Hurricane Preparedness
This paper is a commissioned research document developed in my English 314: Technical Writing Course. It investigates the readiness of coastal U.S. cities for a major hurricane. The document was researched and written by: myself, Brendan Crawford, Scott Ledbetter, and Candace Pringle.
For more information about this project and other documents related to this document see Project Reports.
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Abstract
Hurricane damage is a constant concern for coastal residents in the southeastern United States and for the local and federal government organizations responsible for protecting the coastal population. Not enough is known about the weaknesses of coastal cities. New Orleans, Louisiana is at the most risk of catastrophic hurricane damage. With better building codes, evacuation strategies and levee systems, New Orleans would be a much safer city when threatened by hurricanes.
Introduction
In the southeastern United States, one of the greatest dangers to residents is hurricanes. Coastal U.S. cities have damage prevention and mitigation programs like building codes and evacuation procedures to prevent hurricane damage. However, hurricanes still cause immense damage in the form of death, property damage, high insurance costs, and collapse of infrastructure because many cities are not sufficiently prepared or aware of their weaknesses. This paper will inform city planners, city governments, and federal organizations like FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) of the weaknesses of coastal cities and of which cities are at the greatest risk. The dangers and threats of hurricanes will be evaluated and discussed. While some basic hurricane threats such as high winds are known, it is important to be aware of all types of damage a hurricane can cause. Five cities – New Orleans, Miami, Charleston, Myrtle Beach, and Bermuda – will be studied in depth. The history and hurricane readiness of each city will be explained. Finally, the city in the most danger of catastrophic damage will be identified, and suggestions for strengthening its defenses will be presented.
Known Dangers and Threats from a Hurricane
The areas along the United States Gulf and Atlantic coasts are where most of the country's hurricane related fatalities have occurred. Population is also increasing because the coast is a very attractive area for living. With the increase in population and the continuation of building along the coast, there will be serious problems for many areas in hurricanes. The most familiar dangers and threats known in the event of a hurricane are storm surges, high winds, tornadoes, and heavy rain, which will all be discussed in this section.
The NOAA's National Hurricane Center estimates that an average of 1.7 hurricanes strikes the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts per year (“Along the Coast – Living on the Edge” NBC Weather Website). Hurricanes are likely the world’s most powerful storm, but most flooding, which can be more dangerous, comes from dying hurricanes and tropical storms, which are defined as having sustained winds between 39 and 73 mph (“Along the Coast – Living on the Edge” NBC Weather Website). The National Hurricane Center also mentions that storms cause unbelievable damage and loss of life, and their runoff produces serious environmental damage.
Most coastal cities have a website with the evacuation procedures posted for their citizens, but these instructions sometimes generate more problems than they solve. The large amount of information posted on the sites can confuse and overwhelm citizens (“Along the Coast – Living on the Edge” NBC Weather Website). As a result, the evacuations may not proceed as smoothly as planned. Historically, evacuees have gotten stuck in massive traffic jams, and some have had to travel hundreds of miles to find available shelter (“Along the Coast – Living on the Edge” NBC Weather Website). Furthermore, people forced to evacuate may develop a false sense of security if the storm does not hit their area or does not cause the predicted damage. These falsely confident citizens may not take future storms seriously or may refuse to evacuate during the next storm.
To give the general public a better idea of the relative risk of hurricane conditions, the National Hurricane Center has devised a risk rating system. Risk ranges from nearly none, represented in yellow, to high, represented in red (“Hurricane Dangers: Wind, Water & At-Risk Zones” WRAL News Website). Factors such as the certainty of the prediction made and the strength of the storm at the time will affect the size of the risk areas, which are shown in Figure 1.
Storm surges claim the most lives in a hurricane. The greater the surge, the higher the water level rises as the eye of the storm approaches (“Hurricane Dangers: Wind, Water & At-Risk Zones” WRAL News Website). A strong hurricane can generate a storm surge of up to twenty feet, as shown in Figure 2.
High winds are a major inland threat of hurricanes. The destructive force increases four times as the wind doubles. If trees have shallow roots, they can be blown more than 100 miles inland (“Hurricane Dangers: Wind, Water & At-Risk Zones” WRAL News Website). A hurricane is defined as any storm having 74 mph winds, but common major hurricanes can carry winds of over 100 mph, with rare storms attaining winds over 200 mph (“Hurricane Guide” ABC-7 News Website). Coastal regions will usually experience the worst of hurricane winds, but inland areas are still susceptible to extensive wind damage. The remains carried by these winds pose a serious threat to life and property.
Hurricanes can also create tornadoes as they come ashore. Tornadoes are commonly found to the right of the path of the storm, so the right outer edge of a storm track carries the greatest tornado threat (“Hurricane Dangers: Wind, Water & At-Risk Zones” WRAL News Website).
In the event of a slow-moving hurricane, regions in its path can see 10 to 20 inches of rain per day. Weaker tropical storms and depressions that come ashore can produce even more rain than hurricanes. In areas prone to flooding during the rainy summer season, tropical systems could cause extensive problems for the community (“Hurricane Guide” ABC-7 News Website).
