Analysis of Dominant Factors Associated with Hurricane Damages to Residential Structures Using the Rough Set Theory

Abstract

Hurricanes are extreme storm events often causing combined wind and surge damage to residential structures. During these events, the extent of damages for individual residential structures is related to a multitude of factors. Of great interest is to determine what controls the vulnerability of residential structures to wind storm events. Past studies mostly have focused on analysis of individual sets of factors with statistical methods. This study relates residential structure damage to factors across the categories of coastal topographic factors, community factors, building inventory, and hazard condition data using rough set theory. A case study was conducted using data collected in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy (which occurred in 2012) on 74 houses in areas including Rockaway, New York City; and Ortley Beach, New Jersey. The purpose was to determine the dominant factors that contributed to the failure of residential structures during Hurricane Sandy and the combined effect among them. The results suggested that the extent of building damage was primarily influenced by four key factors, including sand clearance, number of stories, front door elevation, and dune type. These factors are representations of coastal topographic, community, and building inventory factors, respectively. The results of this study contribute to the prediction of the least and most vulnerable scenarios for the existing house stocks during hurricane events.