Overview

In 2004 and 2005, Florida experienced an unprecedented level of tropical storm activity. In 2004, Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne impacted our State. Hurricanes Dennis, Katrina, Rita and Wilma came ashore in Florida in 2005. In the short span of 24 months, millions of Florida residents were impacted, and property damages ran into the billions of dollars.

In response to these devastating hurricane seasons, state legislators passed House Bill 1721 and House Bill 1359, which identified enhanced statewide hurricane evacuation planning and a redefinition of the coastal high hazard area as state priorities. In accordance with this legislative direction, the State of Florida Division of Emergency Management obtained grant money through the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Grant Program to conduct regional evacuation studies across the State.

The Division of Emergency Management contracted with Florida's Regional Planning Councils to carry out these studies in close collaboration with county emergency management agencies. The Regional Planning Councils will facilitate consistent and integrated mapping and analysis of all-hazards evacuation across Florida.

In the Withlacoochee Region, this multi-year project will result in a comprehensive regional evacuation study update that encompasses Citrus, Hernando, Levy, Marion and Sumter counties and is integrated with similar work being completed by the Tampa Bay and North Central Florida regions. This study will include updated Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) elevation data and Sea, Lake and Overland Surge from Hurricanes (SLOSH) flood modeling under a separate contract.

Although hurricanes are a prominent concern in the studies, the framework is being established for an "all hazards" analysis in order to support planning efforts to prepare for other types of evacuations as well, such as inland flooding or wildfires. These studies are not policy documents - instead, they are intended to provide support for future updates to local government emergency management plans. The completed study will consist of 44 volumes of material (4 from each of the 11 regions across the state), plus an index volume.

Project Elements

Phase I of the evacuation study consists of the following:

* A systematic enumeration and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping of the dwelling units, population, vehicles and socio-economic characteristics for the three counties and the region, as well as the projected population within those areas in the years 2006, 2010 and 2015. (Demographic Analysis)
* A comprehensive analysis of the potential hazards to the Withlacoochee region, including investigations of storm surge, tornadoes, flooding, hazardous sites, terrorism and nuclear facilities, and critical facilities inventory. (Hazards Analysis)
* A systematic investigation of the probable tendencies of potential future evacuees based on a detailed residential survey. (Behavioral Analysis)
* A region-wide inventory of existing public shelters and shelter capacity analysis, and geocoding of the data to create a statewide layer of shelter locations. (Shelter Analysis)
* Establishment of a regional evacuation transportation network which links existing county-level evacuation routes and any additional arterials/collectors in the region.

Phase II of the study will include a vulnerability analysis, consisting of the delineation of the storm tide limits and the evacuation zones, identification of population-at-risk and evacuation populations, storm surge analysis of critical facilities and the evacuation transportation analysis.

Statewide Coordination Meetings

Statewide 2008:
January 31, 2008, Fort Myers, FL (Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council)
February 28, 2008, Stuart, FL (Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council)
March 31, 2008, Maitland, FL (East Central Florida Regional Planning Council)

Project Status

The following summarizes completed deliverables through early 2008:

* The Demographic Analysis was completed in January of 2008, including finalized versions of county and regional profiles; and

* A regional Future Land Use Map is in the final stages of being developed based on statewide categories and standards which have been adopted and will be utilized by all the regions.

Evacuation Routes from the 2004 Hurricane Evacuation Study