SHMPoints Providing insightful mitigation news and information from around the State of Florida.

VOLUME 4, ISSUE 4 DECEMBER 2014 Public Facilities Flood Mitigation Initiative By: Jamie Leigh Price

Imagine a world where buildings never got damaged referencing a series of FEMA publications, American Society from flood waters and tax payers never had to feel the burden of Civil Engineers publications, and the Florida Building of repairing buildings over and over again. That sounds ideal, Code to ensure accurate and up to date methodologies. right? Unfortunately, we’re a long way from seeing that happen, but Florida is In order to test the methodologies taking steps to hopefully one day make presented in the guidebook, planners and that vision a reality. engineers conducted pilot evaluations in partnership with three state agencies. In an effort to make Florida a state The facilities were chosen to represent a less burdened by the costs of floods, The vast cross-section of functionality, flood Florida Division of Emergency sources, risk, and structure and asset Management (FDEM) embarked on a type. The evaluations of the Florida statewide public facilities mitigation State University Coastal and Marine Lab initiative which focuses on facilities in the Florida Panhandle, the Florida threatened by flood waters. Partnering Department of Economic Opportunity with ARCADIS and utilizing Hazard Employment Service Center in South Mitigation Grant Program funds, Florida and the Florida Department of FDEM’s Mitigation Bureau set out to Health Bureau of Vital Statistics facility learn about the threatened facilities, in provided the analysis create an assessment tool, test its team with an opportunity to see how the functionality, and educate stakeholders methodology presented would be used about the tool. ARCADIS and understood during and after on-site evaluations. Using the Department of Environmental Protection’s Florida State Owned Lands and Records Information System The team developed training materials and conducted (FL-SOLARIS), FDEM obtained information on facility type, three pilot educational workshops to teach those involved agency, geographical coordinates, and other key information how to use the manual and complete evaluations, as pertaining to facilities across the state. This information was necessary. These workshops were conducted in September mapped, evaluated, and integrated with FEMA floodplain with the intention of soliciting feedback on the materials, data to create a map that has been uploaded to a password workshops, and the initiative as a whole. Feedback was protected website and is automatically updated as facilities thoroughly documented and changes were incorporated into are added or removed from the database. the final materials.

The project called for the creation of a Public Facilities Moving forward, the FDEM Mitigation Bureau hopes to Flood Hazard Mitigation Assessment Manual to outline the work closely with state authorities responsible for the siting methodology and techniques involved in identifying, of new facilities to ensure that these facilities are properly evaluating and prioritizing flood prone facilities. The manual also attempts to help people understand the potential mitigated. The Bureau also hopes to continue and expand consequences of inaction as well as how identifying and portions of this initiative. There continues to be a high implementing mitigation measures can greatly reduce the demand for workshops to be conducted throughout the state. identified risk. This manual provides a variety of helpful Workshop materials will be finalized and available via the forms and a mitigation assessment report template to help the FDEM mitigation webpage. As of this article’s publishing, evaluator create a risk assessment report that could form the the next workshop is planned for the 2015 Governor’s backbone of a mitigation funding pursuit all while cross- Hurricane Conference. P A G E 2

Getting More from Your LMS

CRS and EMAP Integration By: Michael Wallick

LMS, CRS, EMAP… be earned through a continuation of community planners often feel as monitoring and evaluation of the though they are swimming through a LMS. sea of alphabet soup. Some plans are required while others are optional, One success story to come out and this can make the entire process of the integration of CRS Section seem very intimidating. No one likes 510 into the LMS review tool has to reinvent the wheel, nor does been -Dade County. Cathie anyone like to spend unnecessary Perkins, a planner with Miami-Dade time duplicating efforts and County shared, “It was very helpful maintaining multiple large plans. In some cases it is better to to have the CRS items in [the review tool] as well. When I work smarter, not harder, and make the most out of required presented what we had incorporated into the plan I think a lot plans by adding the necessary relevant information to enhance of our members were very excited about all the work we have the benefits received from other elective programs. done. It was easy to follow the [review tool]; it was my go to when I was trying to figure out how to piece it all together”. In recent months, local participation in the National Flood Many other communities have begun to utilize the Florida

