Juvenile fish assemblage recruitment dynamics in a mid-Atlantic estuary: before and after Hurricane Sandy

Hurricanes can have long-term effects on estuarine fauna. Understanding these effects is important as climate change may influence the severity and frequency of these storms. On 29 October 2012, Hurricane Sandy, a large storm spanning roughly 1850 km in diameter, made landfall in Brigantine, New Jersey (USA), approximately 20 km south of Barnegat Bay, during an ongoing study of the bay’s ichthyofauna, providing an opportunity to observe fish recruitment dynamics coincident with hurricane passage. The objective of this study was to measure variance in the Barnegat Bay pre-Sandy fish assemblage relative to that of 1 and 2 yr after the storm. Barnegat Bay fishes were surveyed with an extensive otter trawl study in April, June, August, and October of 2012 (pre-Sandy), 2013 (1 yr post-Sandy), and 2014 (2 yr post-Sandy). Species composition of the fish assemblage was similar across years. Analyzed structural characteristics (abundance, diversity, richness) of the fish assemblage were occasionally more likely to occur or were larger pre-Sandy and 2 yr post-Sandy relative to 1 yr post-Sandy, but this trend was inconsistent across seasons and between structural characteristics. Furthermore, odds of occurrence and length frequency distributions for many resident species and sentinel fall/winter spawners did not indicate that variance could be definitively explained as a hurricane effect. The capability of fish to relocate from areas of temporarily unsuitable habitat and annual new recruitment of larvae and juveniles to the bay likely contributed to the observed stability in the fish assemblage.

HAZUS Modeling for Hurricane Effect on a Healthcare Campus: Implications for Health Care Planning

The purpose of this study was to model the damage sustained by the healthcare campus, in the aftermath of a hurricane, as a tool to facilitate pre- and post-storm planning for provision of healthcare services or campus evacuation. Using HAZUS analysis for estimating disaster associated losses, storm surge, residual flooding, and wind damage were modeled for hurricane categories 1 thru 5. The ability of the healthcare campus to deliver services was assessed as a function of the residual functional infrastructure. Implications for peristorm planning were developed. A Category 2 storm surge of 6 to 8 feet would completely isolate the campus and flood the adult hospital while leaving the adjacent pediatric hospital as a dry island. Residual 8 foot flooding would allow campus access via two of the four entrances but only after damage from the storm surge had been incurred. When combined with winds exceeding 100 mph, sufficient damage would occur to predict that the campus is not useable for a minimum of 44 days. A low intensity hurricane has the potential to render our healthcare campus nonoperational. Disaster planning needs to allow a realistic assessment of the post storm capability to deliver care so that alternatives and prestorm evacuation plans can be developed.