Rain also brings the danger of flooding. Flooding not only ruins countless homes and businesses through water damage, but it presents environmental hazards as well. Flooding allows for the mixture of countless chemicals between homes and corporations alike, creating a potentially dangerous level of toxicity. In the city of New Orleans, environmental experts documented dangerous mixtures and are still unsure of the time it will take for affected areas to be safe again (“‘Big Easy’ A Bowl of Trouble in Hurricanes” USA Today Website).
City Analysis
Knowing the dangers of hurricanes can help cities to prepare for them. Every coastal city has procedures and regulations to protect itself and its citizens from harm. For this study, four at-risk cities and one exemplary city were chosen for evaluation. New Orleans, Miami, Charleston, Myrtle Beach, and Bermuda have been researched and assessed. The history, building codes, evacuation procedures, and weaknesses of each city are presented in this section.
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana has been hit by a hurricane about once every three years since 1871, with a major storm striking the city about once every decade (“Deadly Hurricanes No Strangers to Gulf Coast” NPR Website). Naturally, a city with an average elevation of 1.8 meters below sea level must be prepared for the worst during a hurricane, and New Orleans has made several reforms throughout the years after major storms to prevent future damage (“New Orleans Hurricane Risk” Globalsecurity.org). However, most of the changes have been made too late, and the city is still not prepared for a severe hurricane.
The last major storm to hit New Orleans was Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005, shown in Figure 4. Katrina exposed several of the city’s greatest weaknesses to the public eye. The storm caused an estimated $200 billion worth of damage and claimed over one thousand lives (“Historic Hurricanes” www.hurricaneville.com). New Orleans’ levee system as it existed just before Katrina was built in 1965 after Hurricane Betsy. However, the levee system was built to withstand only a slow-moving category two or fast-moving category three storm (“New Orleans Hurricane Risk” Globalsecurity.org.
Figure 4
A new building code was issued in Louisiana in 2004 that required structures to withstand 146 mph winds, and New Orleans chose to adopt it. But most of the buildings in the city are fifteen to twenty years old, and enforcement of new codes is weak (“Louisiana Hurricane Resources” Louisiana Sea Grant Website). Furthermore, outside of New Orleans, wind damage is often completely ignored when constructing a home or business. Updating existing structures to meet the code requirements could be difficult and costly, but for new buildings one would only have to spend an extra two to four percent on construction to meet the codes and ensure its safety (“Louisiana Hurricane Resources” Louisiana Sea Grant Website).
The evacuation policy for New Orleans needs drastic improvement. Experts estimate that the city would need seventy-two hours to completely evacuate, but current warnings can only provide twenty-four hours notice to residents. Therefore, the city would have to issue a warning with a possible error of 150 miles to ensure that citizens could reach safety (“‘Big Easy’ A Bowl of Trouble in Hurricanes” USA Today Website). And even when such a warning is issued, one half the city’s population cannot or will not evacuate. Furthermore, over 200,000 citizens are without access to a car and 20,000 are special needs citizens (“New Orleans Hurricane Risk” Globalsecurity.org).
New Orleans’ biggest problems in the face of a hurricane are the levee system and the evacuation policy. Several groups have suggested new ideas for improvements in the levee system, but they are costly and time consuming. It could take ten to fifteen years to rebuild them, and it would cost the city millions of dollars (“‘Big Easy’ A Bowl of Trouble in Hurricanes” USA Today Website). The city also faces the issue of building codes and structures that are not prepared for strong hurricanes. Drastic changes are needed to prepare the city for the threat it faces.
Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida is in a particularly risky location for hurricane damage, as it can be affected from any direction by hurricanes forming in the Gulf of Mexico or in the Atlantic Ocean. Five major hurricanes have affected Miami-Dade County in the last fifteen years, but between 1941 and 1950, nine hurricanes struck this vulnerable area (“Historical Hurricane Tracks” Coastal Services Center Website). While the area has not seen a large number of hurricanes in recent years, it does not mean the area is immune. The state of Florida has made leaps forward in hurricane preparedness and safety in the last decade, but weaknesses still exist.
The most memorable hurricane in Miami’s history is Hurricane Andrew, but Opal, Charley, Francis, and Ivan have all caused catastrophic damage in Florida over the last ten years. Andrew cost the state $25 billion, nearly four times the cost of the second most costly hurricane, Hurricane Betsey in 1965 (“Hurricane History” National Hurricane Center Website). Category four Hurricane Andrew was the most intense storm to hit Florida in over fifty years. The hurricane led to forty deaths, and over a quarter of a million people were temporarily homeless. After the hurricane, Miami was accused of having weak building codes and weak code enforcement. It was admitted that there were flaws in the construction of some buildings and that construction problems were sometimes neglected; in 2002 the International Building Code was adopted by the state (“Florida Building Code Online” Florida DCA Website).
Currently Florida’s statewide building code (with exceptions along portions of the panhandle) is the International Building Code. Coastal buildings are required to withstand 110 to 150 mph winds depending on location. Miami-Dade County has a 146 mph standard county-wide. Structures outside the 120 mph line (see Figure 5) are also required to have windborne debris protection (“Hurricane Protection and Florida Building Code” PGT Industries Website). Florida has a highly sophisticated evacuation program. Department of Transportation sensors track information about the density and speed of vehicles on evacuation routes. This information is used to determine when to divert traffic or shut down exchanges. It also provides information to evacuees’ destinations about the time of arrival and expected number of displaced Florida residents. Florida has instituted a program called HEADS UP (Hurricane Evacuation Analysis & Decision Support Utility Program) which includes evacuation routes, regional evacuation procedures and real-time sensor data (“Evacuating Florida and the 2003 Hurricane Season” Transportation Research Board).