Insurance Program’s (NFIP) Community Rating System (CRS) LMS Review Tool to help integrate CRS Section 510 into their has been a top priority for the Florida Division of Emergency planning processes. Management. With many of Florida’s counties going through their Local Mitigation Strategy (LMS) updates, FDEM’s LMS integration doesn’t have to stop at CRS points. Mitigation Bureau saw the potential to address the 10 step FDEM’s Mitigation Planning Unit has been working closely Planning Process as outlined under Floodplain Management with the division’s Emergency Management Accreditation Planning Section 510 of the CRS program within the LMS Program (EMAP) Manager to review LMS plans for EMAP planning process. With the rollout of the Florida LMS Review compliance. Similar to CRS steps, EMAP Standards 4.3 and Tool in May 2014, Section 510 CRS compliance was 4.4 directly address hazard identification, risk and vulnerability embedded within the review tool as a way to show planners assessment, consequence analyses, and mitigation initiatives. areas of overlap between the two programs as well as make the Each of these topics is required in the LMS. For this reason, integration process easier. It should be noted that this is not a incorporating EMAP criteria into the 2014 Florida LMS requirement for those going through the LMS update process, Review Tool to help counties seeking EMAP recognition but serves as an easy way to address Section 510 for those identify areas for overlap and integration has been considered. counties wishing to pursue CRS points. The most appropriate place to integrate Standard 4.3 into the Florida LMS Review Tool would be the “Hazard Risk and Within the Florida LMS Review Tool (an Excel workbook Vulnerability Assessment” section, while the most appropriate consisting of multiple spreadsheets), you can find the Section place to integrate Standard 4.4 would be the “Mitigation 510 CRS Crosswalk which shows the elements required to Strategy” section. These added elements would still be optional maximize CRS points. This document is auto-populated from and could be integrated much like the CRS elements currently information entered into the LMS Review Tool, creating a in the tool. crosswalk that can be printed and submitted directly to the community’s CRS representative for scoring. FDEM’s Mitigation Planning Unit encourages your input on further integrating CRS and EMAP into the Florida LMS Section 510 includes 10 steps that can result in a Review Tool. To learn more about the Florida LMS Review maximum of 382 CRS points. These steps have been fully Tool please contact your FDEM LMS liaison. To learn more integrated into the Florida LMS Crosswalk spreadsheet to about the community ratings system, contact Danny Hinson at show where they can be incorporated within the LMS process. [email protected]. To learn more about Steps 1-3 can be found in the “Planning Process” section of the EMAP, contact Britton Holdaway at Florida LMS Review Tool. Steps 4 and 5 can be found in the [email protected]. To learn more about “Hazard Risk and Vulnerability Assessment”. Steps 6, 7, and 8 how Miami-Dade County has benefitted from the Florida LMS are included in the “Mitigation Strategy” section. Step 9 is Review Tool’s CRS integration, contact Cathie Perkins at under the “Plan Adoption” section and points for Step 10 can [email protected]. VOLUME 4, ISSUE 4 P A G E 3

Organization Spotlight:

NOAA’s Weather Ready Nation By: Michael Wallick

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s opportunities for communities; recognize the organization as a (NOAA) Weather-Ready Nation is an initiative to build Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador; and share the Weather- community resilience in the face of increasing vulnerability to Ready Nation Ambassador logo for their use. extreme weather and water events. The goal of the initiative is to improve the nation’s readiness, responsiveness, and overall The Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador initiative resilience. This includes improvements in a wide range of connects federal, state, and local government agencies; areas to support management of the nation’s water supply, emergency managers and city planners; researchers, the media; understanding of climate-related risks, economic productivity, the insurance industry; nonprofit organizations; the private healthy communities and ecosystems. sector; and many others who are working together to address the impacts of extreme weather on daily life. This effort to As a Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador, partners commit involve the whole community to provide information for better to working with NOAA and other Ambassadors to strengthen decision making at the community, business, and personal national resilience against extreme weather. Thereby unifying level is working to motivate people, and society as a whole, to efforts across government, non-profits, academia, and private heed warnings and take action which thereby influences their industry toward making the nation more ready, responsive, and family, friends, and social networks to do the same in the event resilient against extreme environmental hazards. To officially of severe weather.

be recognized as a Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador, an organization must commit to promoting Weather-Ready Together, Weather-Ready Nation Ambassadors will Nation messages and themes to their stakeholders; engaging inform and empower communities, businesses, and people to with NOAA personnel on potential collaboration opportunities; make decisions that can be life-saving and prevent or limit sharing their success stories of preparedness and resiliency; economic losses from a severe weather event. and serving as an example by educating employees on workplace preparedness Any organization across all levels of government, businesses large and small, non-profit and non-governmental Further, these communities serve as a change agent and organizations, and academia can become a Weather-Ready leader in their community. They inspire others to be better Nation Ambassador. The Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador informed and prepared, helping to minimize or even avoid the initiative is intended for organizations and designed to help impacts of these natural disasters. serve the public by strengthening national resilience against extreme To support local efforts, weather events. Numerous Florida NOAA can provide outreach communities participate in this content about creating a Weather- initiative already. If you have Ready Nation; explore innovative further questions, email NOAA’s approaches for collaboration with Weather-Ready Nation team at the organization; assist with [email protected]. StormReady®/TsunamiReady™

