Analyzing the Severity and Frequency of Coastal Flood Events: A Case Study of the U.S. Atlantic Coast over the Past Century

Since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005 and Hurricane Sandy ravaged New Jersey in 2012, it has been a common news story that U.S. East Coast storms are increasing. This study will show that, while the damage costs related to U.S. Atlantic Coast storms have increased in recent years, coastal flood events are not occurring more frequently or more severely. By negating the effects of global sea level rise, this study shows that the severity and frequency of extreme flood events has a similar trend over the past 100 years, which does not show a marked increase. NOAA monthly water level data for seven different locations on the East Coast of the United States was analyzed. The seven cities studied in this case study are places where Naval installations are located, as the authors are both Naval officers and are interested in the vulnerability of these federal assets.