Sarasota County, Florida—An Assessment of Disaster Vulnerability

Founded in 1921, Sarasota County encompasses approximately 575 square miles on the southwest coast of Florida. Sarasota County's beautiful beaches, barrier islands, and pristine natural areas make it a desirable place to live.

During the 2004 hurricane season, Sarasota County was spared from major destruction from Hurricane Charley by only a few miles. After years of avoiding hurricanes, the county began to investigate ways to use GIS to assess disaster vulnerability of critical facilities. The goal was to create a fast and accurate way to calculate the potential risk for selected sites and enable the Emergency Operations Center to update its disaster response plans with current data.

The Sarasota County Historical Center identified major historical resources that should be included in a disaster plan. These are publicly owned sites and would need public funds for protection and repairs. Each of these historical sites was given a score based on flooding, winds, storm surge, hazardous materials, and wildfires. In addition, hospitals, shelters, fire stations, and mobile home parks were assessed for vulnerability in the event of a hurricane/flood incident.

The system of assessing the vulnerability for each site was point based, and by using ArcGIS software, the sites were assigned scores based on criteria using selection sets and spatial assignment.