Job Market Paper

Extreme Weather Events and Critical Infrastructure Resilience: Lessons from Hurricane Irma in Florida

Highlights

• Following Hurricane Irma, disruptions in critical infrastructure systems severely impacted business sectors operation in Florida.

• Household survey data integration with the DIIM model estimates business sector losses, ranging from $3.66 to $5.30 billion.

•  Assessment of business sector resilience and interdependencies can offer insights for policymakers in disaster recovery and preparedness planning.

*Abstract*

Severe weather events like hurricanes can severely impact the local economy. They disrupt vital services such as power, communication, and transportation. This study evaluated business sector operation loss in Florida due to disruption in seven critical infrastructure systems following Hurricane Irma's landfall in 2017. These sectors included disruptions in electricity, water, phone, internet, transportation, workplace, and grocery access. A household survey of Florida residents across 14 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) provided the extent of disruption in each infrastructure system. Then, the household survey responses (percentage of respondents experienced the specific type of disruption and average days of that disruption) were incorporated into the Dynamic Inoperability Input-Output Model (DIIM) to assess the impact of these disruptions on Florida's 71 interconnected business sectors. The total estimated projected business sector loss from the DIIM ranges from $3.66 to $5.30 billion depending on the assumption made with respect to the number of working days. This study highlights the business sector recovery and resilience due to critical infrastructure system failure and provides insights regarding the resilience of each sector and their inherent interdependencies. The findings can be valuable to policymakers for disaster preparedness and recovery planning for future extreme weather events.