Disaster GroupCarlos Calante Rachel Carden

IDS 3920

Sarah GoodCasey Pond

Lee county • Population : 571,344

• Private NonFarm Business: 15,126

• Land Area, 2000 (square miles): 803.63

• Persons per Square mile: 548.4

Wild Fires• Thousands of acres of land are up in flames

• More than unnatural

• Displaces business,

• Affects health of majority of lee county population, elderly

Wild Fires

Picture and video taken by:

Carlos Calante

Hurricanes • Hurricanes that effected Ft. Myers: Hazel, Donna, Isabell, Judith, Abbey,

Jenny, Dennis, Bob, Andrew, Gordon, Harvey, Gabrielle, Charley, Wilma.

• In 1960 Hurricane Donna hit Southwest Florida as a Category 4

• 140 mph winds

• 10 to 12 inches of rain in Southwest Florida

• 1992 Hurricane Andrew hit as a Category 5 hurricane

• caused 23 deaths and a total of $26.5 billion dollars in damage (38.1 billion 2006)

• 25% of the Florida Everglades trees were knocked down by the storm.

• August 13th 2004 Hurricane Charley made landfall in Southwest Florida

• 10 direct deaths, 20 indirect deaths, and 13 billion dollars in damage making it the fourth costliest hurricane to hit the United States

Hurricanes • 145 mph when it hit Port Charlotte

• Storm surge of 6.5 feet at Captiva Island and created a ¼ mile inlet now know as Charley’s cut

• It cut off power to as many as two million people in Florida. About 240,000 were still without power a week after Charley made landfall.

• Damage to the Citrus crop was $150 million

• Hurricane Wilma hit on October 24th 2005

• Directly responsible for 35 deaths and 26 indirect deaths in Florida

• Damage in Florida alone caused $20.6 billions dollars in damage

• FPL stated that Wilma left 6,000,000 people without power

Financial Effects

• Four hurricanes (Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne) and one tropical storm (Bonnie) pummeled the state last year leaving behind more than $50 billion

http://www.inc.com/news/articles/200507/florida.html

Financial Effects cont.• Tax Impact

– This swell of economic activity also lined the state's coffers with $2 billion in unexpected tax revenues.

• Tourism– A record 76 million tourists visited Florida in 2004 and

spent nearly $57 billion. – In 2005, 40 billion tourists visited Florida and spent

$25 billion• Crop and Orange Industry

– The $9 billion dollar citrus industry absorbed $2 billion in hurricane-related damages

http://www.inc.com/news/articles/200507/florida.html

Financial Effects cont.• Plan and Preparedness

• Donations and Taxes help in the aiding for preparing for future inevitable disasters– Donations accumulate millions of dollars

each year in the planning of another disaster

– Florida in effect has incorporated florida tax relief funds for those affected by hurricanes. Also a multi million dollar fund

http://www.cfdiocese.org/news/news06/dplan06.htm

Financial Effects Cont.• Upside to disasters

– According to Enterprise Florida, a public/private partnership working to diversify Florida's economy, 225,000 new, non-agricultural jobs were created in the Sunshine State between May 2004 and May 2005

– With the National Weather Service predicting 12 to

15 storms to form this season -- with half of them becoming full-blown hurricanes -- the Sunshine State's economic future looks bright, even if the weather forecast isn't.

http://www.inc.com/news/articles/200507/florida.html

Preventing Disasters

• Building Codes

• Prescribed Burns

• Drainage Systems

Building Codes

• Hurricane Straps

• Polyurethane Foam

Prescribed Burns

• Accumulation of Fuels

• Manageability

• Cost Effective

Drainage

• SFWMD

• C-43 Basin Project

• Southwest Florida Feasibility Study

• Gator Slough Improvements

DrainagePicture and video taken by:

Carlos Calante

Preventing Disasters“Economic losses worldwide from natural disasters in the 1990s could have been reduced by $280 billion of just $40 billion had been invested in preventative measures.”

- State of the World 2007 p. 123

WAIS Divide Antarctica Project

• View pictures of Antarctica Research Team here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/calantec/JoeAntarticaResearchGroup

• To visit main website click here:http://www.waisdivide.unh.edu/