BarometerBob wrote:There are two places in the United States that have the potential for the worst storm surge. First is Southeast Louisiana, second is the Northeast Coast of Florida, and Southeastern Coast of Georgia.
Why, Northeast Florida? Because of the curvature of the coast. This of course would have to be a cat 4-5 hurricane, which one accured ion October 2, 1898.
Bob, you might want to check your records there, those are not the only places prone for the worst storm surge, I should know because I live on a little slice a land created by a hurricane, a hurricane so large that it spit up 800 acres of sand in just one night.
Perhaps you have heard of this storm, back in 1749, which created Willoughby Spit, where I live now. The storm surge in the Chesapeake Bay was estimated to be over 18 feet it's usual height.
If you look at the Virginia Hurricane history page, you'll clearly see for yourself that this area can get quite nasty storm surge. This is why our tunnels are equipped with flooding doors, which incidently didn't work on one of our tunnels and was flooded when Isabel came through, closed it down for weeks (and the surge on the little puppy was 6 - 9 feet depending where you were and it wasn't even a direct hit by a major hurricane, it was only a Cat 2.
Virginia Hurricane History Page (good reading!):
http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/research/roth/vahur.htm