SPECIAL ISSUE: IMPACT OF 2017 HURRICANES A Hurricane Rapid Ecological Assessment (H-REA) Method for Small Island Developing States in 2017 and Beyond Kathleen Sullivan Sealey 1 & Ellery Lennon 1 & Jacob Patus 1 Received: 21 January 2019 /Revised: 2 September 2019 /Accepted: 23 September 2019 # Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation 2019 Abstract Hurricanes can pose a greater threat for small islands if larger and more frequent storms are the future reality due to climate change. Apart from property damage, hurricanes can damage natural coastal communities and wash solid waste into coastal waters and wetlands. Our goal was to develop a rapid, synoptic survey method to evaluate what happens to the coasts of small islands after hurricanes. This study reports on the development of a hurricane rapid ecological assessment method (H-REA) that was carried out on small islands in collaboration with local communities. The H-REA focused on property damage, vegetation damage, flooding, coastal erosion, and solid waste accumulation in the coastal environment. The H-REA method was developed to evaluate the hurricane damage from Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and then applied to assess Hurricane Irma’ s damage to both the built and natural environments in 2017. The H-REA proved to be an important tool for the rapid assessment of 2017 hurricane impacts on the southern Bahamian islands; results are shown for Great Exuma. The H-REA results highlighted the variability of damage across the islands as well as the value of coastal set-backs and protected coastal wetlands in reducing both property damage and the amount of solid waste, including plastics, entering the coastal oceans. A spatial database was established to visualize the patterns of building damage, flooding, and vegetation loss; the spatial database allows for the assessment of damage from successive hurricanes. Keywords Coastal vegetation . Hurricanes . The Bahamas . Flooding . Rapid ecological assessments . Coastal communities Introduction 1 Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the tropics, such as the Commonwealth of The Bahamas (“The Bahamas”), are especially vulnerable to hurricanes and will become more vul- nerable with increasing extreme weather events (Hallegatte 2012). Climate change will likely increase the severity and frequency of future hurricanes, as well as increase the impact of floods caused by storm surges (Mousavi et al. 2011). Models predict that a 2.5 °C rise in temperature will lead to a 63% increase in hurricane damages in the North Atlantic (Ranson et al. 2014). Hurricane damage costs money and sets SIDS back in their progress towards the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development. After Hurricane Matthew, New Providence, the most populous island in The Bahamas, diverted resources from waste removal of vegeta- tion and building debris to emergency management and clear- ing roads. For months after the hurricane, the Bahamian solid waste management system was inundated. In the meantime, the public dump caught fire, creating environmental and health hazards and forcing neighborhood evacuations. The islands of The Bahamas could be more resilient to storms by increasing coastal management, improving public services and infrastructure, and better protecting people and property from future storm damage. Hurricanes pose a serious threat to human life, property, and environments due to powerful winds, flash floods, and storm surges (Bengtsson 2001). Coastal development in- creases vulnerability to storms by removing coastal vegetated buffer zones, which protect shorelines from hurricane wind and flood damage due largely to poor planning and lack of 1 SIDS refers to an United Nations recognition of small island nations with similar development and environmental challenges, see https:// sustainabledevelopment.un.org/topics/sids/list Communicated by Nathan Waltham * Kathleen Sullivan Sealey ksealey@miami.edu 1 Coastal Ecology Laboratory, Department of Biology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33146, USA Estuaries and Coasts https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-019-00646-7