{"id":615422,"date":"2023-08-31T19:33:10","date_gmt":"2023-09-01T02:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=arcuser&#038;p=615422"},"modified":"2024-03-13T16:34:48","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T23:34:48","slug":"interactive-maps-tell-the-story-of-modern-risk-mitigation-in-florida","status":"publish","type":"arcuser","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcuser\/interactive-maps-tell-the-story-of-modern-risk-mitigation-in-florida","title":{"rendered":"Interactive Maps  Tell the Story of Modern Risk Mitigation in Florida"},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[237591,24962,211],"tags":[26512,481522,486552,165752],"arcuser_issues":[486292],"class_list":["post-615422","arcuser","type-arcuser","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disaster-response","category-focus","category-public-safety","tag-climate-change","tag-emergency-preparedness","tag-hazard-mitigation","tag-hurricane","arcuser_issues-arcuser-summer-2023"],"acf":{"short_description":"The Florida Division of Emergency Management used GIS to create a five-year hazard mitigation plan. ","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":615442,"file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"THE Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) mandates that every US state create a five-year hazard mitigation plan that gives priority to community vulnerability and climate forecasts. Instead of producing a 500-page report, the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) is meeting this FEMA mandate in a new way by employing interactive maps to make the plan more user-friendly.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe met with local jurisdictions, and they told us they didn\u2019t find the previous plan useful, which is a dagger to our heart for this huge five-year effort,\u201d said Kristin Lentz, the mitigation planning manager at FDEM.\r\n\r\nTo meet FEMA\u2019s directive by the August 2023 deadline, the FDEM team applied GIS analysis of hazards, climate, and social vulnerability. To make the plan more intuitive, Lentz worked with Dan Rydl, GIS manager at FDEM, to incorporate digital maps. They built the site using ArcGIS Hub to organize information and ArcGIS StoryMaps to provide narratives.\r\n\r\nWhat was once a hefty PDF is now a website with data-rich maps and insightful narratives. FDEM will continue updating the site\u2019s open data and analytical guides for counties and municipalities.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":615472,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<h3>Mitigation Projects through a Lens of Vulnerability<\/h3>\r\nState hazard mitigation projects can include retrofitting critical facilities such as schools and hospitals to better withstand hazards such as high winds, flooding, and extreme heat. The work entails hardening infrastructure such as electrical and telecommunications networks to uphold power and internet connections. Other hazard mitigation projects include increasing drainage and, in some cases, elevating homes in areas that experience repeat flooding to mitigate stormwater hazards.\r\n\r\nAfter a major event, FDEM assesses the damage to determine how mitigation projects can reduce property loss and save people from harm.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe loss avoidance reports help us with storytelling and getting buy-in for more projects,\u201d Lentz said. \u201cIn mitigation, projects utilize effective resilience techniques to improve future outcomes, which can be highlighted through these reports.\u201d\r\n\r\nIn a similar way, FDEM uses maps to show communities in need of more help and areas where hazard risks are highest. With more mapping, a more comprehensive picture of risk in Florida emerged. For instance, analysis of some natural hazards, such as extreme heat, revealed social vulnerability along the center of the state.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe mapped risks and hazards and draped social vulnerability on top of that,\u201d Rydl said. \u201cAlmost everybody that looks at the hazard vulnerability map pauses and wants to talk about it because they understand hazard risk in a new way. Regardless of the hazard, it opens your eyes to the more challenged and impoverished areas. People assume that the coast is the most vulnerable, but that\u2019s not always the case.\u201d\r\n\r\n&nbsp;"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":615482,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<h3>Forecasting and Collaboration Mark a Path Forward<\/h3>\r\nFor the previous five-year plan, Rydl and the FDEM GIS team provided maps. For this plan, he taught Lentz and her mitigation planning team how to make maps. They met every week for two years. Rydl trained the team members on GIS basics, and they applied the technology to all FEMA\u2019s requirements.\r\n\r\nAlong the way, talent emerged on the combined GIS and planning teams. Some members were more comfortable making maps, others focused on narratives, and a few took on web development. \u201cWe picked up on that and built a really fun collaborative environment,\u201d Rydl said.\r\n\r\nOne area of focus was climate vulnerability. Florida currently feels increased impacts from more frequent and intense natural hazards. These hazards include wildfires, extreme heat, drought, storms, heavy precipitation, and sea level rise. The state has seen more natural disasters than most, particularly during hurricane season, which runs June 1 through November 30. For 2023, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecasters near normal activity for the first time in seven years. If that holds true, it will pause an upward trend as extreme hurricanes have been on the rise over the last six years.\r\n\r\nHurricane Ian, which devastated southwest Florida in September 2022, is a sobering example. It caused more than $112 billion in damages and more than 150 deaths. According to NOAA, it is the third-costliest hurricane in US history. Without the mitigation measures then in place, the damage could have been worse. Assessment of damage from hurricanes guides future mitigation.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":615492,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"While many states have considered climate forecasts in their hazard plans in the past, the FDEM team knows how tightly mitigation aligns with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/about\/climate-action\/overview\/climate-risk-management\">climate resilience<\/a>.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe\u2019ve done the research to understand impacts, but I think we can improve on visualizing what future conditions will look like here in Florida,\u201d Lentz said.\r\n\r\nRydl is looking into risk forecast models to understand what\u2019s coming. Meanwhile, Lentz and her staff are on their way to becoming GIS experts. \u201cI think the GIS team has become a little more mitigation-y, and I think mitigation got a little more GIS-y,\u201d Rydl said.\r\n\r\nThis year, the FDEM team is confident it\u2019s built a product that\u2019s more useful to the counties and municipalities that design mitigation projects.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe created a tool that allows local jurisdictions to ask where dollars will best be spent,\u201d Lentz said. \u201cThey can look at how successful projects are, but also at where they haven\u2019t yet implemented mitigation.\u201d\r\n\r\n&nbsp;"}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>More useful hazard mitigation plan for Florida<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Instead of producing a 500-page report, the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) is 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