Hurricane Michael
The Florida Department of Health's Response to the Great October Storm
This StoryMap was created for presentation at the ESRI 2019 User Conference and received an award at the Tallahassee regional SHRUG workshop.
Creators
Parker Hinson, GIS Manager and ESF-8 Geospatial Lead
Rebekah Jones, GIS Analyst
Citation
Hinson, Parker and Jones, Rebekah. “Florida Department of Health’s GIS Response for Hurricane Michael” (2019 ESRI International User Conference, San Diego, CA, July 8-12, 2019)
https://proceedings.esri.com/library/userconf/proc19/index.html
http://shrug-gis.org/workshop#
Map Information
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About ESF#8
The Florida Department of Health (FL DOH) staffs the Emergency Support Function (ESF) Team #8 for the state of Florida before, during, and after disasters.
ESF#8 manages operations and logistics related to health and medical needs, including facility evacuations, shelter staffing and supplies, special needs accommodations, wellness checks, patient transfers, missing persons, community-based care, rapid response and more.
The 2018 Hurricane Season resulted in the largest deployment of ESF#8 personnel since 2005, when Florida responded to Hurricanes Dennis, Katrina, and Wilma.
During Hurricane Michael alone, nearly 1,500 FL DOH staff were deployed on state missions using resources from governmental agencies, private ambulance companies, volunteers, and federal teams.
Florida Hurricane History
Since historical record-keeping began in 1851, more than 300 tropical cyclones have made landfall along Florida's 8,436 miles of coastline.
Consequently, there isn’t a stretch of Florida beach more than 10 miles long that has not had the eye of a hurricane cross it.
The longest stretch of beach without a mapped hurricane eye crossing over it is located just west of Port Charlotte, Florida.
It is 9.16 miles long.
The 2018 hurricane season marked the third year in a row that Florida suffered a direct hurricane landfall.
Hurricanes Hermine (2016) and Irma (2017) both impacted the Florida Panhandle.
In May 2018, months before Hurricane Michael would form in the Caribbean, Tropical Storm Alberto made landfall just west of Panama City Beach.
Alberto, although a weak system at landfall, gave emergency planners a quick practice run for the real thing.
In general, preparations begin at ESF#8 once any potential tropical storm threat exists in the Gulf or North Atlantic.
Staging areas for supplies and work crews are set up across the state, poised to move in once the danger passes.
For Tropical Storm Alberto, the state monitored support needs and assisted with community-based care and staffing.
After four months of a relatively quiet hurricane season for the Gulf of Mexico, a new system began building strength in early October 2018.
Hurricane Michael Approaches the Florida Coast
A disturbance in the Caribbean Sea became Tropical Storm Michael on Sunday, October 7.
Michael intensified into a Category 1 hurricane near the western tip of Cuba on October 8.
Hurricane Michael strengthened rapidly in the Gulf of Mexico, reaching major hurricane status on October 9.
The storm's rapid intensification triggered emergency activation protocols across the Northern Gulf.
All of the Florida counties in Michael's path declared a state of emergency prior to landfall, and most issued either partial or full evacuation orders.
FL DOH immediately activated ESF#8 personnel to prepare for the approaching storm.
GIS Staff in #ESF8 created print maps, online maps, and operation dashboards to provide critical data about evacuation statuses for hospitals, emergency departments, nursing homes, and other healthcare facilities in the days leading up to the storm's landfall.
As the storm's potential landfall area narrowed on October 9, focus shifted toward preparing supplies and evacuating the most vulnerable people and facilities.
ESF#8 called in additional ambulances for evacuations and transfers, cots for shelters, and hundreds of support staff.
The coastal hurricane evacuation zones included dozens of medical and other facilities that required evacuation prior to landfall.
Hospitals in Bay and Gulf counties, more than 100 miles away from the nearest facilities outside of the evacuation zone, transferred more than 3,000 patients to shelters and other facilities.
As Hurricane Michael neared landfall on October 10, work came to a halt.
Ambulances cannot be dispatched once sustained winds reach 35 miles per hour.