Miami-Dade County’s biggest problem now is roofing and storm shutter requirements. While structures themselves can sustain high winds, weak spots surrounding the structure can account for thousands of dollars in damages to private homes. The city also faces problems with insurance rates, which skyrocketed after Hurricane Andrew (“Hurricane Jitters Lift Florida Insurance Rates” International Herald Tribune). Many insurance companies were forced to declare bankruptcy without paying millions in insurance claims. Now it is extremely difficult for homeowners to afford decent insurance.
Charleston, South Carolina
Hurricanes have hit Charleston thirty times in the last 135 years, bringing Charleston to one strike every 4.5 years with the most recent hurricane being Ernesto, which hit on August 31, 2006, with winds of 70 mph (“Charleston, SC Hurricanes” Hurricanecity.com). Though it is the least endangered city of those researched, there is still a significant hurricane risk, and the city is not as prepared as it could be.
The greatest amount of damage the city of Charleston sustained was from Hurricane Hugo in 1989. Hugo left a wake of destruction in Charleston that has yet to be paralleled with a total damage cost of seven billion dollars (“Hurricane Hugo 1989” Hurricane Hugo Website). Major bridges, such as the one seen below in Figure 6, were destroyed during the hurricane. An estimated 3000 tornadoes, or vortices, were embedded within the hurricane. The hurricane, a category four when making landfall in South Carolina, had winds of 135 mph along the surface (“Hurricane Hugo 1989” Hurricane Hugo Website). With such high winds, residential damage was extreme as seen in Figure 7.
Figure 6
In the aftermath of the hurricane, the lack of turnaround by FEMA led to criticism from one of South Carolina’s senators, Fritz Hollings, which eventually led to the reform of FEMA. While FEMA may not have been as great a help as was needed after the hurricane, other organizations and people were willing to help prevent future storms from causing the same amount of damage. One of those organizations was Clemson University, which helped to conduct research into the matter through Professor Ben Sill (“Learning From Loss” Clemson World Website). The university published information on how to strengthen a home inexpensively to help prevent severe hurricane damage. The city of Charleston has also attempted to help its residents by publishing online evacuation routes and terms to know and recognize on the radio (“Hurricane and Weather Information” United States Coast Guard Website). It has also published a list of things to do at home as last minute protection from a hurricane.
Figure 7
Charleston still has weaknesses that could endanger citizens in the event of a hurricane. Homes that were built on concrete slabs in the Charleston area were the most heavily damaged of conventionally built homes during Hurricane Hugo. Also, 70% of the manufactured homes in Charleston shifted from their piers, and half fell completely from their supports for a variety of reasons including anchor failure in the saturated ground and improper attachment of anchor straps to I-beams (Sill 1991). Many homes with concrete slab foundations still exist in the Charleston area, as well as manufactured homes at risk for the same failures that occurred in 1989. In Sill’s “Learning from Hurricane Hugo: Implications for Public Policy” he states, "The engineering community has known the proper design loads for wind for at least 30 years; if this information had been implemented, much of Hugo's damage could have been averted."
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
The city of Myrtle Beach is estimated to be affected by a hurricane once every 3.65 years and hit once every 11.25 years (“Myrtle Beach, SC Hurricanes” Hurricanecity.com). This city was last affected by the tropical storm Ernesto, which hit on August 31, 2006 with winds of 70 mph. Another notable hurricane struck in 1906. This category three storm passed through the city and caused heavy damage to the city and the surrounding area (“Myrtle Beach, SC Hurricanes” Hurricanecity.com). Myrtle Beach represents a vulnerable area of coastline in South Carolina, and the reforms taken thus far are insufficient to protect against strong storms.
The most severe storm to affect the city was Hurricane Charley, which hit Myrtle Beach on August 14, 2004, just offshore with fast winds of 75 mph. It caused roof damage to a motel and caused many trees to fall (“Myrtle Beach, SC Hurricanes” Hurricanecity.com). FEMA and the state of South Carolina realize that Myrtle Beach has at least three buildings that are really critical to disaster recovery and has decided to renovate them. The three buildings are Myrtle Beach City Hall, the city services building, and the public works administration building, all of which are vital to disaster recovery. They granted a total of $233,935, with FEMA providing 75% and South Carolina giving the remaining 25% (“Myrtle Beach to Strengthen Critical Buildings” FEMA Website). This only begins to prepare the city for more dangerous storms. The grant will pay to install a combination of high-impact glass, framing, and roll-down hurricane shutters in the buildings. The city planned for these upgrades to protect the buildings from wind damage associated with hurricanes as well as water damage resulting from broken or blown out windows.
Figure 8
Myrtle Beach has a website for citizens that teaches them how to prepare for an approaching hurricane and what to do both during and after the storm. Two evacuation routes for the city are shown above in Figure 8. Myrtle Beach is right on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Until all of the city’s buildings are prepared to handle a hurricane of category four or above, citizens and visitors will have to evacuate and find shelter. Based on the hurricanes that Myrtle Beach has experienced, it is predicted that a storm over category three would cause major damage to the entire city. Several small changes have been made to the city to make sure important buildings survive a hurricane, but more needs to be done to protect citizens.
