Port and road network development post coastal disaster: Hurricane Ian flooding of port of Kingston, Jamaica

Abstract

After the colossal impact of Hurricane Ian in 2022, this prompted the need to investigate the extent of the damage and, more importantly, the policies implemented to mitigate against it. That tropical storm, while passing over Jamaica, intensified into a hurricane as it hit North America in mid-September of 2022. As such, this research was conducted over the final quarter of the year 2022. As hurricanes and natural disasters morph, some regions face greater risks of flooding and a rise in sea level that occurs subsequent to it. The tropical region of the Caribbean faces these coastal disasters annually, in some cases biannually. In the Caribbean Sea, all the countries located centrally are islands. Their ports are essential as it is the only physical contact they have with each other and the rest of the world. Therefore, the damage they incur and the prevention methods must be of high importance to different regulatory bodies. This paper will analyse the frequent occurrence of natural disasters, including flooding induced by hurricanes/heavy rainfall and the rise in sea level. The way the occurrence is handled was tabulated based on a series of interviews from various governing bodies on the island. From this, the Hurricane Aftermath Evaluation Method was created, a method that holds five main variables: type of damage, extent of infrastructure damage, port downtime, impact on economy and strategies for recovery and mitigation. The study concludes that the Port of Kingston is highly susceptible to coastal disasters, and oftentimes, the infrastructure and regulatory bodies alike are grossly underprepared to combat them. Therefore, reconstruction of the drainage system must be done along with further study and improvement to the surrounding infrastructure currently in place.