Sunday, August 10, 2025
Science
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • SCIENCE NEWS
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME
  • SCIENCE NEWS
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Scienmag
No Result
View All Result
Home Science News Bussines

Nighttime light data shows inequities in restoring power after Hurricane Michael

August 14, 2024
in Bussines
Reading Time: 5 mins read
0
Nighttime Light Data
66
SHARES
599
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Among the many devasting impacts in the aftermath of a hurricane are power outages, which can take days or even weeks to restore. Communities grappling with the loss of electricity may encounter obstacles in accessing vital services, including food, fuel and health care.

Nighttime Light Data

Credit: Florida Atlantic University

Among the many devasting impacts in the aftermath of a hurricane are power outages, which can take days or even weeks to restore. Communities grappling with the loss of electricity may encounter obstacles in accessing vital services, including food, fuel and health care.

In 2018, Hurricane Michael, a Category 5 storm, wreaked havoc in Florida as it made landfall in the United States. It was strongest recorded to hit the Florida Panhandle with winds of nearly 161 miles per hour and storm surge reaching heights between 9 and 14 feet. Mexico Beach, Panama City Beach and Cape San Blas experienced the highest level of devastation.

Several counties in the hardest hit areas reported that 100% of their customer accounts were out of electricity for several days. Eight of the 14 counties in the area are classified as rural and five of these counties have poverty rates above 20%. At the household level, loss of electric power can have ripple effects for families without a means to salvage and replace refrigerated items.

After a disaster, assessing damage quickly is crucial for initiating search and rescue and prioritizing the restoration of utilities. However, inconsistent public data on power outages and a lack of standardization hinder emergency response efforts. This is particularly challenging in diverse, disadvantaged or rural areas.

To unravel the complex effects of Hurricane Michael on the Florida Panhandle, researchers from Florida Atlantic University and collaborators combined remote sensing data, official outage records, and census information to provide an in-depth view of the initial damage, the restoration process, and its impact on vulnerable populations. They examined the correlation between damage levels and power restoration rates by overlaying estimated percent recovery derived from NASA’s Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Day/Night Band (DNB) (also known as nighttime lightdata) with a reclassification of NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey Emergency Response Imagery. This imagery was categorized into various types of land damage, including debris, sand, water, trees, barren land, and roofs around Mexico Beach.

Results of the study, published in the journal Remote Sensing, reveal notable differences in power-restoration rates between urbanized and rural areas and between disadvantaged and more affluent communities. The findings indicate that block groups with higher proportions of minorities, multi-family housing units, rural locations, and households receiving public assistance experienced slower restoration of power compared to urban and more affluent neighborhoods.

Through hotspot analysis, significant variations in power-restoration rates were highlighted, with urban areas, particularly those surrounding Tallahassee, demonstrating notably higher rates compared to rural regions and areas heavily affected by structural damage, like Mexico Beach.

“Delayed recovery in key infrastructure, such as the power grid, will further devastate these communities. Operation of air conditioning units, food storage, entertainment, working, schooling and even drinking water for households with wells, all rely on electricity,” said Diana Mitsova, Ph.D., senior author and chair and professor of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning within FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. “Consequently, power loss and delayed restoration have a profound negative impact on households and families, ranging from health to economic productivity.”

For the study, researchers used outage data averaged over a week from the Florida Public Service Commission and NASA’s VIIRS DNB data. They also used spatial lag models to study how the speed of power restoration related to socioeconomic status. Researchers differentiated between urban and rural counties using a classification scheme from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Center for Health Statistics. Restoration rates and curves were developed for 14 counties to compare power-restoration patterns between these regions. They also aggregated electrical service loss and restoration rates at the block group level using data from the 2013–17 American Community Survey.

“Our findings further confirm that insufficient post-disaster recovery disproportionally affects households and families in disadvantaged neighborhoods and rural communities,” said Mitsova. “These communities tend to be vulnerable to natural disasters and often suffer more severe damage compared to other areas.”

In addition to underscoring the importance of revisiting building codes and fostering new mutual aid agreements between rural electrical cooperatives and larger entities within and outside Florida, findings from this study also highlight the need for more focused scholarship on disparate disaster impacts on smaller rural communities, coastal and agricultural ecosystems and policy solutions to address these disparities.

