This document discusses lessons learned from past hurricanes that have impacted various nations. It outlines key impacts of hurricanes such as wind damage, storm surge, flooding, infrastructure impacts, and economic costs. Specific hurricanes that caused major damage, like Andrew, Katrina, Rita, Wilma and Sandy, are examined in depth. The document stresses that it takes multiple hurricane disasters before most nations will enact policies to improve resilience. It identifies pillars of resilience like preparedness, building codes, early warning systems, emergency response, and insurance. The challenge of enacting policy changes through education to create "turning points" for improved resilience is also addressed.

1. LEARNING FROM GLOBAL
DISASTER LABORATORIES
PART 3: HURRICANES

2. TRACKS OF MORE THAN 1325 HURRICANE
DISASTER LABORATORIES FOR LEARNING
• EACH HURRICANE
TEACHES
IMPORTANT
TECHNICAL AND
POLITICAL
LESSONS ABOUT
HURRICANE
DISASTER
RESILIENCE.

4. COMMUNITY
DATA BASES
AND INFORMATION
•SEVERE
WINDSTORMS
•INVENTORY
•VULNERABILITY
•LOCATION
RISK ASSESSMENT
RISK
ACCEPTABLE RISK
UNACCEPTABLE RISK
HURRICANE
DISASTERR
RESILIENCE
•PREPAREDNESS
•PROTECTIONS
•EARLY WARNING
•EMERGENCY RESPONSE
•RECOVERY and
RECONSTRUCTION
POLICY OPTIONS
Wind profile
Storm Hazards:
-Wind pressure
-Surge
-Rain
-Flood
-Waves
-Salt water
-Missiles
-Tornadoes
Ocean
Gradient Wind

5. NATIONS THAT NEED TO BECOME
HURRICANE DISASTER RESILIENT
• CANADA
• USA
• MEXICO
• CENTRAL AMERICA NATIONS
• JAIMAICA AND WEST INDIES
• CARIBBEAN BASIN NATIONS

6. WE CONTINUE TO OPERATE WITH
A FLAWED PREMISE:
KNOWLEDGE FROM HURRICANE
DISASTERS, WHICH OCCUR
ANNUALLY IN THE ATLANTIC AND
EASTERN PACIFIC BASINS,
IS ENOUGH TO MAKE ANY NATION
SUSCEPTIBLE TO HURRICANES
ADOPT AND IMPLEMENT POLICIES
THAT WILL FACILITATE ITS
DISASTER RESILIENCE

7. FACT: IT USUALLY TAKES
MULTIPLE HURRICANE
DISASTERS BEFORE A STRICKEN
NATION WILL ADOPT AND
IMPLEMENT POLICIES THAT
MOVE IT TOWARDS HURRICANE
DISASTER RESILIENCE

8. FACT:
MOST UNAFFECTED NATIONS DON’T
EVEN TRY TO LEARN ANYTHING NEW
FROM ANOTHER NATION’S
HURRICANE DISASTERS AND
CERTAINLY DON’T CONSIDER THEM
TO BE A BASIS FOR CHANGING
EXISTING POLICIES

9. WIND AND WATER
PENETRATE BUILDING
ENVELOPE
HURRICANES
UPLIFT OF ROOF SYSTEM
FLYING DEBRIS PENETRATES
WINDOWS
STORM SURGE
HEAVY PRECIPITATION IN A
SHORT TIME
FLASH FLOODING
(MUDFLOWS)
LANDSLIDES (MUDFLOWS)
CAUSES
OF RISK
GLOBAL
DISASTER
LABORATORIES

10. TYPICAL SOCIOECONOMIC
IMPACTS
• A community’s (worst case--the
Capital) functions are shut down
for a time
• Downed trees
• Flooded streets
• Power outages
• Roofs ripped off

11. TYPICAL SOCIOECONOMIC
IMPACTS
• Major roads blocked by debris
• Bridges washed out or
impassible
• Sea wall, levees, etc., damaged
• Airport closed; planes
damaged on the runway
• Landslides