We would like to congratulate Palm Beach County and DeSoto County on achieving Approved Pending Adoption status! P A G E 4

Hazard Profile: Freeze By: Amy Godsey

The hot and humid summers dependent on other factors, that Florida experiences are well- including but not limited to, known around the world. In fact, weather conditions the previous they attract millions of people to winter (warm or cold, dry or wet, the Sunshine State every year. etc.), as well as the stage in the What people don’t often realize is harvest cycle at which the freeze that Florida can also experience affected a particular industry. This very cold conditions during the makes it difficult to compare winter months. Over the past 150 freeze events, but there have been years, there have been numerous devastating freeze events in cold weather outbreaks that have Florida dating as far back as the affected the state. These severe late 1800s that changed the citrus cold weather events are often industry. accompanied by strong winds that Icicles appear on groves on January 4. 2013 produce bitterly cold wind chills after temperatures fell into the 20s the night before. The most devastating freezes and have the capability of killing Photo from Washington Post. are felt when consecutive severe crops, plants, fish and people. freeze events occur within a single year or over consecutive years-- Cold weather occurs more frequently across North the case in the 1890s and the 1980s. The winter of 1894-1895 Florida and inland portions of , but freezing experienced two severe freezes in Florida (mid-December temperatures can extend as far south as the Everglades and 1894 and mid-February 1895) separated by a warm and wet even the Florida Keys. Coastal areas and locations near large spell in January. Now known as “The Great Freeze”, the back- bodies of water, such as lakes and rivers, sometimes escape to-back freezes of 1894-95 destroyed much of the Florida the lowest temperatures during a cold weather event because citrus crop. The days leading up to the first of the twin freezes the water traps heat during the day and then releases it into the gave no indication of the disaster that was to come. Christmas air at night along with moisture, which moderates the Day 1894 was sunny with temperatures in the 80s, but three temperature of the air. However, this doesn’t mean coastal days later a cold front from the northwest pushed through the areas or locations near the water are exempt from extreme state with high winds. By the next morning, water pumps cold weather events. In warmer climates like Florida, fish were frozen, pipes began to burst, foliage blackened and fruit fatalities begin once the water temperature falls below 68 died on the trees. By December 29th, many cities including degrees. Strawberries and other more sensitive plants and fruit Tallahassee, Orlando and West Palm Beach reached all-time freeze once the temperature hits 32 degrees Fahrenheit, while record lows of 12°F, 18°F and 24°F, respectively. citrus fruit requires at least four hours at 28 degrees or lower to freeze. Surprisingly, hypothermia can occur at any The first freeze did not actually kill many mature trees, temperature. The chances of hypothermia or frostbite in a but did set the stage for new growth during the warm month person increase once the that followed. In the second cold temperature drops below 40 wave (February 1895), degrees, but could also occur at temperatures plummeted again to warmer temperatures for people 11°F in Tallahassee, 19°F in that normally live in warmer Orlando and 27°F in West Palm climates such as Florida. Beach. The high was only 39°F in Orlando. Sub-freezing The severity of a freeze temperatures continued for three frequently has two consecutive nights and 1895 categorizations: economic and became the third-coldest year on meteorological. The economic record for much of Central categorization pertains to the Florida. All varieties of fruit damage and monetary loss of Remains of an orange grove after a deep freeze. In (oranges, grapefruits, , and citrus and other agricultural 1880. Photo from FloridaMemory.com limes) froze on the trees, and products. However, the losses are people said they heard the trees VOLUME 4, ISSUE 4 P A G E 5

