Is Flooding a Bigger Risk to Utilities than Hurricanes?
When it comes to power outages, hurricane winds get all the hype, but flooding may actually pose the greatest risk to reliability. Over 70% of presidential disaster declarations over the past decade have been related to flooding. Coastal floods are on the rise due to the increase in the frequency of severe weather, and a recent study from the University of Bristol in England concludes that FEMA underestimated the risk of freshwater flooding by roughly 66%.
Why Flooding is a Huge Risk
According to this article, major power plants that supply electricity to 70 million people are located in flood-prone coastal areas, and the risk is likely to increase over time due to rising sea levels caused by global warming.
The main problem, according to the article, is not the flood risk itself, but the fact that utilities are not properly prepared for the magnitude of the risk. The flood-related information on which emergency plans are generally based has been shown to be inaccurate and does not take into account the added impact of climate change.
Since redrawing FEMA flood maps is not a quick win solution, electric utilities that are inclined to factor these new findings into emergency preparedness efforts should consider implementing additional storm hardening tactics, and revising emergency plans to account for the increased flood risk. Other tactics – like elevation, relocation, replacement with submersible units, and building redundant systems – are substantially more expensive and may not be feasible.
The bottom line is that utilities should review emergency plans based on this new information, and should also regularly conduct drills and exercises that incorporate flooding scenarios. Otherwise, you might be left wet behind the ears.
