Assessing impacts to Tennessee State Park infrastructure caused by extreme weather events

The purpose of this paper is to describe a risk-based methodology developed to identify the severity of impacts to various types of infrastructure located within the Tennessee State Park system when exposed to extreme weather events. Infrastructure systems, composed of various assets, are central to the economic, environmental and cultural functioning of the society. Understanding the potential impacts to these assets from various threats is fundamental to prudent strategic, operational and financial decision-making. Among infrastructure, systems of interest are those managed and operated by park services. Such systems are particularly exposed to extreme weather, given the recreational activities that they provide.

This paper describes a risk-based methodology developed to identify the severity of impacts to various types of infrastructure located within the Tennessee State Park system when exposed to extreme weather events. It consists of the following steps: identifying extreme weather event types experienced in Tennessee; assessing damage to various types of park system infrastructure caused by these events; and deriving an overall impact score associated with specific types of park system infrastructure when exposed to certain types of extreme weather scenarios.

In applying this methodology, tornadic events were found to be most impactful, whereas drought and heat events had the least effect on park infrastructure. Dining and lodging infrastructure were found to incur the most damage, regardless of the weather event type.

The approach as described in this paper is transferable to other park systems as well as public sector assets in general.