Southwest Florida 2016 Natural Hazard Polygons for Storm Surge Flood Modeling

2016 vector polygon data for Southwest Florida representing predicted flood inundation from Category 1-5 hurricanes, based on 2015 SLOSH model outputs. The dataset, part of the Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) from NOAA, characterizes human-use resources for sensitivity to oil spills. It includes flood depth bins for planning purposes.

Use Cases

• Modeling coastal flood risk and vulnerability based on predicted inundation polygons for different storm categories.
• Planning for disaster response and resource management based on flood depth bins (e.g., <=3 feet, >9 feet).
• Integrating with other socio-economic data layers (e.g., navigation, parks, jurisdiction) for comprehensive coastal zone analysis.

Strengths

• Data is modeled for five distinct hurricane categories (1 through 5).
• Flood predictions are binned into four specific depth ranges.
• Part of a larger ESI dataset characterizing shoreline habitats, biological resources, and human-use resources.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data is explicitly for planning purposes only, indicating it is modeled and not observed.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Modeled data based on the National Hurricane Center's Sea, Lake and Overland Surges from Hurricanes (SLOSH) model, with raster data converted to vector polygons.

Time Range

2016

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03 13 22:27:38.627541; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Marine and estuarine waters of Southwest Florida and adjacent lands and waters.