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Background
In
2004 and 2005,
Florida
experienced an unprecedented level of tropical storm activity. In
2004, Hurricanes
Charley
,
Frances
, Ivan and Jeanne impacted our State. Hurricanes Dennis, Katrina,
Rita and Wilma came ashore in
Florida
in 2005. In the short span of 24 months, millions of
Florida
residents were impacted, and property damages ran into the billions of
dollars.
In
response to these devastating hurricane seasons, state legislators
passed House Bill 1721 and House Bill 1359, which identified enhanced
statewide hurricane evacuation planning and a redefinition of the
coastal high hazard area as state priorities.
In accordance with this legislative direction, the State of
Florida Division of Emergency Management obtained grant money through
the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation
Grant Program to conduct regional evacuation studies across the State.
The
Division of Emergency
Management contracted with
Florida
’s Regional Planning Councils to carry out these studies in close
collaboration with county emergency management agencies.
The Regional Planning Councils will facilitate consistent and
integrated mapping and analysis of all-hazards evacuation across
Florida.
 In South Florida, this multi-year project will result in a comprehensive
regional evacuation study update that encompasses Miami-Dade, Broward
and
Monroe
counties and is integrated with similar work being completed by the
Treasure
Coast
and
Southwest Florida
regions. This study will
include updated Light
Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) elevation data and Sea,
Lake
and Overland Surge from Hurricanes (SLOSH) flood modeling under a
separate contract.
Inter-agency
cooperation and data sharing is a vital part of ensuring the success of
this regional and state initiative.
A regional Technical Advisory Team of county-level agencies has
been created, with each county’s Emergency Management Agency acting as
the lead.
Although
hurricanes are a prominent concern in the studies, the framework is
being established for an “all hazards” analysis in order to support
planning efforts to prepare for other types of evacuations as well, such
as inland flooding or wildfires. These
studies are not policy documents – instead, they are intended to
provide support for future updates to local government emergency
management plans. The
completed study will consist of 44 volumes of material (4 from each of
the 11 regions across the state), plus an index volume.
Project
Elements
Phase
I of the evacuation study consists of the following:
- A
systematic enumeration and GIS mapping of the dwelling units,
population, vehicles and socio-economic characteristics for the
three counties and the region, as well as the projected population
within those areas in the years 2006, 2010 and 2015.
(Demographic Analysis)
- A
comprehensive analysis of the potential hazards to the South Florida
region, including investigations of storm surge, tornadoes,
flooding, hazardous sites, terrorism and nuclear facilities, and
critical facilities inventory. (Hazards Analysis)
- A
systematic investigation of the probable tendencies of potential
future evacuees based on a detailed residential survey.
(Behavioral Analysis)
- A
regionwide inventory of existing public shelters and shelter
capacity analysis, and geocoding of the data to create a statewide
layer of shelter locations. (Shelter Analysis)
- Establishment
of a regional evacuation transportation network which links existing
county-level evacuation routes and any additional
arterials/collectors in the region.
Phase
II of the study will include a vulnerability analysis, consisting of the
delineation of the storm tide limits and the evacuation zones,
identification of population-at-risk and evacuation populations, storm
surge analysis of critical facilities and the evacuation transportation
analysis.
Coordination
Meetings
Statewide
2008:
January 31, 2008, Fort Myers, FL (Southwest Florida Regional Planning
Council)
February 28, 2008, Stuart, FL (Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council)
March 31, 2008, Maitland, FL (East Central Florida Regional Planning
Council)
May 14, 2008, Fort Lauderdale, FL (Governor’s Hurricane Conference)
May 23, 2008, Maitland, FL (East Central Florida Regional Planning
Council)
June 25, 2008, Maitland, FL (East Central Florida Regional Planning
Council)
July 31, 2008, Bartow, FL (Central Florida Regional Planning Council)
Regional
2008:
March 7, 2008,
Hollywood
,
FL
(
South Florida
Regional Planning Council)
Project
Status
The
following Regional Evacuation Study documents are available:
· The
Demographic Analysis includes county profiles and a summary for the
region (January 2008);
Broward
Demographics 2006
Miami-Dade
Demographics 2006
Monroe
Demographics 2006
South
Florida Summary Demographics 2006
· County
and regional Future Land Use Maps (FLUM) were developed based on
statewide categories and standards that have been adopted and utilized
by all the regions;
FLUM
Broward
FLUM
Miami-Dade
FLUM
Monroe
FLUM
South Florida
· A
draft Regional
Evacuation Network has been developed for use in the transportation
analysis for this study;
· The
South
Florida Behavioral Survey Report includes detailed data from 1,200
telephone surveys (delivered by Kerr & Downs in August 2008);
For
Further Information
Contact
Richard Ogburn
at rogburn@sfrpc.com or Manny
Cela at celam@sfrpc.com
This
website will be updated with new materials as the Study Program moves
forward. Please visit again
for the most up-to-date information.
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