12. TYPICAL SOCIOECONOMIC
IMPACTS
• Region- and locale-specific
damage to food crops and
“money crops” (i.e., exportable
goods)

13. EXAMPLES OF PAST
HURRICANE DISASTER
LABORATORIES THAT
TAUGHT MANY LESSONS

14. SOME OF THE “BAD” HURRICANES:
1989-2013
• Hugo Sept 1989
• Andrew Aug
1992
• Opal Oct 1995
• Floyd Sept
1999

15. ANDREW: One of the most
intense and the last of the three
Category 5 hurricanes to make
US landfall in the 20th century,
Andrew had sustained winds of
165 mi/hr and caused
catastrophic damage in Florida.

16. HURRICANE ANDREW:
CAT 5; AUG 24, 1992

17. HURRICANE ANDREW: FLORIDA
CITY, FL; AUG 25, 1992

18. SOME OF THE “BAD” HURRICANES:
1989-2013 (Continued)
• Mitch Nov 1998
• Charley Aug
2004
• Ivan Sept 2004
• Dennis 2005
• Katrina Aug
2005

19. KATRINA: Nearly every levee in
the Federal Protection System
of New Orleans’ was breached,
eventually causing 80 percent of
the city to be flooded, and 1,836
people to lose their lives. .

20. HURRICANE KATRINA: NEW
ORLEANS; CAT 3, AUG 30, 2005

21. “BAD” HURRICANES: 1989-2013
(Continued)
• Rita Sept 2005
• Stan Sept 2005
• Wilma Oct 2005
• NONE 2006

22. HURRICANE RITA: EVACUATION
CENTER, SEPT 21, 2005

23. RITA: In addition to a record
evacuation of over 1 million
people that took evacuees to
places like the First Baptist
Church in Tyler, TX, Rita’s winds,
waves, and storm surge caused
damage to the oil industry and
flooding in New Orleans again.

24. HURRICANE WILMA: NAPLES,
FL; CAT 5, OCT 24, 2005

25. WILMA: A CAT 5 storm, Wilma
was the most intense hurricane
ever recorded in the Atlantic
basin, but it was a Category 3
when it made landfall in several
places, causing devastation in
the Yucatan Peninsula, Cuba,
and Florida.

26. SOME OF THE “BAD” HURRICANES:
1988-2013 (Continued)
• Dean 2007
• Felix 2007
• Noel, 2007

27. HURRICANE DEAN: CATEGORY 4
STORM ON AUGUST 18

28. HURRICANE DEAN: A CATEGORY
2-3 STORM ON AUGUST 17
• The eye of hurricane Dean, the first of
the North Atlantic season, passed
between the Caribbean islands: St.
Lucia and Martinique, on Friday,
August 17.
• The two islands, less than 80 km (50
mi) apart were, were struck with winds
of 165 - 200 km per hour (100 - 125 mi
per hour), storm surge, and heavy rain.

29. SOME OF THE “BAD” HURRICANES:
1988-2013 (Continued)
• Gustav Sept
2008
• Ike 2008
• Paloma 2008
• NONE 2009

30. GUSTAV: Gustav prompted the
largest evacuation in USA
history-- 3 million people-- who
fled the oncoming hurricane,
after it had made landfall in
Haiti and Cuba, crossed the
Gulf of Mexico, and made
landfall again in Cocodrie, La.,
on Sept. 1, 2008.

31. HURRICANE GUSTAV: 3 MILLION
EVACUATING LA, SEPT 1, 2008

32. SOME OF THE “BAD” HURRICANES:
1989-2013 (Continued)
• Igor 2010
• Tomas 2010
• Irene 2011
• None 2012
• Sandy 2013

33. SANDY: A $300 BILLION
STORM; OCTOBER 24, 2012
Sandy, 2012’s ninth hurricane, became a
huge storm with wind and rain bands
reaching out 500 km or more from the
storm center, producing 15-50 cm of rain
and flooding in Jamaica, Bermuda, Haiti,
Dominican Republic, Cuba, New Jersey,
and New York

