Storm Surge

[gpickett00]

People often talk about "25 foot surge with 15 foot waves" assuming that houses 40 ft above sea level would get wiped out. In the following graphic, I have a regular summer day with 10 foot waves from a nearby storm. This of course does not cause a 10 foot storm surge. In the other part of the picture i have a hurricane with 25 foot storm surge then 15 foot waves on top of it. Why would that cause an additonal 15 feet above that to feel those waves?




Wouldn't those 15 foot waves that accompany the 25 foot surge just wash up to an even 25 feet above sea level?

[gpickett00]

bump for the beautiful illustration

[thunderchief]

as you get inland, the waves get smaller and smaller. If the surge is 30 feet and your at 25 feet ASL, the waves are probably going to be a few feet above the 5 feet of water you are allready in)

Those buildings directly on the beach, in 20 feet of water, or the highway bridges for example, will suffer the full fury of the battering waves. Also a 15 foot wave is going to be 7.5 feet above mean tide.

This brings up a question that I have... does anyone know an aproximate water height to completely demolish a typical wood frame home?

[weatherwoman]

bump again interesting

[mitchell]

Also remember that a 15 foot wave is HALF above the still water elevation and half below the still water elevation....(waves are measured trough to crest)
So in theory, the crests of 15 foot waves, combined with 25 foot storm surge would be 32.5 feet above MSL.