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Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management Crisis and Emergency Management Newsletter Website |
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December
2005
Volume 9 - Number
3 |
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The overall statistics for Wilma’s damages are sparse. Below is a general outline of estimated costs and other damages. Florida Power and Light, the largest electricity utility in the state, reported more than 3,241,000 customers had lost power, equivalent to approximately 6,000,000 people. Wilma's damage to orange trees in Florida could have an impact on several upcoming growing cycles. This is compounded by problems caused last year by Hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne, which devastated Florida's orange crop, destroying many groves entirely. Insured damage in the US about $6-9 billion. Florida's sugar Industry was hard hit, the cropping season had already started and had to be halted indefinitely. Damage to sugarcane crops is critical and widespread. (1) The Everglades National Park is recovering from damages. The storm toppled thousands of trees, wiped out backcountry campsites and flooded the park's lone hotel so badly that it will remain closed through next year. The storm flushed sediment out of Florida Bay, killed harmful exotic trees and gave native species a chance to grow faster by thinning the tree canopy and letting sunlight in. It will probably take a decade for the park to look the way it once did. The storm might have made it easier for some nonnative trees and plants to spread and destroyed roosting areas for birds. (2) Four weeks after Wilma blew through Florida, there's still enough debris to keep contractors and subcontractors and even sub-subcontractors busy. But the end is in sight, according to the Palm Beach County Solid Waste Authority, which oversees cleanup of unincorporated areas. After a faster-than-expected initial sweep of debris from neighborhoods in unincorporated areas, the authority is asking homeowners to put out their last piles of hurricane detritus by Dec. 4 so contractors can begin making final Wilma pickups. (3) Hurricane Wilma evacuees who could prove they formerly had a permanent address in a storm-ravaged area received vouchers for local hotels on November 23 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and enjoyed turkey dinners on Thanksgiving. Other evacuees who did not have documentation found they had nowhere to stay after the last remaining shelter in Miami-Dade County closed on Wednesday. They were told the shelter was closing and would have to seek help with homeless services. Among them were 17 Miami families, a total of 73 men, women and children, who were taken to the City Inn hotel in Miami. (4) 1. Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Wilma#Florida 2. New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/23/national/nationalspecial/23glades.html 3. The Palm Beach Post http://www.palmbeachpost.com/storm/content/local_news/epaper/2005/11/25/s1b_debris_1125.html 4. Insurance Journal http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2005/11/25/62518.htm |