Statistical and Spatial Analysis of Hurricane-induced Roadway Closures and Power Outages

Mahyar Ghorbanzadeh, Mohammadreza Koloushani, Mehmet Baran Ulak, Eren Erman Ozguven and Reza Arghandeh Jouneghani
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Mahyar Ghorbanzadeh: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University-Florida State University College of Engineering, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32310, USA
Mohammadreza Koloushani: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University-Florida State University College of Engineering, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32310, USA
Mehmet Baran Ulak: Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA
Eren Erman Ozguven: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University-Florida State University College of Engineering, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32310, USA
Reza Arghandeh Jouneghani: Department of Computing, Mathematics, and Physics, Faculty of Engineering and Science, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, 5020 Bergen, Norway

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 5, 1-18

Abstract: Hurricanes lead to substantial infrastructure system damages, such as roadway closures and power outages, in the US annually, especially in states like Florida. As such, this paper aimed to assess the impacts of Hurricane Hermine (2016) and Hurricane Michael (2018) on the City of Tallahassee, the capital of Florida, via exploratory spatial and statistical analyses on power outages and roadway closures. First, a geographical information systems (GIS)-based spatial analysis was conducted to explore the power outages and roadway closure patterns in the city including kernel density estimation (KDE) and density ratio difference (DRD) methods. In order to provide a more detailed assessment on which population segments were more affected, a second step included a statistical analysis to identify the relationships between demographic- and socioeconomic-related variables and the magnitude of power outages and roadway closures caused by these hurricanes. The results indicate that the high-risk locations for roadway closures showed different patterns, whereas power outages seemed to have similar spatial patterns for the hurricanes. The findings of this study can provide useful insights and information for city officials to identify the most vulnerable regions which are under the risk of disruption. This can lead to better infrastructure plans and policies.

Keywords: hurricane impact assessment; roadway closures; power outages; density ratio difference (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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