Bermuda
Of all the regions we researched, the British territory of Bermuda is struck most frequently by hurricanes at a rate of one storm every 2.6 years (“Bermuda Hurricanes” Hurricanecity.com). It is also easily the best prepared. Recently, hurricane Florence, a category one storm, passed over the island causing minimal damage, shown in Figure 9. The last major hurricane to cause significant damage was hurricane Fabian in 2003 (“Florida Knocks out Power in Bermuda” CBS News Website). Only four citizens were killed, the first casualties from a hurricane since 1926, and the local airport was reopened within one week (“Bermuda Cleans up After Hurricane Fabian” CNN.com).
Figure 9
The secret to Bermuda’s success is the wide scale awareness of the territory. Citizens and tourists alike are aware of the dangers facing the island in the event of major storms, and numerous precautions have been taken over the years. Firstly, both the building codes and their enforcement in Bermuda are very strict. For example, homes must be built with walls eight inches thick that can withstand 110 mph winds for significant periods of time (“Florida Knocks out Power in Bermuda” CBS News Website). In one Bermuda hotel, more than half the guests were comfortable staying put in their hotels during hurricane Florence this year (“Florida Knocks out Power in Bermuda” CBS News Website).
Secondly, the territory supplies a wealth of information regarding hurricanes to its citizens. The Bermuda Weather Service provides comprehensive hourly weather reports, complete with any tropical storm or hurricane warnings that were issued and current satellite photographs (“Bermuda Weather” BWS Website). The organization also offers a twenty-four hour weather phone, controls two television channels devoted solely to Bermuda weather, and informs marine users of potential problems in the Atlantic (“Bermuda Weather” BWS Website). Thus, when evacuation is necessary, citizens require less warning.
Citizens in Bermuda can be informed of an approaching hurricane very quickly, and the territory’s impressive record against major storms illustrates its awareness of the dangers it faces. In the next section, we will discuss changes that will bring our cities’ levels of awareness in the threat of hurricanes near that of Bermuda.
Solution
In our research, we have seen various levels of hurricane preparedness in the Southeast. The least prepared city is New Orleans, Louisiana, while the most prepared is Bermuda. Why is there such a drastic difference between recovery times? Bermuda can be hit by a major storm and recover in less than one week (“Florida Knocks out Power in Bermuda” CBS News Website). However, Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005 and left the city in ruin for months. In certain aspects like economy, the city has still not fully recovered. We have determined that the current policies in New Orleans are simply inadequate to prevent severe damage from hurricanes. As the city in the most precarious situation, we will focus on specific strategies for improving the safety of New Orleans. However, most of these solutions would benefit any coastal city. We will now present the major issues that face the New Orleans, changes that may greatly reduce the damage from strong storms, and difficulties that may arise.
As mentioned above, the first major issue facing New Orleans is the building code. The state of Louisiana should adopt a statewide building code because it would force all cities to recognize the dangers faced by cities on the coast. The wide-scale awareness would help cities to coordinate efforts, and it would give the entire state the chance to recognize problems with the current codes and evaluate the weaknesses in each city. Cities surrounding New Orleans which are also at risk would vote to adopt the code, again spreading awareness and education about hurricane safety. Enforcement was also a problem in New Orleans. If the city required in-depth inspections of older structures and enforced the new code for new structures, the structural integrity of the entire city would greatly improve. Officials could also distribute instructions for private residences that detail easy procedures to make homes safer in severe weather, particularly wind, which New Orleans has overlooked all too often.
Evacuation also presents many problems in New Orleans. The city first needs to address its special needs citizens. Then, government officials need to rethink the evacuation plans. During Hurricane Katrina, certain routes were proven ineffective, and these officials need to find and prepare alternate routes and develop concrete plans and procedures to enact in the event of a major storm. New routes and plans should be developed with an awareness of the transportation capabilities of citizens in different parts of the city and include strategies for evacuating citizens without access to a car and citizens with special needs. They would then need to distribute these routes to the state so that citizens are prepared for the next hurricane.
The last issue New Orleans needs to address is its levee system. The levees are only designed to withstand weak or fast-moving storms, and Katrina demonstrated how easily they could be compromised. It would be extremely difficult, time-consuming, and expensive to completely rebuild the levees. The city of New Orleans needs to draw officials together and decide whether it would be most effective to try to strengthen the system for future storms or redesign it. We suggest they try to strengthen it, considering the expenses of Katrina that are still burdening the city.
Taking these measures and others, the city of New Orleans could greatly improve its chances in the event of a major hurricane. There is work to be done on the level of individual citizens, county and state officials, and state-wide legislature. The measures are expensive and may take a long time to implement, but we have clearly demonstrated the need for such precautions, as well as their potential for a safer city and state.
Conclusion
Through extensive research, we have provided a wealth of statistics and visuals demonstrating the cost, damage, and lasting impact caused by hurricanes in the southeastern United States. Though nothing can keep hurricanes from striking coastal cities, ideas such as better building codes, home preparation, and government turnaround can greatly diminish the effects felt by hurricanes if implemented. With the information given, the problem identified, and solutions presented, it is up to the local and federal governments to decide if any of the presented solutions are worthy of legislation.
