Using information on nighttime lights from NASA, remote sensing techniques, official records of power outages, and census data, a study has identified significant differences in how quickly power is restored in urban versus rural areas, as well as between low-income and more affluent communities after Hurricane Michael struck Florida’s Panhandle. Neighborhoods with higher numbers of minority residents, multi-family housing, rural settings, and households receiving public assistance had slower power restoration compared to urban and wealthier areas.
One of the many destructive consequences following a hurricane is the loss of electricity, which can extend for days or even weeks. Communities facing this power loss may struggle to access essential services like food, fuel, and health care.
In 2018, Hurricane Michael, a Category 5 hurricane, caused significant destruction when it made landfall in Florida. It was the strongest storm recorded in the Florida Panhandle, with maximum winds reaching 161 miles per hour and storm surges measured between 9 and 14 feet. The areas most heavily impacted included Mexico Beach, Panama City Beach, and Cape San Blas.
Counties that experienced the most damage reported that nearly all of their customers were without electricity for several days. Among the 14 affected counties, eight are classified as rural, and five of these have over 20% of residents living in poverty. The loss of electrical power at the household level can have widespread consequences for families that cannot salvage or replace refrigerated items.
After a disaster, it is critical to quickly assess the damage to kickstart search and rescue operations and prioritize utility restoration. However, inconsistent data regarding power outages and a lack of standard reporting complicate emergency response efforts, especially in diverse, disadvantaged, or rural areas.
To understand the complex aftermath of Hurricane Michael in the Florida Panhandle, researchers from Florida Atlantic University, alongside other collaborators, combined remote sensing data, official outage statistics, and census information. This approach provided a comprehensive view of initial damage and the restoration process, and its impact on vulnerable communities. They explored the relationship between levels of damage and power restoration rates by overlaying recovery estimates obtained from NASA’s Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Day/Night Band (DNB) — known as nighttime light data — with a reclassification of NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey Emergency Response Imagery, which was categorized into various types of land damage, such as debris, sand, water, trees, barren land, and roofs around Mexico Beach.
The findings of the study, which were published in the journal Remote Sensing, highlight clear disparities in power restoration rates between urban and rural areas, as well as between disadvantaged and wealthier communities. The results indicate that neighborhoods with higher proportions of minority residents, multi-family housing, rural locations, and households benefiting from public assistance saw slower power restoration than urban and more affluent areas.
Through hotspot analysis, the study revealed significant differences in power restoration rates, with urban regions—particularly those near Tallahassee—showing much higher restoration rates compared to rural areas and regions with significant structural damage, such as Mexico Beach.
“Slow recovery in essential infrastructure like the power grid can further harm these communities. The functioning of air conditioning, food preservation, entertainment, business operations, schooling, and even drinking water for households with wells all depend on electricity,” said Diana Mitsova, Ph.D., the senior author and chair and professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. “Thus, power loss and delayed restoration significantly negatively impact households and families, affecting everything from health to economic productivity.”
For this study, researchers utilized outage data averaged across a week from the Florida Public Service Commission along with NASA’s VIIRS DNB data. They applied spatial lag models to analyze how the pace of power restoration was related to socioeconomic status. Urban and rural counties were differentiated based on classifications from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Center for Health Statistics. Restoration rates and recovery curves were developed for the 14 counties, allowing comparisons of power restoration patterns across different regions. Additionally, the researchers compiled electrical service loss and restoration rates at the block group level using data from the 2013-2017 American Community Survey.
“Our findings further substantiate that inadequate post-disaster recovery disproportionately impacts households and families in disadvantaged neighborhoods and rural areas,” stated Mitsova. “These communities are more vulnerable to natural disasters and often sustain greater damage when compared to other regions.”
Beyond emphasizing the need to revisit building codes and strengthen mutual aid agreements between rural electrical cooperatives and larger entities within and outside Florida, the findings of this study also highlight the necessity for more focused research on the unequal impacts of disasters on smaller rural communities, coastal and agricultural ecosystems, and policy approaches aimed at addressing these disparities.
“Our study underscores the imperative of integrating socioeconomic considerations into disaster preparedness and recovery planning, emphasizing the need for targeted initiatives to alleviate disparities in recovery times following natural disasters,” Mitsova stated. “Such initiatives and research have the potential to tackle future challenges and enhance resilience in primarily rural and underserved communities.”
