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

   https://doi.org/10.3390/en13051098  

   Ghorbanzadeh, Mahyar; Koloushani, Mohammadreza; Ulak, Mehmet Baran; Ozguven, Eren Erman; Jouneghani, Reza Arghandeh (March 2020, Energies)

   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. 

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2. Socioeconomic vulnerability and electric power restoration timelines in Florida: the case of Hurricane Irma

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-018-3413-x  

   Mitsova, Diana; Esnard, Ann-Margaret; Sapat, Alka; Lai, Betty S. (July 2018, Natural Hazards)

   Large-scale damage to the power infrastructure from hurricanes and high-wind events can have devastating ripple effects on infrastructure, the broader economy, households, com- munities, and regions. Using Hurricane Irma’s impact on Florida as a case study, we examined: (1) differences in electric power outages and restoration rates between urban and rural counties; (2) the duration of electric power outages in counties exposed to tropical storm force winds versus hurricane Category 1 force winds; and (3) the rela- tionship between the duration of power outage and socioeconomic vulnerability. We used power outage data for the period September 9, 2017–September 29, 2017. At the peak of the power outages following Hurricane Irma, over 36% of all accounts in Florida were without electricity. We found that the rural counties, predominantly served by rural electric cooperatives and municipally owned utilities, experienced longer power outages and much slower and uneven restoration times. Results of three spatial lag models show that large percentages of customers served by rural electric cooperatives and municipally owned utilities were a strong predictor of the duration of extended power outages. There was also a strong positive association across all three models between power outage duration and urban/rural county designation. Finally, there is positive spatial dependence between power outages and several social vulnerability indicators. Three socioeconomic variables found to be statistically significant highlight three different aspects of vulnerability to power outages: minority groups, population with sensory, physical and mental disability, and economic vulnerability expressed as unemployment rate. The findings from our study have broader planning and policy relevance beyond our case study area, and highlight the need for additional research to deepen our understanding of how power restoration after hurricanes contributes to and is impacted by the socioeconomic vulnerabilities of communities. 

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3. A Generalized Accelerated Failure Time Model to Predict Restoration Time from Power Outages

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s13753-023-00529-3  

   Jamal, Tasnuba Binte; Hasan, Samiul (December 2023, International Journal of Disaster Risk Science)

   Abstract Major disasters such as wildfire, tornado, hurricane, tropical storm, and flooding cause disruptions in infrastructure systems such as power and water supply, wastewater management, telecommunication, and transportation facilities. Disruptions in electricity infrastructure have negative impacts on sectors throughout a region, including education, medical services, financial services, and recreation. In this study, we introduced a novel approach to investigate the factors that can be associated with longer restoration time of power service after a hurricane. Considering restoration time as the dependent variable and using a comprehensive set of county-level data, we estimated a generalized accelerated failure time (GAFT) model that accounts for spatial dependence among observations for time to event data. The model fit improved by 12% after considering the effects of spatial correlation in time to event data. Using the GAFT model and Hurricane Irma’s impact on Florida as a case study, we examined: (1) differences in electric power outages and restoration rates among different types of power companies—investor-owned power companies, rural and municipal cooperatives; (2) the relationship between the duration of power outage and power system variables; and (3) the relationship between the duration of power outage and socioeconomic attributes. The findings of this study indicate that counties with a higher percentage of customers served by investor-owned electric companies and lower median household income faced power outage for a longer time. This study identified the key factors to predict restoration time of hurricane-induced power outages, allowing disaster management agencies to adopt strategies required for restoration process. 

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4. Post-Hurricane Power Outage Recovery: Examining the Influence of Social Vulnerability, Economic Activity, and Critical Facilities

   https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2025.3631704  

   Ado_Sabari, Adam; Ahsan_Ibrar, Muhammad; Salman, Abdullahi M (November 2025, IEEE Access)

   Power outages following hurricanes disrupt social welfare, business operations, and the functioning of public facilities in the affected areas. Extended outages can severely impact community well-being, particularly among vulnerable populations such as the elderly and individuals with medical conditions. While previous studies have investigated disparities in outage recovery, many of them focus on single events and rely on general social vulnerability indices, limiting their ability to identify consistent patterns or capture the specific factors that heighten vulnerability to power disruptions. Moreover, few studies have examined the influence of economic activity or the presence of critical facilities on recovery time. This study analyzes power outage recovery trajectories across 27 U.S. states affected by 21 hurricanes between 2017 and 2024. Using Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) regression analysis, we assess whether counties’ socioeconomic vulnerability, levels of economic activity, and the number of critical facilities consistently explain differences in post-hurricane power outage recovery time. A customized outage-focused Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) was used to more accurately capture population vulnerability to power disruptions. Results indicate that the SVI does not have a consistent effect on recovery time, suggesting no systematic disparities based solely on socioeconomic characteristics. Median income, representing household-level wealth, is negatively correlated with recovery time, while higher county-level economic capacity (measured by GDP per capita) is associated with longer recovery; although both effects vary with outage severity and the inclusion of other model control variables. The number of critical facilities does not show a consistent effect once other county characteristics are accounted for. 

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5. Co-resilience Assessment of Hurricane-induced Power Grid and Roadway Network Disruptions: A Case Study in Florida with a Focus on Critical Facilities

   https://doi.org/10.1109/ITSC.2018.8569574  

   Kocatepe, Ayberk; Ulak, Mehmet Baran; Sriram, Lalitha Madhavi; Pinzan, Davide; Ozguven, Eren Erman; Arghandeh, Reza (November 2018, 2018 21st International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC))

   Florida's emergency relief operations were significantly affected by recent hurricanes such as Hermine and Irma that caused massive roadway and power system distributions. During these recent devastating hurricanes, the problems associated with providing accessibility and safety became even more challenging, especially for those vulnerable communities and disadvantaged segments of the society, such as aging populations were considered - that is, those who need and benefit from the emergency services the most. This complexity is magnified in states like Florida, considering the diverse physical, cognitive, economic and demographic variation of its population. As such, with a major focus on real-life data on roadway closures and power outages for the Hurricane Hermine, combined resilience (co-resilience) of emergency response facilities in the City of Tallahassee, the capital of Florida, was extensively studied based on the (a) temporal reconstruction of the reported power outages and roadway closures, and (b) development of co-resilience metrics to identify and visually map the most affected power system feeders and transportation network locations. Results show those regions with reduced emergency response facility accessibility, and those power lines and roadways under a disruption risk after Hermine hit Tallahassee. 

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