Works Cited
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For more information about this project and other documents related to this document see Project Reports.
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Abstract
Hurricane damage is a constant concern for coastal residents in the southeastern United States and for the local and federal government organizations responsible for protecting the coastal population. Not enough is known about the weaknesses of coastal cities. New Orleans, Louisiana is at the most risk of catastrophic hurricane damage. With better building codes, evacuation strategies and levee systems, New Orleans would be a much safer city when threatened by hurricanes.
Introduction
In the southeastern United States, one of the greatest dangers to residents is hurricanes. Coastal U.S. cities have damage prevention and mitigation programs like building codes and evacuation procedures to prevent hurricane damage. However, hurricanes still cause immense damage in the form of death, property damage, high insurance costs, and collapse of infrastructure because many cities are not sufficiently prepared or aware of their weaknesses. This paper will inform city planners, city governments, and federal organizations like FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) of the weaknesses of coastal cities and of which cities are at the greatest risk. The dangers and threats of hurricanes will be evaluated and discussed. While some basic hurricane threats such as high winds are known, it is important to be aware of all types of damage a hurricane can cause. Five cities – New Orleans, Miami, Charleston, Myrtle Beach, and Bermuda – will be studied in depth. The history and hurricane readiness of each city will be explained. Finally, the city in the most danger of catastrophic damage will be identified, and suggestions for strengthening its defenses will be presented.
Known Dangers and Threats from a Hurricane
The areas along the United States Gulf and Atlantic coasts are where most of the country's hurricane related fatalities have occurred. Population is also increasing because the coast is a very attractive area for living. With the increase in population and the continuation of building along the coast, there will be serious problems for many areas in hurricanes. The most familiar dangers and threats known in the event of a hurricane are storm surges, high winds, tornadoes, and heavy rain, which will all be discussed in this section.
The NOAA's National Hurricane Center estimates that an average of 1.7 hurricanes strikes the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts per year (“Along the Coast – Living on the Edge” NBC Weather Website). Hurricanes are likely the world’s most powerful storm, but most flooding, which can be more dangerous, comes from dying hurricanes and tropical storms, which are defined as having sustained winds between 39 and 73 mph (“Along the Coast – Living on the Edge” NBC Weather Website). The National Hurricane Center also mentions that storms cause unbelievable damage and loss of life, and their runoff produces serious environmental damage.
Most coastal cities have a website with the evacuation procedures posted for their citizens, but these instructions sometimes generate more problems than they solve. The large amount of information posted on the sites can confuse and overwhelm citizens (“Along the Coast – Living on the Edge” NBC Weather Website). As a result, the evacuations may not proceed as smoothly as planned. Historically, evacuees have gotten stuck in massive traffic jams, and some have had to travel hundreds of miles to find available shelter (“Along the Coast – Living on the Edge” NBC Weather Website). Furthermore, people forced to evacuate may develop a false sense of security if the storm does not hit their area or does not cause the predicted damage. These falsely confident citizens may not take future storms seriously or may refuse to evacuate during the next storm.
To give the general public a better idea of the relative risk of hurricane conditions, the National Hurricane Center has devised a risk rating system. Risk ranges from nearly none, represented in yellow, to high, represented in red (“Hurricane Dangers: Wind, Water & At-Risk Zones” WRAL News Website). Factors such as the certainty of the prediction made and the strength of the storm at the time will affect the size of the risk areas, which are shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1
Storm surges claim the most lives in a hurricane. The greater the surge, the higher the water level rises as the eye of the storm approaches (“Hurricane Dangers: Wind, Water & At-Risk Zones” WRAL News Website). A strong hurricane can generate a storm surge of up to twenty feet, as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2
High winds are a major inland threat of hurricanes. The destructive force increases four times as the wind doubles. If trees have shallow roots, they can be blown more than 100 miles inland (“Hurricane Dangers: Wind, Water & At-Risk Zones” WRAL News Website). A hurricane is defined as any storm having 74 mph winds, but common major hurricanes can carry winds of over 100 mph, with rare storms attaining winds over 200 mph (“Hurricane Guide” ABC-7 News Website). Coastal regions will usually experience the worst of hurricane winds, but inland areas are still susceptible to extensive wind damage. The remains carried by these winds pose a serious threat to life and property.
Hurricanes can also create tornadoes as they come ashore. Tornadoes are commonly found to the right of the path of the storm, so the right outer edge of a storm track carries the greatest tornado threat (“Hurricane Dangers: Wind, Water & At-Risk Zones” WRAL News Website).
Figure 3
In the event of a slow-moving hurricane, regions in its path can see 10 to 20 inches of rain per day. Weaker tropical storms and depressions that come ashore can produce even more rain than hurricanes. In areas prone to flooding during the rainy summer season, tropical systems could cause extensive problems for the community (“Hurricane Guide” ABC-7 News Website).
Rain also brings the danger of flooding. Flooding not only ruins countless homes and businesses through water damage, but it presents environmental hazards as well. Flooding allows for the mixture of countless chemicals between homes and corporations alike, creating a potentially dangerous level of toxicity. In the city of New Orleans, environmental experts documented dangerous mixtures and are still unsure of the time it will take for affected areas to be safe again (“‘Big Easy’ A Bowl of Trouble in Hurricanes” USA Today Website).
