Turks and Caicos Islands

Figure 4.7.1: Storm surge predictions for a Category 5 Hurricane south of TCI
TCI HVA Study Category 5 Hurricane coming from east and passing south of TCI. (Source: ECLAC, 2008; p. 7)
The frequency of hurricanes that pass TCI is evidence to support the creation or retrofit of buildings so they
can sustain high winds and also flooding through the use of a building code and land use plans that ensure
adequate set-backs from both slow and fast-onset coastal hazards. A more specific study of Grand Turk
shows that almost the entire island is vulnerable to storm surge related inundation (see Figure 4.7.2). This
map also shows that the majority of development on the island is indeed at risk to as little as 1.6 m storm
surges. Under projected scenarios, slow-onset SLR will impact coastal infrastructure and settlements,
including 100% of major tourism resorts under a 3 m SLR scenario (see SLR maps in section 4.6). Fast-onset
hazards (e.g. Category 3 hurricanes and higher) regularly create storm surges that inundate areas including
those 3 m above sea level. The potential for higher storm surges than those shown in Figure 4.7.2 are
possible in the future and, therefore, the combined impacts of SLR and storm surge can be expected in
even larger areas of TCI (orange shading on the map).
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