Performance Of Structures Under Successive Hurricanes: Observations From Puerto Rico And The Us Virgin Islands After Hurricane Maria

Hurricane Maria has been termed the worst natural disaster on record in Puerto Rico, as the third consecutive major hurricane to threaten the Leeward Islands in a two-week period. The storm caused catastrophic damage and numerous fatalities across the northeastern Caribbean, creating hurricane force winds on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, less than two weeks after Hurricane Irma caused extensive damage in St. John and St. Thomas. Maria made its U.S. landfall on September 20 near Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, as a strong Category 4 hurricane. As part of a wider coordinated effort for the 2017 season, a regional node was established in Puerto Rico to organize local reconnaissance efforts between October 6 and November 18, 2017. A separate reconnaissance campaign was organized for the U.S. Virgin Islands, November 9-14, 2017, to document the impacts of Irma and Maria. Investigations on all four islands employed primarily door-to-door building damage assessments using a customized Fulcrum smartphone application. At select locations, additional unmanned aerial surveys were conducted. This paper will introduce the overall reconnaissance effort, followed by case studies highlighting common failure modes with a particular emphasis on topographic effects.