Continued from page 4 pop like pistol shots as freezing sap split the bark. More than directly related to the cold weather. Numerous incidences of 90 percent of Florida's citrus trees were killed. This event fish kills and dead or dying green sea turtles were reported up forever changed the geography of the Florida citrus industry, and down the Florida Gulf Coast as water temperatures confining it to the southern half of the Peninsula. The town of reached as low as the 40s. Florida's tropical fish industry took Keystone City was renamed Frostproof after its trees a major hit with almost 75 percent losses totaling up to $20 weathered the freeze. million. Total crop losses were estimated to be around $300 million and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) For growers in the heart of Florida's citrus belt, the 1980s approved a Secretarial Disaster Declaration in 60 Florida was the most devastating period in nearly a century. Freezing counties. temperatures affected a large portion of Florida in January 1981, January 1982, December 1983, January 1985, February While freezes of the severity of those of 1894, 1895, 1989 and December 1989. The 2 most serious of these freezes 1983, 1985 and 2010 are rare events, freezes of sufficient occurred in December 1983 and January 1985. In what the severity to damage fruit, blossoms and new growth are a state called the "Freeze of the Century", the 1985 freeze is rather common occurrence, with at least 1 freeze event estimated to have killed approximately 90% of the total extending into South Florida each winter season. However, of citrus crop in Florida, about $2 billion in capital loss. the devastating freezes that have impacted the Southeast U.S., nearly all of them occurred during times of neutral conditions A more recent example of an extreme cold event is that of in the Pacific Ocean, when there is neither El Niño nor La January 2010. A series of arctic air masses invaded the Niña present. While El Niño conditions typically produce a Sunshine State beginning January 1 and stretching through the colder and wetter winter in Florida by sending more cold first half of the month, resulting in a long stretch of fronts into the state, the number of severe freeze events does abnormally cold weather. The arctic surge resulted in 175 new not increase, typically because the cloud cover keeps daily temperature records over a 12 day period from Tallahassee to maximum temperatures below average and helps trap the Key West. Daily average temperatures remained below daytime heat during the night. Other atmospheric oscillations, normal almost every single day of the month. Many North including the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), also have an Florida areas were below freezing for over 12 hours, with influence on freeze events in Florida. However, dissimilar to Central and Southwest Florida areas staying below freezing as the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the NAO varies long as eight to ten hours, causing hundreds of millions of over time with no particular periodicity and can only be dollars in crop losses. Additionally, records for consecutive forecast 14 days into the future. number of cold days were established. There were even areas of sleet across the Florida Panhandle and as far south as The Southeast Climate Consortium is a multi-disciplinary Orlando, Tampa and Vero Beach, and a few reports of light network of several university research organizations, scientists snow in Flagler and Marion County. and individuals concerned with achieving a better understanding of climate variability and to engage The unusually cold weather did more than damage crops stakeholders by providing information to help mitigate or and citrus trees. It forced hundreds to shelters for over 10 manage their climate-related risks. In their forecast for the consecutive nights and left thousands without power. Two winter of 2014, which includes a high probability for El Niño fatalities and seven injuries were noted from exposure to the conditions to be present, much of the state north of the I-4 cold, including a family of six who were treated for carbon corridor has a high likelihood of a freeze event. Central monoxide poisoning from using a charcoal grill inside their Florida areas between I-4 and Lake Okeechobee have around home. Several reports of house fires were reported, likely due a 30-70% chance of a freeze event while many South Florida to heating equipment malfunctions. The freezes of 2010 areas, particularly near the coast, have less than a 40% chance added up to a record-breaking deadly year for manatees in of a freeze event this winter. Florida, with 767 total confirmed deaths, of which 300 were

Agroclimatee.org P A G E 6

Want to know more about the topics in The Bureau of Mitigation

this issue? Contact us! Mitigation is an integral part of the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM). Mitigation actions Jamie Leigh Price [email protected] reduce or eliminate the loss of life and property by lessening the impact of disasters. Due to Florida’s Michael Wallick weather, geography, and miles of coastline the state is [email protected] highly vulnerable to disasters. Disasters can be very

Amy Godsey costly to both the citizens and government. [email protected] Under the direction of Division Director Bryan W. Danny Hinson Koon and State Hazard Mitigation Officer, Miles E. [email protected] Anderson, the Bureau of Mitigation administers several Britton Holdaway federal mitigation grant programs including the Hazard [email protected] Mitigation Grant Program, the Pre-Disaster Mitigation Program, and the Flood Mitigation Assistance Program. Cathie Perkins [email protected] The Bureau also administers a state funded mitigation program called the Residential Construction Mitigation Program.

If you would like to know more about mitigation in Florida please visit: www.floridadisaster.org/mitigation.

Annual LMS Update Spring Storms F.A.C. 27P-22 DR-4177 Must include: Initial 90 Day Estimate: Inside StoryUpdated Headline LMS working group list $13,847,130 Updated Project List Major changes to LMS (if Declared Counties: applicable) Bay, Calhoun, Escambia, Holmes, Jackson, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Submit to your state LMS Liaison Walton, and Washington via mail or email. Applications are due January 6, Due January 30, 2015 2015.