City Analysis
Knowing the dangers of hurricanes can help cities to prepare for them. Every coastal city has procedures and regulations to protect itself and its citizens from harm. For this study, four at-risk cities and one exemplary city were chosen for evaluation. New Orleans, Miami, Charleston, Myrtle Beach, and Bermuda have been researched and assessed. The history, building codes, evacuation procedures, and weaknesses of each city are presented in this section.
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana has been hit by a hurricane about once every three years since 1871, with a major storm striking the city about once every decade (“Deadly Hurricanes No Strangers to Gulf Coast” NPR Website). Naturally, a city with an average elevation of 1.8 meters below sea level must be prepared for the worst during a hurricane, and New Orleans has made several reforms throughout the years after major storms to prevent future damage (“New Orleans Hurricane Risk” Globalsecurity.org). However, most of the changes have been made too late, and the city is still not prepared for a severe hurricane.
The last major storm to hit New Orleans was Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005, shown in Figure 4. Katrina exposed several of the city’s greatest weaknesses to the public eye. The storm caused an estimated $200 billion worth of damage and claimed over one thousand lives (“Historic Hurricanes” www.hurricaneville.com). New Orleans’ levee system as it existed just before Katrina was built in 1965 after Hurricane Betsy. However, the levee system was built to withstand only a slow-moving category two or fast-moving category three storm (“New Orleans Hurricane Risk” Globalsecurity.org.
Figure 4A new building code was issued in Louisiana in 2004 that required structures to withstand 146 mph winds, and New Orleans chose to adopt it. But most of the buildings in the city are fifteen to twenty years old, and enforcement of new codes is weak (“Louisiana Hurricane Resources” Louisiana Sea Grant Website). Furthermore, outside of New Orleans, wind damage is often completely ignored when constructing a home or business. Updating existing structures to meet the code requirements could be difficult and costly, but for new buildings one would only have to spend an extra two to four percent on construction to meet the codes and ensure its safety (“Louisiana Hurricane Resources” Louisiana Sea Grant Website).
The evacuation policy for New Orleans needs drastic improvement. Experts estimate that the city would need seventy-two hours to completely evacuate, but current warnings can only provide twenty-four hours notice to residents. Therefore, the city would have to issue a warning with a possible error of 150 miles to ensure that citizens could reach safety (“‘Big Easy’ A Bowl of Trouble in Hurricanes” USA Today Website). And even when such a warning is issued, one half the city’s population cannot or will not evacuate. Furthermore, over 200,000 citizens are without access to a car and 20,000 are special needs citizens (“New Orleans Hurricane Risk” Globalsecurity.org).
New Orleans’ biggest problems in the face of a hurricane are the levee system and the evacuation policy. Several groups have suggested new ideas for improvements in the levee system, but they are costly and time consuming. It could take ten to fifteen years to rebuild them, and it would cost the city millions of dollars (“‘Big Easy’ A Bowl of Trouble in Hurricanes” USA Today Website). The city also faces the issue of building codes and structures that are not prepared for strong hurricanes. Drastic changes are needed to prepare the city for the threat it faces.
Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida is in a particularly risky location for hurricane damage, as it can be affected from any direction by hurricanes forming in the Gulf of Mexico or in the Atlantic Ocean. Five major hurricanes have affected Miami-Dade County in the last fifteen years, but between 1941 and 1950, nine hurricanes struck this vulnerable area (“Historical Hurricane Tracks” Coastal Services Center Website). While the area has not seen a large number of hurricanes in recent years, it does not mean the area is immune. The state of Florida has made leaps forward in hurricane preparedness and safety in the last decade, but weaknesses still exist.
The most memorable hurricane in Miami’s history is Hurricane Andrew, but Opal, Charley, Francis, and Ivan have all caused catastrophic damage in Florida over the last ten years. Andrew cost the state $25 billion, nearly four times the cost of the second most costly hurricane, Hurricane Betsey in 1965 (“Hurricane History” National Hurricane Center Website). Category four Hurricane Andrew was the most intense storm to hit Florida in over fifty years. The hurricane led to forty deaths, and over a quarter of a million people were temporarily homeless. After the hurricane, Miami was accused of having weak building codes and weak code enforcement. It was admitted that there were flaws in the construction of some buildings and that construction problems were sometimes neglected; in 2002 the International Building Code was adopted by the state (“Florida Building Code Online” Florida DCA Website).
Currently Florida’s statewide building code (with exceptions along portions of the panhandle) is the International Building Code. Coastal buildings are required to withstand 110 to 150 mph winds depending on location. Miami-Dade County has a 146 mph standard county-wide. Structures outside the 120 mph line (see Figure 5) are also required to have windborne debris protection (“Hurricane Protection and Florida Building Code” PGT Industries Website). Florida has a highly sophisticated evacuation program. Department of Transportation sensors track information about the density and speed of vehicles on evacuation routes. This information is used to determine when to divert traffic or shut down exchanges. It also provides information to evacuees’ destinations about the time of arrival and expected number of displaced Florida residents. Florida has instituted a program called HEADS UP (Hurricane Evacuation Analysis & Decision Support Utility Program) which includes evacuation routes, regional evacuation procedures and real-time sensor data (“Evacuating Florida and the 2003 Hurricane Season” Transportation Research Board).
