FirstOnSite mobilizes to respond to U.S. Gulf Coast

FirstOnSite Restoration has mobilized to the Gulf Coast in the United States to respond to Tropical Storm Isaac.

A central command centre has been established in Meridian, Mississippi to manage the response, notes a statement from FirstOnSite, an independent emergency restoration company.

“Isaac poses a significant storm surge threat to coastal areas in Louisiana and Mississippi, with possible damaging storm surge also in Alabama and the Gulf coast of Florida,” notes a storm update from Risk Management Solutions (RMS), released on Aug. 28. Storm surge heights in southern Louisiana could be 6 to 12 feet, with isolated areas reaching 15 feet.

Some areas in the southern parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama could get as much as 20 inches of rain, the update adds.

The storm has a wind field diameter of 205 miles. “Note that large storms, even if they don’t reach major hurricane intensity, have the potential to gain large amounts of kinetic energy and inertia and can, therefore, have impacts that may be typically associated with stronger storms,” says Margaret Joseph, a catastrophe analyst at RMS.

Catastrophe modelling firm AIR reported on Aug. 28 that Isaac had reached hurricane strength, with sustained winds of about 75 mph. Landfall is currently forecast for somewhere along the Louisiana or Mississippi coast in the early hours of Aug. 29, notes an advisory from AIR.

“Isaac is expected to move into a weakness in the subtropical ridge near the north-central Gulf Coast and slow its forward speed even more during the next couple of days as a ridge builds slightly to the northwest of it. Later, it should turn northward and northwestward into the Ohio Valley region,” says Dr. Tim Doggett, principal scientist at AIR Worldwide.

AIR reports the majority of single-family residential structures along the U.S. Gulf Coast are of masonry construction which, if subjected to Category 1 or weak Category 2 wind speeds, can experience moderate damage to the roof and roof covering, but likely little damage to masonry walls. “At Category 1 wind speeds, there may also be numerous cases of damage due to downed trees, exacerbated by saturated soils, or from loose building debris such as shingles or roofing tiles.”

AIR estimates the total insured exposure (buildings) in coastal counties within Isaac’s expected impact area totals $480 billion.