Natural Disaster Event Response

In recent years, changes to weather and climate have manifested in unprecedented events and impacts to the CHNEP area. The CHNEP brings governmental and non-governmental partners together to provide resources and coordinate natural disaster and episodic event response and recovery efforts.

Resources

Disaster Assistance

Red Tide Resources

CHNEP Coastal Conditions Map
Algal Bloom Sampling Status
HAB Forecasts
Florida Intensification Forecast
FDEP Algal Bloom Reporting Form
Mote Beach Conditions Report
FWC Fish Kill Reports
Submit a Fish Kill Report: (800) 636-0511

Lessons Learned

Potential Next Steps

Need to better integrate water quality monitoring and emergency operations. Educate emergency mangers/Policy makers on the impact water quality has to human, ecologic, and economic health after a major storm event and the need to have a coordinated response plan. Educate environmental managers on EOC processes and procedures.
Increase 'nimbleness' of response time and identify where and how collected data will be shared.

Climate Change and Future Implications

More available energy from increased ocean temperatures and increased atmospheric moisture will cause winds in the strongest storms to become stronger, meaning wind damages would be greater and storm surge would be larger.

Using the same attribution technique recently peer-reviewed in Nature Communications, preliminary analysis by Prof. Kevin Reed and Michael Wehner shows human-induced climate change increased Ian’s extreme rain rates by over 10%.

More specifically, accumulated precipitation over land during Hurricane Ian increased by 15.3 to 20.7% due to climate change, leaving 500,000 more people flooded.

A new scientific study has found that human-caused climate change made Atlantic hurricanes about 18 mph stronger in the past 6 years. Specifically, Hurricane Helene increased by 16 mph and Milton by 24 mph due to climate change.

Draft Natural Resource & Emergency Planning Policies Document

The CHNEP worked with the Central Florida Regional Planning Council (CFRPC) to create a Natural Resource Emergency Response Component (NRERC) for County Comprehensive Emergency Management Plans (CEMP) and held meetings with county managers and staff to discuss the complex pathways for adopting this.

Hurricane Ian

Hurricane Helene

Hurricane Milton

Debris Removal

Florida Marine Debris Removal Guidance
Florida Waterway Debris Removal
Hurricane Debris Reporting
FDEM Debris Cleanup Hotline: (850) 961-2002

Additional Resources

Problems encountered related to Water Quality included:

Surface water can be impacted by not only by nutrient and contaminant concerns from runoff (gas, oil, pesticides, physical debris) but also elevated bacteria levels from septic and sewer overflows as well as the risk posed by some algae blooms or other natural occurring organisms such as Vibrio being given ideal conditions to proliferate post-storm.
Currently surface water is seen as environmental only, not a public health concern in the way that drinking water may be. Providing information on surface water quality not included in emergency management protocols/practices.
Up to date information on water quality concerns for policy makers and the public as it can also have impacts to human health and post-storm practices.

Problems encountered related to Logistics included:

Lab capacity issue- many labs that would process water quality and bacteria samples are already under-staffed and were diverted to drinking water testing only.
Equipment availability- Some field sampling groups lost equipment or sustained damage to boats or offices.
Limited man-power- Field and lab staff diverted to other emergency roles
Travel safety concerns: On the water, navigating through unknown dangers on the water due to debris and missing channel markers. On land, traffic and travel time due to lights being down or out.
Safety of handling or being around surface water-need safety equipment and gear on hand.
Limited fuel for boats, cars, generators. Limited ice for sample storage.

Coordination factors that made response work well or could have been improved:

Coordination was successful given circumstances. Need to continue to build partnerships within and outside the region so that those who do have capacity can travel in and provide supplies and support to those who may be hard hit.
Formalize Communication Network: Could efforts made to coordinate and sample be replicated or formalized for future responses? Who should lead coordination? What is scale of coordination? State Agencies, Local Governments, Non-profits, Universities, NEP?
Need to have a list of standardize protocols and data formatting consistency for information sharing as well as an outline of partner capacities and responsibilities.

Lessons learned in preparation:

Can counties/cities/agencies stockpile a certain amount of supplies, gear and sampling equipment including bottles so prep and staging can be done pre-event? Similar to what is done for other emergency supplies. Can mobile labs be deployed?
Can municipal and state agencies set up procurement contracts with private entities for sampling and labs for analysis that can be executed in the case of an emergency similar to what is done for other emergency supplies?
Build safety and emergency SOPs that would be implemented post-event. Determine ahead of time what type of monitoring should be prioritized, what is most critical and what is most time-sensitive.
Public education campaigns about water safety ahead of events for the following: Emergency managers, policy-makers, and the public.

Hurricane-caused ocean warming has intensified recent hurricanes.png