Miami-Dade County’s biggest problem now is roofing and storm shutter requirements. While structures themselves can sustain high winds, weak spots surrounding the structure can account for thousands of dollars in damages to private homes. The city also faces problems with insurance rates, which skyrocketed after Hurricane Andrew (“Hurricane Jitters Lift Florida Insurance Rates” International Herald Tribune). Many insurance companies were forced to declare bankruptcy without paying millions in insurance claims. Now it is extremely difficult for homeowners to afford decent insurance.
Charleston, South Carolina
Hurricanes have hit Charleston thirty times in the last 135 years, bringing Charleston to one strike every 4.5 years with the most recent hurricane being Ernesto, which hit on August 31, 2006, with winds of 70 mph (“Charleston, SC Hurricanes” Hurricanecity.com). Though it is the least endangered city of those researched, there is still a significant hurricane risk, and the city is not as prepared as it could be.
The greatest amount of damage the city of Charleston sustained was from Hurricane Hugo in 1989. Hugo left a wake of destruction in Charleston that has yet to be paralleled with a total damage cost of seven billion dollars (“Hurricane Hugo 1989” Hurricane Hugo Website). Major bridges, such as the one seen below in Figure 6, were destroyed during the hurricane. An estimated 3000 tornadoes, or vortices, were embedded within the hurricane. The hurricane, a category four when making landfall in South Carolina, had winds of 135 mph along the surface (“Hurricane Hugo 1989” Hurricane Hugo Website). With such high winds, residential damage was extreme as seen in Figure 7.
Figure 6In the aftermath of the hurricane, the lack of turnaround by FEMA led to criticism from one of South Carolina’s senators, Fritz Hollings, which eventually led to the reform of FEMA. While FEMA may not have been as great a help as was needed after the hurricane, other organizations and people were willing to help prevent future storms from causing the same amount of damage. One of those organizations was Clemson University, which helped to conduct research into the matter through Professor Ben Sill (“Learning From Loss” Clemson World Website). The university published information on how to strengthen a home inexpensively to help prevent severe hurricane damage. The city of Charleston has also attempted to help its residents by publishing online evacuation routes and terms to know and recognize on the radio (“Hurricane and Weather Information” United States Coast Guard Website). It has also published a list of things to do at home as last minute protection from a hurricane.
Figure 7Charleston still has weaknesses that could endanger citizens in the event of a hurricane. Homes that were built on concrete slabs in the Charleston area were the most heavily damaged of conventionally built homes during Hurricane Hugo. Also, 70% of the manufactured homes in Charleston shifted from their piers, and half fell completely from their supports for a variety of reasons including anchor failure in the saturated ground and improper attachment of anchor straps to I-beams (Sill 1991). Many homes with concrete slab foundations still exist in the Charleston area, as well as manufactured homes at risk for the same failures that occurred in 1989. In Sill’s “Learning from Hurricane Hugo: Implications for Public Policy” he states, "The engineering community has known the proper design loads for wind for at least 30 years; if this information had been implemented, much of Hugo's damage could have been averted."
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
The city of Myrtle Beach is estimated to be affected by a hurricane once every 3.65 years and hit once every 11.25 years (“Myrtle Beach, SC Hurricanes” Hurricanecity.com). This city was last affected by the tropical storm Ernesto, which hit on August 31, 2006 with winds of 70 mph. Another notable hurricane struck in 1906. This category three storm passed through the city and caused heavy damage to the city and the surrounding area (“Myrtle Beach, SC Hurricanes” Hurricanecity.com). Myrtle Beach represents a vulnerable area of coastline in South Carolina, and the reforms taken thus far are insufficient to protect against strong storms.
The most severe storm to affect the city was Hurricane Charley, which hit Myrtle Beach on August 14, 2004, just offshore with fast winds of 75 mph. It caused roof damage to a motel and caused many trees to fall (“Myrtle Beach, SC Hurricanes” Hurricanecity.com). FEMA and the state of South Carolina realize that Myrtle Beach has at least three buildings that are really critical to disaster recovery and has decided to renovate them. The three buildings are Myrtle Beach City Hall, the city services building, and the public works administration building, all of which are vital to disaster recovery. They granted a total of $233,935, with FEMA providing 75% and South Carolina giving the remaining 25% (“Myrtle Beach to Strengthen Critical Buildings” FEMA Website). This only begins to prepare the city for more dangerous storms. The grant will pay to install a combination of high-impact glass, framing, and roll-down hurricane shutters in the buildings. The city planned for these upgrades to protect the buildings from wind damage associated with hurricanes as well as water damage resulting from broken or blown out windows.
Figure 8Myrtle Beach has a website for citizens that teaches them how to prepare for an approaching hurricane and what to do both during and after the storm. Two evacuation routes for the city are shown above in Figure 8. Myrtle Beach is right on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Until all of the city’s buildings are prepared to handle a hurricane of category four or above, citizens and visitors will have to evacuate and find shelter. Based on the hurricanes that Myrtle Beach has experienced, it is predicted that a storm over category three would cause major damage to the entire city. Several small changes have been made to the city to make sure important buildings survive a hurricane, but more needs to be done to protect citizens.
