Flood damage and shutdown times for industrial process facilities: a vulnerability assessment process framework

Much of the U.S. petrochemical infrastructure is heavily concentrated along the western coast of the Gulf of Mexico within the impact zone of major tropical cyclone events. Flood impacts of recent tropical disturbances have been exacerbated by an overall lack of recognition of the vulnerabilities to process systems from water intrusion, as well as insufficient disaster mitigation planning. Vulnerability assessment methods currently call for the aggregation of qualitative data to survey the susceptibility of industrial systems to floodwater damage. A means to quantify these consequences is less often employed, resulting in a poor translation of the threat of flood hazards to a crucial element of the economy. This paper reviews flood damage assessment for industrial facilities and presents a component-level conceptual methodology to assess the consequences of flood events. To more effectively communicate loss potential from flood events, the proposed methodology utilizes synthetic estimation to calculate repair requirements, shutdown time, and direct cost.