34. CAT I HURRICANE SANDY:
OCTOBER 24

35. SUPER STORM SANDY:
OCT. 29-30, 2012

36. SANDY: RAIN IN HAITI

37. SANDY: RAIN IN CUBA

38. NOW SUPER STORM SANDY;
OCT. 29-30, 2013

39. NEW JERSEY: ATLANTIC
CITY UNDER WATER

40. NEW JERSEY: OCEAN
FRONT FLOODING

41. NEW JERSEY: STREETS
FLOODED

42. FLOODING IN BROOKLYN,
NY

43. $360 MILLION STORM SURGE,
NEW HAVEN, CT: OCT. 30

44. LESSON: THE TIMING OF
ANTICIPATORY ACTIONS IS VITAL
• The people who know: 1) what to
expect (e.g., storm surge, high-
velocity winds, rain, flash floods,
and landslides,), 2) where and
when it will happen, and 3) what
they should (and should not) do to
prepare will survive.

45. LESSON: TIMELY EARLY WARNING
AND EVACUATION SAVES LIVES
• The people who have timely early
warning in conjunction with a
community evacuation plan that
facilitates getting out of harm’s way
from the risks associated with
storm surge, high winds, flooding,
and landslides will survive.

46. TRACKING THE STORM

47. THREE MAJOR FACTORS:
GOOD COMMUNICATIONS
GOOD MESSAGING
SAFE HAVENS FOR
EVACUEES

48. “SAFE HAVENS” (I.E., EVACUATION
CENTERS)

49. LESSON: WIND ENGINEERED
BUILDINGS SAVE LIVES
• Buildings engineered to withstand
the risks from a hurricane’s high
velocity winds will maintain their
function and protect occupants and
users from death and injury.

50. THE HURRICANE SAFE ROOM IS
A RECENT CONSTRUCTION
INNOVATION THAT SAVES LIVES

52. LESSON: EMERGENCY RESPONSE
SAVES LIVES AND PROTECTS
• The timing of emergency response
operations is vitally important for
search and rescue and provision of
emergency services to save lives
and protect property.

53. LESSON: EMERGENCY MEDICAL
PREPAREDNESS SAVES LIVES
• The local community’s capacity for
emergency health care offsets the
crisis caused by damaged hospitals
and medical facilities, lack of clean
drinking water, food, and medicine,
and high levels of morbidity and
mortality.

54. LESSON: THE INTERNATIONAL
COMMUNITY ALWAYS PROVIDES AID
• The International Community
provides millions to billions of
dollars in relief to help “pick up the
pieces, ” but this strategy is not
enough by itself to ensure disaster
resilience.

55. FACT:
HURRICANE DISASTER
RESILIENCE POLICIES BASED
ON LESSONS LEARNED FROM
PAST HURRICANE
LABORATORIES ARE NEEDED BY
MANY NATIONS

56. PILLARS OF HURRICANE DISASTER
RESILIENCE
Preparedness
Adoption and Implementation of a Modern Wind
Engineering Building Code
Time,y Early Warning and Evacuation
Timely Emergency Response (including
Emergency Medical Services)
Casualty insurance to underwrite losss
Cost-Effective Recovery

57. THE CHALLENGE:
POLICY CHANGES: CREATE, ADJUST, AND
REALIGN PROGRAMS, PARTNERS AND
PEOPLE UNTIL YOU HAVE CREATED THE
KINDS OF TURNING POINTS NEEDED FOR
MOVING TOWARDS HURRICANE RESILIENCE

58. CREATING TURNING POINTS FOR
HURRICANE DISASTER
RESILIENCE
 USING EDUCATIONAL SURGES CONTAINING
THE PAST AND PRESENT LESSONS TO FOSTER
AND ACCELERATE THE CREATION OF TURNING
POINTS

59. CREATING TURNING POINTS FOR
HURRICANE DISASTER
RESILIENCE
INTEGRATION OF SCIENTIFIC AND
TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS WITH POLITICAL
SOLUTIONS FOR POLICIES ON
PREPAREDNESS, PROTECTION, EARLY
WARNING, EMERGENCY RESPONSE, AND
RECOVERY