https://doi.org/10.25773/hgxj-e031

">
 

Document Type

Data

Department/Program

Virginia Institute of Marine Science

VIMS Department/Program

Center for Coastal Resources Management (CCRM)

Publication Date

12-2024

Data Access

Data is in .xlsx file.

Rural Coastal Vulnerability Index.xlsx

HUC 12 = 12 digit code for the hydrologic unit obtained from Watershed Boundary Dataset HUC 12s

County = Name of Virginia City or County

UID = Unique ID number for the record

RLT05 = Total distance of roads that will be underwater given a 0.5 m flood event per HUC

FEMA = Total number of buildings in A, AE, VE, or some combination of those per HUC

Septic = Total number of septic repair permit applications per HUC

Wells = Total number of wells within 1 m of sea level per HUC

RoadRank = Ranked and re-scaled (0-1) Total distance of roads that will be underwater given a 0.5 m flood event per HUC

FEMARank = Ranked and re-scaled (0-1) Total number of buildings in A, AE, VE, or some combination of those per HUC

SeptRank = Ranked and re-scaled (0-1) Total number of septic repair permit applications per HUC

WellRank = Ranked and re-scaled (0-1) Total number of wells within 1 m of sea level per HUC

RCVI = Summed Ranks

Abstract

This data is from a project focused on building resilience across rural localities. The Rural Coastal Vulnerability Index (RCVI) is composed of four input layers: 1) FEMA flood zone status, 2) road flooding, 3) septic system failures, and 4) private wells. These 4 criteria cover the vulnerability of critical rural infrastructure—much of which is privately owned (houses, septic systems, private wells). It also includes an assessment of the social vulnerability in the area. Areas with the highest scores have high vulnerability in multiple categories. Areas with the lowest scores have low vulnerability across most categories (but may be high in one).

Description

The main data sources used to construct these layers were: 1) FEMA flood zone status overlayed onto Virginia’s Building Footprints layer (excluding small buildings such as sheds); 2) Road flooding networks developed from Open Map datasets; 3) Septic system repair permit records (2008-2018) obtained from the Virginia Department of Health; 4) Modeled private well data.

The vulnerability index was calculated in R v4.1.3 (R Development Core Team 2022). The individual records for buildings in FEMA flood zones, roads, septic system failures, and private wells were imported and summarized at the individual HUC level using the following criteria:

  • Total number of buildings in A, AE, VE, or some combination of those per HUC

  • Total distance of roads that will be underwater given a 0.5 m flood event per HUC

  • Total number of septic repair permit applications per HUC

  • Total number of wells within 1 m of sea level per HUC

The HUCS were then ranked from lowest to highest for each metric, and then rescaled from 0 to 1. The vulnerability index of a given HUC is then the sum of the four metrics for a possible score of 0 to 4 (continuous), where a 4 would indicate the most vulnerable HUC and a zero would indicate the least vulnerable HUC, based on the metrics above.

HUC 12 = 12 digit code for the hydrologic unit obtained from Watershed Boundary Dataset HUC 12s

County = Name of Virginia City or County

UID = Unique ID number for the record

Keywords

Climate change, flood impacts, Rural, Resilience

Funding

This product was funded by NA21OAR4310289 of the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Commerce, NOAA, or any of its subagencies.

Download

Share Feedback

Share

COinS