THE COMMUNITY VULNERABILITY HANDBOOK A COMPREHENSIVE OVERVIEW OF POLICIES, ASSESSMENTS AND IMPACTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE ‘PERILS OF FLOOD’, FOR HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY VOLUME 1 OF THE COMMUNITY VULNERABILITY STUDY (CVS), FIRST EDITION AUGUST, 2019 1 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA FACULTY School of Architecture and Community Design Brian Cook, ASLA, MLA, PLA Community Vulnerability Study Project Manager Visiting Assistant Research Professor School of Architecture and Community Design The Florida Center for Community Design Research Taryn Sabia, Ed.M., M.Arch, MUCD Director and Research Associate Professor School of Architecture and Community Design The Florida Center for Community Design Research College of Public Health Joe Bohn, PhD, MBA Visiting Assistant Professor and Director, Community Engagement USF College of Public Health Marie Bourgeois PhD, MPH Assistant Professor College of Public Health Center for Environmental/Occupational Risk Analysis and Management Elizabeth A. Dunn, MPH, CPH Visiting Faculty Instructor, I Global Disaster Management, Humanitarian Relief, and Homeland Security Department of Global Health College of Public Health GRADUATE ASSISTANTS Florida Center for Community Design and Research Emilia Ribadeneira Olivia Leamer Riddhi Shah Tyler Dobson William Cook College of Public Health Carson Bell William Gardner 2 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................................... 3 FRAMEWORKS FOR RESILIENCY PLANNING .......................................................................................................... 7 LOCAL AND REGIONAL POLICY .......................................................................................................................... 21 REGIONAL ASSESSMENTS AND BUILT ENVIRONMENT VULNERABILITIES ........................................................ 106 POPULATIONS AND PUBLIC HEALTH VULNERABILITIES ..................................................................................... 159 ECOLOGIC VULNERABILITIES .............................................................................................................................. 159 HURRICANE CASE STUDIES .................................................................................................................................. 221 REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................................................... 246 3 INTRODUCTION 4 DOCUMENT SUMMARY The Community Vulnerability Handbook is a research document to support a comprehensive study of the ‘Perils of Flood’, especially for Hillsborough County in Florida. It is aligned with the project, ‘The Community Vulnerability Study (CVS),’ commissioned by Hillsborough County Department of Emergency Services, with project management assistance provided by the Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission. It will be used to inform decision-makers about the vulnerabilities with regards to flooding. The impetus for the project is Senate Bill (SB) 1094, adopted by the Florida Senate effective July 1, 2015, which requires all coastal municipalities in Florida to address the Perils of Flood within their Comprehensive Plans. In addition to serving as a handbook for that requirement, the document will be used for other emergency management planning, urban planning and utility management. It will be used to guide Hillsborough County’s submittal for their Local Mitigation Strategy (LMS), required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in order to apply for federal mitigation grants. This document serves as an archive, it catalogues and summarizes the literature review for the project. In addition, the resources contained within were mined to identify a community’s vulnerabilities to flood. The extracted items were aggregated into a list called the ‘Matrix of Vulnerabilities’ (see appendix). That list became the criteria for mapping vulnerabilities in Hillsborough County. Lastly, a workshop with County administrators helped to consider interrelationships between vulnerabilities. Rather than consider impacts from flooding as unique and separated elements, this study seeks to understand them as a system, and to address them systematically. The Study undertakes a multi-phased process, and is represented as such in this document. First, resiliency assessment frameworks are studies. These provide a foundational methodology for the project and help to understand established categories of vulnerability. Three main categories of vulnerabilities were identified: The Built Environment, Populations and Public Health, and Ecology. Another category, Governance, was extracted from the literature and will be used later in the CVS, but for mitigation strategies (not as a vulnerability). Governance is an infrastructure that can help communities cope with environmental hazards, but is not directly impacted by them. Additionally, the Study reviewed other regional vulnerability assessments, for example the 2017 Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Assessment for the City of Tampa. Findings revealed that previous assessments focused on the built environment features, such as property, buildings and infrastructure. This research finds that other categories of vulnerability, and of mitigation, are just as important if not collectively more important than simply addressing a community’s physical infrastructure. Other research introduces the laws, codes, statutes and standards that affect decision making in regards to flood. A review of Hillsborough County’s governmental structure, and its situation within the Federal Government, highlights the decision and project-making capacity at different levels of administration. Other municipalities, such as Boston, Copenhagen and Broward County were studied to make comparisons, and understand the differences with Hillsborough County’s approach to Flood. Finally, since this research will guide new policy for Hillsborough County’s Comprehensive Plan and LMS, the Study includes a review of other municipalities’ Comprehensive Plan updates, per the requirements for SB 1094. This Handbook will continue to evolve as research continues, with future editions expected. The graphic on the following page describes the project’s overall process and structure of content. 5 Figure 1: Community Vulnerability Study, Organizational Chart 6 Figure 2: Community Vulnerability Handbook Research, Organizational Chart 7 FRAMEWORKS FOR RESILIENCY PLANNING 8 CONTENTS Summary Baseline Resilience Indicators for Communities (BRIC) Model Disaster Resilience of Place (DROP) Model Discourse Analysis (DA) Model A Case Study Evaluation of Local Climate Adaptation Plans 9 SUMMARY There are several academic articles that discuss how communities can evaluate their resiliency. Within this field, four main models emerge: 1. Baseline Resilience Indicators for Communities (BRIC) Model: A baseline checklist for examining the status of inherent resilience at the county level. (Cutter, 2014) 2. Disaster Resilience of Place (DROP) Model: A model designed to improve comparative assessments of disaster resilience at the local or community scale. This examines a community’s ability to mitigate risk. (Cutter, et al., 2008) 3. Discourse Analysis (DA) Model: A discursive analytical framework that recognizes the importance of multiple points-of-view from within the community about resilience, and uses community dialogue to establish vulnerabilities and goals. (Aldunce, Beilin, Howden, & Handmer, 2015) 4. A Climate Change Framework: Case Study Evaluation of Local Climate Adaptation Plans: A quantitative, multi-criteria analysis on the effectiveness of existing plans. (Baker, Peterson, Brown, & McAlpine, 2012) While these models are focused on assessing resilient capacity, or the potential to reduce (mitigate) risk, the frameworks also provide valuable insight as to the vulnerable elements within a community. These can be categorized into the following groups: The Built Environment, Populations and Public Health, and Ecology. Governance, also recognized within the literature, is slightly different. Rather than being directly vulnerable to flood, it is an infrastructure related to risk management. As such, it is considered something related to mitigation and not vulnerability, and will be included in a subsequent volume of work associated with mitigation. Additionally, within the four models of assessment, a few main concepts were recognized in regards to assessing a community’s vulnerability and capacity for resiliency: Key points . Self-reliance (something mentioned in most of the models) is only effective during small scale disasters, and can be more harmful if that is the only planned option during large scale disasters. (Aldunce, Beilin, Howden, & Handmer, 2015) . Local population knowledge is essential to understanding the complex nature of the local culture, environment, and population. (Dolan & Walker, 2004) . However, local governments, given too much responsibility and limited resources, can be incapable of developing documents and plans to the highest degree. Because of this, formal evaluation assessments are essential. (Baker, Peterson, Brown, & McAlpine, 2012) . Scenario-based planning should be implemented. (Baker, Peterson, Brown, & McAlpine, 2012) . Climate change affects groups differently based upon: age and distribution of resources, technology, information and wealth, risk perceptions, social