University of Central Florida Researchers Studying Storm Surge Effects of Hurricanes on Florida Cities.

Byline: University of Central Florida

ORLANDO, Sept. 15 (AScribe Newswire) -- A Category 4 hurricane could cause a storm surge of as much as 25 feet in Tampa Bay, according to a University of Central Florida researcher who is looking at the risks Florida cities face from tidal surges and flooding.

Scott Hagen, an associate professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and his team of graduate students have started analyzing the potential effects of a Category 4 hurricane striking the Tampa Bay region. They ran their storm surge model with wind and pressure fields for hypothetical hurricanes with three different paths and traveling at two different speeds, 5 and 15 mph. They concluded that such storms would produce surges of 20 to 25 feet in parts of Tampa Bay.

Hagen and the graduate students also plan to study the potential effects of storm surges on Florida's east coast, particularly Miami and Jacksonville. They are conducting this early work on their own initiative with a long-term goal of helping the state become better prepared for hurricanes.

"We'll never have a flood up to our rooftops like New Orleans, but that doesn't mean there won't be pockets of flooding in our cities that have the potential to cause drownings," said Hagen, who is director of the Coastal Hydroscience Analysis, Modeling and Predictive Simulations Laboratory, which is known as the CHAMPS Lab.