After Katrina, we decided to test our community's readiness to move people to safety in event that a really monstrous storm ever roared our way. Are there people living in hurricane-threatened areas of our county who might not have the means to escape? We combined data from local, state and federal sources to look at the number of people, homes and businesses located in the most vulnerable areas of the county.
The answer was "Yes." Not as many as New Orleans, but the numbers show thousands of seniors, poor people and families without cars living in risky places. Brevard County has a program for free rides to people who are elderly or disabled, but you have to sign up in advance. About 2,000 people had signed up; our numbers revealed at least 20,000 might qualify. We used Census block groups to identify these neighborhoods.
The resulting story and map prompted good discussions among emergency management officials, and at least a couple of hundred people contacted the county to get on the pick-up list.