Untangling The Relationship Between Power Outage and Population Activity Recovery in Disasters

TL;DR

This study empirically examines how power outages and infrastructure recovery influence community activity resumption after hurricanes, revealing thresholds, partial restorations, and community adaptability in disaster recovery dynamics.

Contribution

It provides new empirical evidence on the relationship between power outage duration, infrastructure restoration, and community recovery in hurricane impacts.

Findings

Power outage duration correlates with impact until a threshold.

70% of areas restored power before population activity normalized.

Community activity resumes even when power restoration is incomplete.

Abstract

Despite recognition of the relationship between infrastructure resilience and community recovery, very limited empirical evidence exists regarding the extent to which the disruptions in and restoration of infrastructure services contribute to the speed of community recovery. To address this gap, this study investigates the relationship between community and infrastructure systems in the context of hurricane impacts, focusing on the recovery dynamics of population activity and power infrastructure restoration. Empirical observational data were utilized to analyze the extent of impact, recovery duration, and recovery types of both systems in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida. The study reveals three key findings. First, power outage duration positively correlates with outage extent until a certain impact threshold is reached. Beyond this threshold, restoration time remains relatively stable regardless of outage magnitude. This finding underscores the need to strengthen power infrastructure, particularly in extreme weather conditions, to minimize outage restoration time. Second, power was fully restored in 70\% of affected areas before population activity levels normalized. This finding suggests the role infrastructure functionality plays in post-disaster community recovery. Interestingly, quicker power restoration did not equate to rapid population activity recovery due to other possible factors such as transportation, housing damage, and business interruptions. Finally, if power outages last beyond two weeks, community activity resumes before complete power restoration, indicating adaptability in prolonged outage scenarios. This implies the capacity of communities to adapt to ongoing power outages and continue daily life activities...