Wind risk and mitigation calculator framework for determining the wind annualized risk for single- and multi-family homes to support resilient community decision-making

Abstract

Communicating risks and mitigation benefits associated with natural hazards such as wind to the general public is challenging given the location-dependency of parameters and the complexity of the problem. Web tools play a crucial role in educating residents, decision-makers, and stakeholders regarding potential wind hazard losses to, for example, residential buildings.

However, a notable gap exists on the practical incorporation of mitigation actions within these tools. This gap hampers the collective awareness and understanding among stakeholders, communities, and citizens regarding the tangible advantages of mitigation strategies in reducing wind-related risks. Furthermore, there exists a need to elucidate the functionality and objectives of these tools in a more accessible manner. This study aims to present and outline the wind risk and mitigation calculator tool (WRMCT) within the Hazardaware platform, which is an address-based risk assessment tool. This tool, developed for 196 counties in the Gulf of Mexico coastal area, facilitates users' education of potential risks and benefits associated with mitigation strategies. WRMCT enables users to access location-specific wind risk and interactively suggests potential mitigation actions along with economic savings to support informed decisions and residential risk reduction. WRMCT intends to enhance users’ ability to make informed decisions, take proactive measures in mitigating wind hazards, and contribute to the development of resilient, residential communities.

Keywords

Wind risk assessment / Average annual loss (AAL) / Public information technology / Wind mitigation / Wind loss analysis / Catastrophic risk modeling / Resilient communities

Data availability statement

We are able to share some of our data. Interested parties would have to request data from First Street Foundation and ATTOM.

Funding

This research was supported by the Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine under the Grant Agreement number: 2000–10880 “The New First Line of Defense: Building Community Resilience through Residential Risk Disclosure”. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this research are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Gulf Research Program or the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Relevance to resilience

This paper describes the Wind Risk and Mitigation Calculator Tool (WRMCT) embedded within the Hazardaware platform which isn't only presents wind risk evaluation additionally serves as an essential tool in fostering resilience within the Gulf of Mexico coastal area. WRMCT contributes to the purpose of resilience via integrating resilience measures to empower users with the important details related to the constructing resilience.

WRMCT emphasize on the location and characteristics of individual homes, recognizing the uniqueness for risk evaluation and mitigation planning. This method allows citizens and stakeholders to evaluate the unique vulnerabilities in their homes and make informed decisions regarding potential risk and proper mitigation techniques.

The economic factor included into WRMCT, which includes the calculation of AAL empowers users to make financially knowledgeable selections. This monetary consciousness is crucial for the long-time period resilience of communities, enabling them to allocate sources efficaciously and prioritize mitigation measures that offer the maximum massive effect.

Different mitigation alternatives are cautioned to the users based totally on constructing type and material and owner/occupant type to illustrate the mitigation options for each case. WRMCT fosters resilience through education, informed decision-making, and proactive measures. The tool contributes to the enhancement of resilient residential communities along the Gulf Coast, ultimately enhancing the ability to withstand from wind-related hazards.

Ethics declaration statement

The authors declare that have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose. The authors declare that the manuscript is original work and has not been published before and is not submitted for publication elsewhere.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Ayat Al Assi: Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Validation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing, Conceptualization. Rubayet Bin Mostafiz: Conceptualization, Data curation, Methodology, Supervision, Validation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Fatemeh Orooji: Conceptualization, Writing - review & editing. Arash Taghinezhad: Conceptualization, Writing - review & editing. Melanie Gall: Writing - review & editing, Project administration. Robert V. Rohli: Writing - review & editing. Christopher T. Emrich: Writing - review & editing. Carol J. Friedland: Writing - review & editing. Eric Johnson: Writing - review & editing.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the First Street Foundation and ATTOM for generous access to their data.

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