“Our study emphasizes the importance of integrating socioeconomic factors into disaster preparedness and recovery-planning efforts, stressing the need for targeted interventions to mitigate disparities in recovery times following natural disasters,” said Mitsova. “Such initiatives and scholarship hold promise for addressing future challenges and enhancing the resilience of predominantly rural and underserved communities.”

Study co-authors are Yanmei Li, Ph.D., an associate professor, FAU Department of Urban and Regional Planning; Ross Einsteder; Tiffany Roberts Briggs, Ph.D., chair and associate professor, Department of Geosciences, FAU Charles E. Schmidt College of Science; Alka Sapat, Ph.D., professor and director, School of Public Administration, FAU Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters; and Ann-Margaret Esnard, Ph.D., distinguished university professor of public management and policy, Georgia State University.

This research was supported by the National Science Foundation Grant (CMMI#1541089) awarded to Mitsova and her team.

– FAU –

About Florida Atlantic University:
Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students across six campuses located along the southeast Florida coast. In recent years, the University has doubled its research expenditures and outpaced its peers in student achievement rates. Through the coexistence of access and excellence, FAU embodies an innovative model where traditional achievement gaps vanish. FAU is designated a Hispanic-serving institution, ranked as a top public university by U.S. News & World Report and a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. For more information, visit www.fau.edu.

 

 



Journal

Remote Sensing

DOI

10.3390/rs16142588

Method of Research

Imaging analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Using Nighttime Light Data to Explore the Extent of Power Outages in the Florida Panhandle after 2018 Hurricane Michael

Article Publication Date

15-Jul-2024

Share26Tweet17
Previous Post

Rising mercury pollution in soil could be related to climate change, study says

Next Post

Early life exposure to common chemical permanently disrupts gut microbiome

Related Posts

blank
Bussines

Shifts in Cardiovascular Risk and Healthcare Costs Linked to Semaglutide Use

August 8, 2025
blank
Bussines

Analysis of Prescription Drug Use and Expenditure Across Race, Ethnicity, Insurance, Health Conditions, and US States

August 8, 2025
blank
Bussines

How Tariffs Might Boost the U.S. Economy—But Global Trade Dynamics and Retaliation Could Counteract Benefits

August 7, 2025
blank
Bussines

Study Reveals Large Crowds Diminish Live-Stream Engagement

August 7, 2025
blank
Bussines

Sandia’s Small Business Team Receives DOE Recognition Once Again

August 7, 2025
blank
Bussines

EU Organic Label: Why “Organic” Makes All the Difference

August 6, 2025
Next Post

Early life exposure to common chemical permanently disrupts gut microbiome

  • Mothers who receive childcare support from maternal grandparents show more parental warmth, finds NTU Singapore study

    Mothers who receive childcare support from maternal grandparents show more parental warmth, finds NTU Singapore study

    27531 shares
    Share 11009 Tweet 6881
  • University of Seville Breaks 120-Year-Old Mystery, Revises a Key Einstein Concept

    945 shares
    Share 378 Tweet 236
  • Bee body mass, pathogens and local climate influence heat tolerance

    641 shares
    Share 256 Tweet 160
  • Researchers record first-ever images and data of a shark experiencing a boat strike

    507 shares
    Share 203 Tweet 127
  • Warm seawater speeding up melting of ‘Doomsday Glacier,’ scientists warn

    310 shares
    Share 124 Tweet 78
Science

Embark on a thrilling journey of discovery with Scienmag.com—your ultimate source for cutting-edge breakthroughs. Immerse yourself in a world where curiosity knows no limits and tomorrow’s possibilities become today’s reality!

RECENT NEWS

  • Black Hole-Neutron Star Binary Merges: Cosmic Catastrophe
  • Glueball Calculation’s Apparent Convergence: A New Light

  • Key Biophysical Rules for Mini-Protein Endosomal Escape
  • COVID-19 Survivors’ RICU Stories: Southern Iran Study

Categories

  • Agriculture
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Athmospheric
  • Biology
  • Bussines
  • Cancer
  • Chemistry
  • Climate
  • Earth Science
  • Marine
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine
  • Pediatry
  • Policy
  • Psychology & Psychiatry
  • Science Education
  • Social Science
  • Space
  • Technology and Engineering

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Success! An email was just sent to confirm your subscription. Please find the email now and click 'Confirm Follow' to start subscribing.

Join 4,860 other subscribers

© 2025 Scienmag - Science Magazine

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • HOME
  • SCIENCE NEWS
  • CONTACT US

© 2025 Scienmag - Science Magazine