Hurricanes and extreme weather events can cause widespread damage and disruption to infrastructure services and consequently delay household and community recovery. A subset of data from a cross-sectional survey of 989 households in central and south Florida is used to examine the effects of Hurricane Irma on post-disaster recovery eight months after the landfall. Using logistic regression modeling, we find that physical damage to property, disruption of infrastructure services such as loss of electric power and cell phone/internet services and other factors (i.e., homeowner’s or renter’s insurance coverage, receiving disaster assistance and loss of income) are significant predictors of post-disaster recovery when controlling for age and race/ethnicity.

This research examines the impact of climate and land use change on watershed hydrology. Seasonal variability in mean streamflow discharge, 100-year flood, and 7Q10 low-flow of the East Fork Little Miami River watershed, Ohio was analyzed using simulated land cover change and climate projections for 2030. Future urban growth in the Greater Cincinnati area, Ohio, by the year 2030 was projected using cellular automata. Projected land cover was incorporated into a calibrated BASINS-HSPF model. Downscaled climate projections of seven GCMs based on the assumptions of two IPCC greenhouse gas emissions scenarios were integrated through the BASINS Climate Assessment Tool (CAT). The discrete CAT output was used to specify a seed for a Monte Carlo simulation and derive probability density functions of anticipated seasonal hydrologic responses to account for uncertainty. Sensitivity analysis was conducted for a small catchment in the watershed using the Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) developed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The results indicated higher probability of exceeding the 100-year flood over the fall and winter months, and a likelihood of decreasing summer low flows.

Remote sensing techniques have emerged as an essential tool for conducting damage assessments and are commonly used to improve disaster recovery planning and community resilience policies. The objective of this study was to use aerial imagery data and LiDAR to identify the hardest hit areas, quantify the extent of damages, and compare pre- and post-storm beach morphology conditions in Estero Island, Florida, relating to Hurricane Ian in 2022. This study identified >2400 structures that were impacted by Hurricane Ian, with 170 structures suffering extensive damage. Clustering of heavily damaged buildings was observed on the northern and central portions of the island, with lower levels of damage clustered on the southern part. Among the ‘severely damaged’ and ‘destroyed’ structures were seven mobile home subdivisions. The total assessed value of the heavily damaged structures was estimated at over USD 200 million. The results also indicated substantial post-storm debris and sand deposition across the entire island. Remote sensing provides advanced techniques that can help prioritize emergency response efforts after catastrophic impacts from a natural disaster.

This study examined the incidence of injurious and fatal pedestrian crashes for lower-income and affluent communities in Broward and Palm Beach counties, FL, finding notable differences in the environmental risk factors for these populations. In lower-income areas, pedestrian deaths and injuries increased with traffic volumes, multilane streets, and restaurants and shopping centers. They decreased with the presence of raised medians, which can serve as a refuge island for crossing pedestrians. These variables all suggest that, at least in lower-income areas, pedestrian death and injury was associated with difficulties safely accessing household-supporting destinations. For affluent areas, the factors associated with increased pedestrian death and injury were those relating to recreation and nightlife—specifically, bars and clubs, hotels, and restaurants. Neither traffic volumes nor multilane roads proved to be meaningfully related to increased pedestrian death or injury in affluent areas. Perhaps most notably, higher concentrations of Black populations were strongly related to increased pedestrian death and injury, even after accounting for differences in income. Considered as a whole, these results suggest that pedestrian crash risk, like much else in U.S. society, is strongly intertwined with broader issues of racial and income inequality. Attempts to address the safety of the transportation system’s most vulnerable users need to move beyond asserting that any pedestrian project constitutes a safety enhancement, and to begin to more meaningfully account for social vulnerabilities associated with race and income.