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Tracy Campbell ISAT 480 Mid-term Project October 23, 2007 Hurricane damage decisions in Key West, Florida Scenario After stalling for several days over Cancun, Mexico, Hurricane Wilma approached the Florida Keys and strengthened to a Category 3 storm before making landfall on October 19, 2005 at Key West, Florida. The greatest devastation caused by Wilma was not from the wind but from the storm surge, which was approximately eight feet. Sixty percent of the homes in Key West were flooded and tens of thousands of cars were submerged. Problem Most of Wilma’s damage was caused by the surge on the morning after the storm. To settle thousands of claims, insurance companies needed maps showing the height of the surge. You are assigned to create maps to assess the total acreage of the different types of land cover that were under water as a result of the Wilma storm surge. You also must map damage to the infrastructure and health care centers so that restoration efforts can focus on the areas with the greatest need. Deliverables We recommend the following deliverables for this exercise.
- A map of elevation/bathymetry of Key West with Key West places and streets.
- A map of flooded land in Key West after the Wilma storm surge.
- A bar graph showing percentage of total flooded land by land cover type.
- A map showing infrastructure and health facility destruction.
- A table showing various land types that were flooded measured in acres and square miles.
Q1 Investigate the metadata and complete this table: LAYER VECTOR OR RASTER PUBLICATION INFORMATION WHO CREATED THE DATA TIME PERIOD DATA IS RELEVANT SPATIAL HORIZONTAL COORDINATE SYSTEM ATTRIBUTES FOR VECTORS RESOLUTION OF RASTER airports Vector National Atlas of the United States, United States Geological Society, ESRI 2006 GCS_North_A merican_
N/A N/A
Dtl_cnty Keywest Vector Tele Atlas North America, ESRI
2006 GCS_WGS_
N/A N/A
elev Raster USGS and EROS Data Center 1999 GCS_North_ American_ Elevation is expressed in meters 1 arc second
30 meters ghospital Vector USGS, ESRI 2006 Geographic N/A N/A Kw_places Vector Author Created Data 2007 Geographic N/A N/A landcover Raster USGS 2003 GCS_WGS_ 84 Count, Value, Rowid, Count, Value 1 arc second
30 meters Usa_streets Vector Tele Atlas North American, ESRI 2006 GCS_North_A merican_
N/A N/A
Q4 What different types of coastal land are represented? Different types include emergent herbaceous wetlands, woody wetlands, open water, developed open space, low intensity and medium intensity developed areas, palustrine scrub and wetlands, herbaceous grasslands, and barren areas. Deliverable 2 : Map of flooded land for Key West after the Wilma storm surge. See attached. Deliverable 3 : Bar graph showing percentage of total flooded land by land cover type
- 644 Barren
- 939 Scrub/Grass
- 32 Water
- 28 Wetlands
- 817 Developed Percent of Flooded Land Type of Land Barren Scrub/Grass Water Wetlands Developed Percent 65 60 55 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Q5 What type of land that was mostly flooded? The land that was the most flooded was developed land with 68.8 percent. The next highest type of land was wetlands with 12.28 percent. Q6 Describe the flooding of Key West. The impact of the 8 foot storm surge affected most areas on the island. There were only two areas on the island that were not flooded. A location on the western side of the island near Angela Street and a location in the downtown tourism center surrounding Duvall Street. The rest of the areas were flooded resulting in 96.3 percent of the island being affected directly by the flood waters. Q7 Record the sum of the number of pixels. The sum of the number of pixels is 15733. Q8 What does the graph tell you about the greatest impact of the storm surge? It shows that the greatest impact of the storm surge was on developed areas at 68. percent Q9 Describe the distribution of the flooded areas and how the flood might impact the long-term sustainability of the region. The storm surge had a tremendous impact on Key West, with 96.3% of the island being flooded. Only 3.7% of the island was not flooded, and that was located on the western side of the island in an area surrounding Duvall Street. The areas being most affected were the developed areas, with 68.8% of those areas flooded being developed. However, other areas were also affected. The flood will impact the long-term sustainability of the region impacting economic and environmental factors. Economically, the storm surge will affect private homes, private businesses, military sites, and local government. The costs incurred from clean-up will be added to the tourism revenue lost during this period.
