The regular occurrence of hurricane-associated winds has been an important factor in shaping the structure and composition of the forest ecosystems of the Florida Everglades. Forest communities in the Everglades are adapted to hurricane disturbances, but increased frequency and/or intensity of hurricanes may lead to decline or even collapse of these communities. The overall objective of this project is to understand the patterns, pace, and mechanisms of the recovery process to Hurricane Andrew damage in four Everglade forest communities: pinelands, hardwood hammocks, bayhead tree islands, and cypress domes. This study combines long- and short-term field measurements and experimental garden studies to determine how the four woody plant community types recover from hurricane impacts. Most of the community types were adversely affected by storm damage in the short-term (3 years post-hurricane) through altered growth rates and canopy defoliation, however these effects were relatively short lived and were not visible in shifts in species composition after the long-term (20 year) recovery period. Only in the most diverse communities over the long-term there was a delayed mortality in damaged individuals that drove a diversity loss. This loss was not present over the short-term recovery time period. Using individual damage extent and short-term recovery growth rates, I developed a simplified model that accurately predicted surviving individual stem size over long-term recovery periods of Taxodium distichum within cypress domes and select hardwood hammock species. The shadehouse experiments demonstrated the importance of nutrient availability to growth of seedlings of canopy dominants. Recruits of these species responded to changing environmental conditions associated with storm impact through a variety of strategies in accordance with their adaptive traits. Synergistically, the combined parts of this dissertation demonstrate directional community and species-specific shifts that vary over time scales. Storm impacts have the potential to alter community composition and diversity within impacted systems, and in particular the Everglades ecosystem.

abstract: Short-notice disasters such as hurricanes involve uncertainties in many facets, from the time of its occurrence to its impacts’ magnitude. Failure to incorporate these uncertainties can affect the effectiveness of the emergency responses. In the case of a hurricane event, uncertainties and corresponding impacts during a storm event can quickly cascade. Over the past decades, various storm forecast models have been developed to predict the storm uncertainties; however, access to the usage of these models is limited. Hence, as the first part of this research, a data-driven simulation model is developed with aim to generate spatial-temporal storm predicted hazards for each possible hurricane track modeled. The simulation model identifies a means to represent uncertainty in storm’s movement and its associated potential hazards in the form of probabilistic scenarios tree where each branch is associated with scenario-level storm track and weather profile. Storm hazards, such as strong winds, torrential rain, and storm surges, can inflict significant damage on the road network and affect the population’s ability to move during the storm event. A cascading network failure algorithm is introduced in the second part of the research. The algorithm takes the scenario-level storm hazards to predict uncertainties in mobility states over the storm event. In the third part of the research, a methodology is proposed to generate a sequence of actions that simultaneously solve the evacuation flow scheduling and suggested routes which minimize the total flow time, or the makespan, for the evacuation process from origins to destinations in the resulting stochastic time-dependent network. The methodology is implemented for the 2017 Hurricane Irma case study to recommend an evacuation policy for Manatee County, FL. The results are compared with evacuation plans for assumed scenarios; the research suggests that evacuation recommendations that are based on single scenarios reduce the effectiveness of the evacuation procedure. The overall contributions of the research presented here are new methodologies to: (1) predict and visualize the spatial-temporal impacts of an oncoming storm event, (2) predict uncertainties in the impacts to transportation infrastructure and mobility, and (3) determine the quickest evacuation schedule and routes under the uncertainties within the resulting stochastic transportation networks. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Industrial Engineering 2020

Thesis (M.A.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Geography, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Hurricanes are a threat to power and telecommunication infrastructure. This work summarizes a method for hurricane characterization using the proposed Localized Tropical Cyclone Intensity Index(LTCII) as a model for estimating damages to Electric power infrastructure. The model considers the effect of storm surge, maximum sustained wind speeds, the duration of time for which the system has been under tropical storm conditions and the area swept by hurricane over land. The measurements focus on major load centers in the system. The validation of the outage data is discussed. The model is evaluated for hurricanes from 2004, 2005 and 2008 hurricane seasons. The degree of influence of various hurricane parameters on the damages suffered by electric power systems are discussed using case studies. The maximum outages are observed to follow a logistic regression curve with respect to log(LTCII), with a correlation of 0.85. The observed restoration times fit a 6th degree polynomial with an R2 = 0.6. The effects of time under tropical storm winds were observed to have great significance in the damage profile observed with the model. / text

The traditional role of the active-duty military force at home is one of support to a civilian Lead Federal Agency (LFA) that primarily falls under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). During emergencies, military domestic assistance is historically provided when local, state, and federal resources have been overwhelmed. During and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, however, the slow and perceived inept response to the massive disaster prompted a national debate on the appropriate role of the military in response to major domestic disasters. Many concerned with the federal response to Katrina believed that America's homeland security system could not aptly respond to a large-scale natural or man-made catastrophe without the military in a lead role. Defining the roles and understanding the responsibilities outlined for the Department of Defense (DOD) within the National Response Plan (NRP) is an important first step towards an effectively coordinated incident response. The purpose of this research is to explore the role of the active-duty military in domestic disaster response, using Hurricane Katrina, to determine if DOD and DHS response to the disaster was implemented according to the NRP. This research will help explain the role that the military plays in supporting the civilian LFA in disaster response.