Bermuda
Of all the regions we researched, the British territory of Bermuda is struck most frequently by hurricanes at a rate of one storm every 2.6 years (“Bermuda Hurricanes” Hurricanecity.com). It is also easily the best prepared. Recently, hurricane Florence, a category one storm, passed over the island causing minimal damage, shown in Figure 9. The last major hurricane to cause significant damage was hurricane Fabian in 2003 (“Florida Knocks out Power in Bermuda” CBS News Website). Only four citizens were killed, the first casualties from a hurricane since 1926, and the local airport was reopened within one week (“Bermuda Cleans up After Hurricane Fabian” CNN.com).
Figure 9The secret to Bermuda’s success is the wide scale awareness of the territory. Citizens and tourists alike are aware of the dangers facing the island in the event of major storms, and numerous precautions have been taken over the years. Firstly, both the building codes and their enforcement in Bermuda are very strict. For example, homes must be built with walls eight inches thick that can withstand 110 mph winds for significant periods of time (“Florida Knocks out Power in Bermuda” CBS News Website). In one Bermuda hotel, more than half the guests were comfortable staying put in their hotels during hurricane Florence this year (“Florida Knocks out Power in Bermuda” CBS News Website).
Secondly, the territory supplies a wealth of information regarding hurricanes to its citizens. The Bermuda Weather Service provides comprehensive hourly weather reports, complete with any tropical storm or hurricane warnings that were issued and current satellite photographs (“Bermuda Weather” BWS Website). The organization also offers a twenty-four hour weather phone, controls two television channels devoted solely to Bermuda weather, and informs marine users of potential problems in the Atlantic (“Bermuda Weather” BWS Website). Thus, when evacuation is necessary, citizens require less warning.
Citizens in Bermuda can be informed of an approaching hurricane very quickly, and the territory’s impressive record against major storms illustrates its awareness of the dangers it faces. In the next section, we will discuss changes that will bring our cities’ levels of awareness in the threat of hurricanes near that of Bermuda.
Solution
In our research, we have seen various levels of hurricane preparedness in the Southeast. The least prepared city is New Orleans, Louisiana, while the most prepared is Bermuda. Why is there such a drastic difference between recovery times? Bermuda can be hit by a major storm and recover in less than one week (“Florida Knocks out Power in Bermuda” CBS News Website). However, Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005 and left the city in ruin for months. In certain aspects like economy, the city has still not fully recovered. We have determined that the current policies in New Orleans are simply inadequate to prevent severe damage from hurricanes. As the city in the most precarious situation, we will focus on specific strategies for improving the safety of New Orleans. However, most of these solutions would benefit any coastal city. We will now present the major issues that face the New Orleans, changes that may greatly reduce the damage from strong storms, and difficulties that may arise.
As mentioned above, the first major issue facing New Orleans is the building code. The state of Louisiana should adopt a statewide building code because it would force all cities to recognize the dangers faced by cities on the coast. The wide-scale awareness would help cities to coordinate efforts, and it would give the entire state the chance to recognize problems with the current codes and evaluate the weaknesses in each city. Cities surrounding New Orleans which are also at risk would vote to adopt the code, again spreading awareness and education about hurricane safety. Enforcement was also a problem in New Orleans. If the city required in-depth inspections of older structures and enforced the new code for new structures, the structural integrity of the entire city would greatly improve. Officials could also distribute instructions for private residences that detail easy procedures to make homes safer in severe weather, particularly wind, which New Orleans has overlooked all too often.
Evacuation also presents many problems in New Orleans. The city first needs to address its special needs citizens. Then, government officials need to rethink the evacuation plans. During Hurricane Katrina, certain routes were proven ineffective, and these officials need to find and prepare alternate routes and develop concrete plans and procedures to enact in the event of a major storm. New routes and plans should be developed with an awareness of the transportation capabilities of citizens in different parts of the city and include strategies for evacuating citizens without access to a car and citizens with special needs. They would then need to distribute these routes to the state so that citizens are prepared for the next hurricane.
The last issue New Orleans needs to address is its levee system. The levees are only designed to withstand weak or fast-moving storms, and Katrina demonstrated how easily they could be compromised. It would be extremely difficult, time-consuming, and expensive to completely rebuild the levees. The city of New Orleans needs to draw officials together and decide whether it would be most effective to try to strengthen the system for future storms or redesign it. We suggest they try to strengthen it, considering the expenses of Katrina that are still burdening the city.
Taking these measures and others, the city of New Orleans could greatly improve its chances in the event of a major hurricane. There is work to be done on the level of individual citizens, county and state officials, and state-wide legislature. The measures are expensive and may take a long time to implement, but we have clearly demonstrated the need for such precautions, as well as their potential for a safer city and state.
Conclusion
Through extensive research, we have provided a wealth of statistics and visuals demonstrating the cost, damage, and lasting impact caused by hurricanes in the southeastern United States. Though nothing can keep hurricanes from striking coastal cities, ideas such as better building codes, home preparation, and government turnaround can greatly diminish the effects felt by hurricanes if implemented. With the information given, the problem identified, and solutions presented, it is up to the local and federal governments to decide if any of the presented solutions are worthy of legislation.
Works Cited
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