Q10 Describe the distribution of infrastructure and health facilities and which elements have likely been damaged in the storm surge. Out of all the health, educational, airport and religious facilities on the island, only 2 were located in the area determined not to be flooded. Those two are Lower Keys Church of Christ and Mary Immaculate High School. The rest are located within the area determined to be flooded by the storm surge. The names of all of those facilities were produced in a report that is located on the map of the infrastructure on the island. Since those facilities are located in areas that have been flooded, it is likely that they have all been damaged in the storm surge. US Route 1, the primary highway from Key West to mainland Florida is also in the area significantly flooded as are the main primary roads within Key West, such as Roosevelt Boulevard. Roosevelt Boulevard extends around the airport as an alternative route to US Highway 1. Q11 How might you prioritize the damaged elements that should be restored first? Priority should be given to those facilities and infrastructure that are beneficial to providing for the public and restoring order as quickly as possible. First, attention should be placed to the primary roadways and the hospitals, as they need the ability to provide the ability to travel around the island and provide necessary healthcare and safety services. US Highway 1 and the main thoroughfares, such as Roosevelt Boulevard,
should be given top priority, and then attention should fan outwards down to the remaining primary and secondary roads. At the same time attention should be placed on the airport. The airport is beneficial to allowing transportation for incoming volunteers, aid, and supplies from both private and government sources. Then attention should be placed on the schools. By opening the schools up as quickly as possible, they can provide normalcy in the lives of the students and move towards returning the community to order. Attention to churches should be given last, as they are the responsibility of the church community, private citizens, and the community, not the government. More extensive damage probably occurred to facilities located at lower elevations on the island. It will take longer for those facilities to be restored. You could either prioritize those facilities first, since they will be a longer process, or you can focus on the facilities in areas that are not as heavily damaged first. By focusing on areas that are not as heavily damaged, there can be a quicker turnaround time resulting in getting more schools and hospitals open quicker. That way students or health emergencies can be directed towards those facilities, while the long term restoration is occurring. Deliverable 5: Table showing various land types that were flooded measured in acres and square miles. Q12 Complete this table:. TYPE ACRES SQUARE MILES Not Flooded 132.7755 0. Water 291.1275 0. Developed 2407.974 3. Barren 92.5203 0. Scrub/Grass 277.7833 0. Wetlands 429.6856 0. Presentation The island and community of Key West is located in the Florida Keys southwest of Miami and 90 miles north of Cuba. Located within Monroe County, Key West is the southernmost point in the continental United States and has a population of 25,811. The economy relies heavily on tourism and is also the site of a US Naval base. Located on the island is the Key West International Airport, a port for cruise ships, and Fort Zachary Taylor State Park. A good portion of the community is focused towards the tourism industry, with the service industry being the highest employer and tourists being attracted to the island for its climate and the downtown Duvall Street area, consisting of a number of stores, restaurants, and bars. In addition to tourism, Key West is like any other community in the United States, providing services to its citizens, including education, health services, transportation, utilities, and infrastructure. (www.keywestcity.com) Due to its location within the Gulf of Mexico and its location at the very end of the Florida Keys, Key West is subject to being impacted by hurricanes. The island is surrounded by warm water from the Gulf of Mexico, which while attracting tourists, also adds energy to storm cells increasing the intensity of hurricanes. In October 2005, the island was affected by Hurricane Wilma, an original category IV storm that fell to a
on the islands were affected by the storm surge. From the analysis it was determined that on the entire island, only 133 acres, or 0.2075 square miles of land did not flood from the storm surge. Over 3,498 acres of land was impacted. This storm surge has economically affected the island through a number of venues. First, the damage caused by the storm will need to be fixed, impacting homeowners, business owners, and the insurance industry. Concerning insurance, such a large area of the island was impacted by the storm surge. The analysis done can be shown to insurance companies showing the potential flooded areas based on the height of the storm surge and the elevation of the island. The local government will have to work towards stabilizing and rebuilding infrastructure on the island. Priority should be given to the most important areas, including healthcare, transportation, and education. Roadways and the airport should be fixed as soon as possible to allow for residents, government and emergency officials, volunteers, and contractors to be able to move around the island. The hospitals should be reopened as soon as possible to be able to provide continued healthcare to the citizens of Key West. Schools need to be fixed to allow students to return to their classes and continue their educational studies. Attention to the basic infrastructure needs will eventually fan out to the other needs of the citizens. If attention is given to these areas, then the tourism industry can resume as quickly as possible, adding more revenue back to the city to improve. Fortunately, the area surrounding Duvall Street downtown was not located in a flooded area. However, areas of the island with the cruise port, hotels, and restaurants were in the flood areas. Allocating more funds to rebuilding of basic infrastructure will allow life on the island to resume as quickly as possible. Focusing on economic areas can also have an impact socially. By focusing on those main areas for rebuilding, services are being provided to all citizens, not just a select group. Therefore, it is equal. After repairs are made to the infrastructure, then the community can come together to fix up homes, churches, and businesses to provide more social stability. However, the local government funding should be directed towards the infrastructure itself. Environmentally, the impact from the hurricane will take longer to rebuild than infrastructure. Infrastructure is manmade while rebuilding of the environment must go through natural ecological processes. However, assistance can be given by working towards natural restoration of these areas. Fortunately Key West is a rocky island, therefore a lot of sand should not have been eroded during the storm. Restoration work will need to be down to improve the impact the surge had on the 12.28% of wetlands, 8.32% of water, 7.93% of scrub and grasslands, and 2.6% of barren lands that it flooded. Since wetlands were the most damaged type, focus can be directed towards restoring the wetlands to their natural ecological state. This may possibly include removing debris and clearing downed trees. While we were able to examine the types of land cover that were affected, it would be difficult to make any recommendations for improvement until more data was obtained and more analysis was done to determine the exact impacts on the types of land cover. While we know they were affected by the storm surge, we don’t know to what extent. However, the citizens of Key West should realize the importance of their environmental surroundings and the impact that it has on the natural ecosystem of the island as well as tourism. Therefore, funding should be allocated towards environmental work as well.
In the future, Key West will probably once again have to deal with the impact of a hurricane. Whether from the impact of a storm surge, or even a direct landfall, the officials and citizens must be prepared. The low elevation of the island makes it significantly in danger of being flooded from storm surges. The current government administration realizes this, and on the city’s website information regarding hurricane preparedness, as well as a map showing the different areas of the island that would be affected by varying storm surges can be found. Like any community, they must be prepared to go through the rebuilding process. As discussed in the analysis, the potential risk to the community’s infrastructure is high due to the low elevation on the eastern side of the island. The allocation of funds should go initially to rebuilding the infrastructure, and then to improving the environmental problems on the island. Social improvements can be made through members of the community as well as private groups, such as insurers, working together to rebuild. Overall, the most important thing is to restore life back to order as quickly as possible.
