this was supposedly the most powerful hurricane to hit Lake Charles....and there was no surge. Storm surge is a coastal threat...1 to 2 miles inland and thats it. Lets not get carried away...
Ruston, LA here. Midway between Shreveport and Monroe. Rain, blustery winds, lights have flickered a couple of times. I see quite a bit of power outage south of here on the power company outage map. I agree, not as great a storm surge as feared, which is good news.
Sorry... but, that’s just not true.
I have personally seen damage and destruction from storm surge south of Sulphur, La from Rita more than 25 miles from the coast.
The water at my friend’s house was 4 feet high, with waves on top. They were forced to climb into their attic to ride it out.
After that, the moved to north side of Sulphur.
How did you decide 1-2 miles inland and that's it? The angle of approach, location, slope of the continental shelf and terrain elevation also determines surge with inland flooding. A powerful storm will empty bays (example Tampa and Sarasota Bays with Irma) on one side of the storm, while piling (surge) water at the coast and inland on the dirty side. When storm winds offshore on the dirty side of the storm push water onshore-and prevent the natural flow of rivers and streams to empty-water piles up.
Your simple dismissal of all else tells me you really don't understand storm surge at all.