East Caloosahatchee at station HRNDRFILL (18.92 inches). The highest rainfall in Martin/St. Lucie was at station FPR (17.08 inches; Figure 6). Figure 3. SFWMD rainfall areas. App. 2-2-4 2019 South Florida Environmental Report – Volume I Appendix 2-2 Figure 4. Rainfall from Hurricane Irma (a) September 8 to 9; (b) September 9 to 10; (c) September 10 to 11 (7:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m.) and (d) September 9 to 11 (7:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m.). App. 2-2-5 2019 South Florida Environmental Report – Volume I Appendix 2-2 Table 2. Hurricane Irma daily average rainfall in inches over rain areas and the District. 3-Day Dates (7 a.m. to 7 a.m.) Rain Area Area Average September 8–9 September 9–10 September 10–11 Southwest Coast 10.84 0.11 2.13 8.60 Everglades National Park 10.15 2.99 7.05 0.11 Big Cypress Basin 9.94 0.14 3.34 6.46 East Caloosahatchee 9.52 0.08 2.37 7.07 West Everglades Agricultural Area 9.20 0.32 4.21 4.67 Martin/St. Lucie 9.03 0.42 4.97 3.64 Water Conservation Areas 1 & 2 7.99 0.05 4.76 3.18 Upper Kissimmee 7.97 0.25 0.64 7.08 Water Conservation Area 3 7.89 0.11 3.73 4.05 Lower Kissimmee 7.61 0.13 2.52 4.96 Broward 7.61 0.05 4.42 3.14 Lake Okeechobee 7.36 0.19 3.01 4.16 Miami-Dade 7.24 0.63 3.24 3.37 East Everglades Agricultural Area 7.09 0.18 4.00 2.91 Palm Beach 5.85 0.06 3.05 2.74 District Average 8.39 0.20 3.04 5.15 Figure 5. Average rainfall from Hurricane Irma by rain area and overall (September 8–11, 2017). App. 2-2-6 2019 South Florida Environmental Report – Volume I Appendix 2-2 Figure 6. Highest rainfall from Hurricane Irma at a site within each rain area. HURRICANE IRMA WIND OVER SFWMD In SFWMD’s weather stations, wind is measured every 10 seconds and wind speed and gust speed are recorded every 15 minutes as breakpoint data. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) average wind speed measurement is at 1.5-meter (m) height every 2 seconds and averaged every 5 minutes (https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/crn/measurements.html). The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standard one second wind measurements to capture wind gust speed (usually lasts for 3 seconds). The SFWMD weather station locations are shown in Figure 7. A typical SFMWD weather station (L006) in Lake Okeechobee is pictured in Figure 8. The maximum wind gust speed and wind speed at SFWMD weather stations during Hurricane Irma are shown in Table 3. App. 2-2-7 2019 South Florida Environmental Report – Volume I Appendix 2-2 Figure 7. SFWMD weather stations and Hurricane Irma direction. App. 2-2-8 2019 South Florida Environmental Report – Volume I Appendix 2-2 Figure 8. SFWMD weather station L006 in Lake Okeechobee. Table 3. Maximum wind gust speed and wind speed at SFWMD weather stations. a Maximum Gust Maximum County Basin Station Wind Speed Wind Speed (mph) (mph) Miami-Dade WCA-3A 3AS3W 86 68 Martin C-23 ACRAWX 65 48 Collier Faka Union AVEMAR 89 65 Palm Beach S-2, S-6, S-7 BELLW 71 51 Hendry S-4 CFSW 69 49 Palm Beach C-51E FHCHSX 77 44 Martin Kitching Creek JDWX 40 21 Okeechobee Lake Okeechobee L001 75 61 Glades Lake Okeechobee L005 78 63 Palm Beach Lake Okeechobee L006 71 60 Palm Beach WCA-1 LX 67 45 Palm Beach Lake Okeechobee LZ40 77 60 Broward STA-5/6 ROTNWX 75 54 Broward WCA-3A S140W 64 43 Miami-Dade L-31NS S331W 70 50 Osceola Lake Tohopekaliga S61W 80 42 Okeechobee S-65E S65DW 73 53 Glades C-40 S75WX 78 55 Glades East Caloosahatchee S78W 75 51 Clades Faka Union SGGEW 97 54 St. Lucie St. Lucie North SVWX 56 35 St. Lucie Ten Mile Creek TMCWX 66 45 Polk Lake Hatchineha WRWX 56 41 a. mph – miles per hour and WCA – Water Conservation Area. App. 2-2-9 2019 South Florida Environmental Report – Volume I Appendix 2-2 Wind speed over the District area was dependent on the location of stations relative to the path of the hurricane, forward speed, and characteristics of the wind field. The highest wind gust speed was in the southwest and south (Figures 7 and 9). Wind gust speed in the middle of the District area south of Lake Okeechobee is shown in Figure 10. Wind speed in the northwest, upper east coast, and northern portions of SFWMD are shown in Figures 11 through 13. Figure 9. Hurricane Irma wind gust speed in miles per hour (mph) in the southern part of the SFWMD area. Wind gust speed peaked at 4:00 p.m. on September 10, 2017). App. 2-2-10 2019 South Florida Environmental Report – Volume I Appendix 2-2 Figure 10. Hurricane Irma wind gust speed in the middle of the SFWMD area south of Lake Okeechobee. Wind gust speed peaked at 4:15 p.m.
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