Mit dem mesoskaligen nichthydrostatischen Modell "Lokal Modell" (LM) des Deutschen Wetterdienstes (DWD) werden die Vorgänge in einer Orkanzyklone simuliert. Als Beispiel wird das Tiefdruckgebiet Ginger aus dem Jahr 2000 dargestellt. Die meteorologischen Antriebsdaten wurden durch das globale Modell des DWD erzeugt. Die Auswirkungen von Veränderungen verschiedener Bedingungen auf die Entwicklung der Zyklone, und vor allem auf das Windfeld, sollen untersucht werden. Dazu werden die Antriebsdaten künstlich verändert. Im Beispiel wird der horizontale Temperaturgradient geändert, und die Folge auf Druckverteilung und Windgeschwindigkeit betrachtet. Da das LM nur einen Ausschnitt aus der Atmosphäre simuliert, kommt es durch die Eingriffe in die Antriebsdaten zu Problemen am Rand. Ein Verfahren wird getestet, um diese zu vermeiden. / The development of a cyclone is simulated with the nonhydrostatic limited area model "Lokal Modell" (LM) of the German Weather Service (DWD). The cyclone Ginger which occurred in 2000 serves as an example. The forcing data were generated by the global model of the DWD. The effects of various conditions were considered contributing to the evolution of Ginger and mainly to its velocity field. For this purpose, the forcing data were artificially varied. As an example the horizontal temperature gradient was changed. The effects on the pressure field and its corresponding velocity field are discussed. As the LM simulates only a limited area, the lateral bounds become problematic because of the manipulated forcing data. A procedure is tested, in order to prevent this problems.

Coastal marshes and wetlands are vital natural resources that offer habitats for plants and animals, serve as ecological filtration for soil and water pollutants, and act as protection for coastlines. Fishing, both commercial and sport, has a large economic impact in the study area – the Gulf Coast between Galveston Bay, TX and Oak Grove, LA. The objective of this research was to determine the contribution of Hurricane Ike storm surge sedimentation to long-term marsh aggradation in Texas and Louisiana coastal marshes. The research hypothesized that Hurricane Ike’s storm surge deposit would be equal to decades and possibly even a century’s worth of the average annual non-storm sedimentation. A quantitative field study was performed. The storm surge deposit was examined in a series of 15 transects covering approximately 180 km east of Hurricane Ike’s landfall. Nine of the 15 transects were re-surveyed a year after the initial measurement to assess preservation of the deposit. The results demonstrate that Hurricane Ike contributed between 10 to 135 years’ worth of sediment to coastal marshes along the coasts of Texas and Louisiana, and the sediment deposits have been preserved for over two years.

College student persistence has been the central focus of higher education for decades. Specifically, historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have directed their attention to increasing the retention and graduation rates of African American college students. Postsecondary institutions face greater challenges with college student persistence after a major crisis. This study explored college student persistence at a historically Black university ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. Given the devastation caused by the storm, this study examined college students' decisions for continuing their educational pursuits at the historically Black university which is a temporary trailer campus created by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The temporary campus has 45 trailers designated for classrooms, science labs, a library, a dining facility, and office space for faculty and staff. Students enrolled for the 2007 Spring Semester (N= 301) were asked to complete the Decisions to Resume Educational Pursuits (DREP) instrument that was designed specifically for this study. Predictor variables including, sex, residence status, Pell Grant status, campus housing status, college grade point average, attendance before Hurricane Katrina, and having parents or another close relative attend SUNO were used to predict educational aspirations, campus environment, and financial aid eligibility status as the reason college students continued their education after Hurricane Katrina. The ANOVA for the regression of educational aspirations revealed that the model predicted an overall significant F (7,241) = 4.824, p < .01 and 10% of the variance in educational aspirations was explained by the model. No significant relationship was found with campus environment. As was the case with educational aspirations, the ANOVA for the regression of financial aid eligibility status revealed that the model predicted an overall significant F (7,241) = 4.309, p < .01 and 9% of the variance in financial aid eligibility was explained by the model. A multiple regression model resulted in a statistically significant relationship for attending SUNO before Hurricane Katrina and educational aspirations. Also, results from multiple regression resulted in a statistically significant relationship for sex and financial aid eligibility, along with a relationship for Pell Grant status and financial aid eligibility status.

On August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast and storm surges breached levees flooding much of New Orleans, Louisiana. One month after the storm, sediment was collected and toxicity was tested using Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) embryos. Sediments with the highest contaminant levels showed the highest embryonic mortality and most delayed development. However, no sediment caused an increased mutant frequency. When the most contaminated site was resampled in February, 2006 contaminant levels and toxicity decreased. During toxicity testing, approximately 20% of embryos incubated with sediment from one of these sites died and turned red. A red bacterium was isolated that is Gram-negative, cocco-baccilus, non-motile, and most similar to Hahella chejuensis based on genetic and metabolic tests. This bacterium caused 100% infection at 108 bacterial cells per ml and variable infection at lower doses. This study was the first to examine biological effects of exposure to post-Hurricane Katrina sediments.

Over the past thirty-five years, anthropogenic disturbances around Bayou Lacombe have altered its fish assemblage. In 2005, the impact of Hurricane Katrina on southeast Louisiana presented me with a unique opportunity to explore the effects of a catastrophic storm on the Bayou. I explored the effects of natural and human disturbances on the Bayou's fish assemblage by electrofishing six historically sampled stations. My research goals were to determine: 1) which Bayou Lacombe fish assemblages were most resilient to the multiple effects of Hurricane Katrina, 2) if there were significant differences in the Bayou's fish assemblages over the past 35 years based on historical fish assemblage data, and 3) what are the drivers of fish assemblage change in Bayou Lacombe. I found significant differences in upstream fish assemblages before and after Hurricane Katrina in the Bayou. I also documented the disappearance of nearly all cyprinid species over the past 35 years.