In August 2017, Hurricane Harvey made landfall in in Texas. The Category 4 hurricane had measured wind speeds of 130 mph (215 m/h). Despite the high wind speed, it is the flooding events from the associated rain fall that caused the most damage. As a result of the flooding, 103 lives were lost, 15,000 homes were destroyed, and 250,000 additional homes were damaged (1). The estimated cost is $125B which makes this event the second costliest natural disaster in the US. (2)
Review a report prepared by the Conference Board of Canada (1), which studied the event to identify lessons learned. The purpose of their report was to provide emergency management professionals a resource to improve the emergency management cycle and reduce the cost of future disasters.
Produce a summary of this report. The report is located in CuLearn. The summary should include:
- A summary of the event;
- A summary of the 4 pillars of the emergency management cycle (preparation, response, recovery, and mitigation). Specifically, for each pillar, summarize what steps were taken, what was the outcome, and what were the lessons learned. For example, how did the government prepare, was it sufficient, and what should they do in the future.
- A comparison, with respect to emergency response, to other events such as Hurricane Sandy, Katrina, or the hurricanes of 2020.
- You are welcome to add any other topics you feel are relevant.
- At least 2 references in addition to those already specified in this document.