Fire and other heavy-duty response vehicles stop being dispatched at 50 miles per hour.
As Michael made landfall between Panama City Beach and Mexico Beach with maximum sustained winds topping 130 miles per hour, all emergency staff could do was be ready and wait.
Hurricane Michael Impacts
The combined hazards of wind, storm surge, rain, and flooding devastated the patchwork of communities across the Forgotten Coast.
Some of Hurricane Michael's worst impacts were the wind, surge and rain brought onto shore in the early hours of October 10.
The small, coastal town of Mexico Beach was home to about 1,300 people before Hurricane Michael made landfall.
About 80% of the town was destroyed.
The devastation captured the eyes of the world.
ESF#8 utilized GIS tools to plan and assist with patient movement, search and rescue operations, and assessment of damages in some of the most heavily-impacted areas.
ESF#8 staff began rapid damage assessment of the Mexico Beach to Port St. Joe area on October 11.
Using post-event aerial and drone imagery, ESF#8 staff were able to complete the six-mile stretch of coastline between Mexico Beach and Port St. Joe in just two days.
Nearly all of the beach-front property was reduced to rubble and marble slabs.
Although the immediate danger had passed by October 11, Michael's destruction caused near-total power outages for 11 Florida counties.
110 critical health facilities were still without power two days after the storm.
ESRI tools allowed ESF#8 response staff to quickly identify data and update asset information from locations across the state.
These tools were used to track power outages and needs at those facilities, generator and fuel statuses, and vulnerable population needs and resources.
At least twice daily, each map would need to be updated, printed, rolled and handed off for distribution to emergency planning staff and stakeholders at the Emergency Operations Center and those responding in the field.
In the weeks and months following, the homes, trees and the Earth itself still bared the scars of Michael's destruction.
Remote sensing analysis of the change in tree canopy coverage after Hurricane Michael showed an immediate and catastrophic impact.
The downed trees and piles of debris would later become a widespread wildfire threat.
Photo by Jonathan Bachman / Reuters
Immediate response needs and monitoring remained priority #1 during the initial activation period.
As power was restored and acute health and safety risks subsided, recovery efforts took center stage.
Managing Care
The Panama City, Port St. Joe, Blountstown and Apalachicola service areas were left with no acute-care hospitals capable of treating the most critical and life-threatening conditions.
Facility closures forced ESF#8 to draw new service boundaries and routes, accounting for roads that were flooded, bridges that were destroyed, and communities left with limited communication and transportation resources.
Bay Medical Center in Panama City reopened the Emergency Room of its 323-bed facility six weeks after the storm.
The hospital laid off 635 employees, and the community it served continues to struggle with access to care.
Photo by Eric Thayer for The New York Times
ESF#8 used damage assessment maps and surveys to prioritize relief efforts, including:
Hurricane Michael revealed concerning inadequacies in preparedness for public health emergencies across departments and agencies, for which ESRI tools serve as a primary resource in addressing these current gaps and future needs.
Preparing for Future Storms
Hurricane Michael struck Florida's Forgotten Coast- one of the state's most sparsely-populated coastal areas.
The number of people and facilities in evacuation zones of Florida's other, more-urban coastal cities would be much more difficult to manage.
Hurricane Michael provided ESF#8 with the opportunity to observe and learn from the response effort's greatest strengths and weaknesses.
Key action items developed post-event focus on expanding the capabilities of geospatial technology in responding to a major hurricane impact.
Taking the lessons from Michael and applying them to future hurricanes will enable ESF#8 staff to be prepared for the most critical elements of any response effort - the health and welfare of Florida's people.
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This StoryMap was created for presentation at the ESRI 2019 User Conference, cited as follows:
Hinson, Parker and Jones, Rebekah. “Florida Department of Health’s GIS Response for Hurricane Michael” (2019 ESRI International User Conference, San Diego, CA, July 8-12, 2019)
https://proceedings.esri.com/library/userconf/proc19/index.html
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For more information, contact GISRequests.DCHP@flhealth.govFlorida Department of Health, in partnership with the Florida Department of Emergency Management. 2019. floridahealth.gov
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