The current question I will be addressing in my thesis is how can the potential for damage by tropical cyclones to medium-sized cities along the Gulf of Mexico be determined, and what can be done to lower the potential? To answer this, 3 main objectives appear with the following methods:

​

1) Evaluate the risk of tropical cyclones using Hazus, a risk-estimating program developed by FEMA.

2) Create a social vulnerability index of each study site.

3) Test to see if there is any spatial autocorrelation between areas of risk and areas of social vulnerability.

​

Each study site is medium-sized, meaning it has a population of between 70,000 - 200,000 residents. My chosen study sites are Brownsville, TX, Lafayette, LA, Gulfport, MS, Mobile, AL, and Cape Coral, FL. Medium-sized cities are often overlooked during hazardous events since larger cities (such as Miami, New Orleans, and Houston) get much more media attention, but are still important to examine. Scientists predict that tropical cyclones may increase in intensity in the coming years due to climate change rising sea surface temperatures. This makes risk and resilience assessments key to helping a vulnerable community prepare, evacuate, and recover from a tropical cyclone.

This research is important because it will save money and save lives. The Gulf of Mexico is the fastest-growing region in the country, putting more lives and assets at risk when they strike the area (which will happen as tropical cyclones are known to strike the Gulf of Mexico). Hundreds of billions of dollars are also spent on tropical cyclones each decade, and if mitigation techniques were utilized upfront, the costs of tropical cyclones would decrease.

​