Restoration and functionality assessment of a community subjected to tornado hazard

Abstract

The loss of infrastructure functionality for a community from a tornado can significantly affect economic vitality and result in substantial social disruption. The duration of the loss of functionality is a decisive factor in the magnitude of the economic disruption caused by a tornado. Therefore, quantitative models for the post-tornado restoration processes are needed in order to provide risk-informed decision support. In this study, the water network, electric power network, school buildings, residential buildings and businesses were modelled with their relative spatial distribution along with select dependencies and cross-dependencies in order to investigate the restoration of a community in the aftermath of a disaster. A tornado path was simulated using statistics from a historical tornado database. Based on the damage level of the components and their connectivity throughout the community, the functionality of the supplier nodes was assessed through a Monte Carlo simulation. Finally, the repair time of the damaged components was modelled to capture how the demands may be satisfied over time until eventually full restoration is achieved. Then, two metrics were defined to highlight business and social disruption following a tornado. The approach presented herein can be implemented in future studies to quantify indirect economic loss and social disruption resulting from a tornado.

Keywords:

• Community-level restoration
• cross-dependent networks
• school buildings
• tornado path
• functionality assessment
• community resilience
• social disruption
• business disruption

Acknowledgements

This support is gratefully acknowledged. All views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.