Perception of the Hurricane Forecasting, Warning and Response System: Lake Wales, Florida

Abstract

Forecasting, warning and response systems provide alerts of impending problems for individuals and organizations; the goal being to precipitate remedial action to save lives and property. There have been remarkable successes in recent years, with reductions in death and injuries throughout much of the United States (Sorensen 2000). On the other hand, they have not been demonstrated to have any significant impact on reducing damage to social infrastructure or private property or on reducing economic disruption. In fact, because of population growth, in S0l11e areas, economic losses are increasing (Sorensen 2000). Furthermore, the outcomes of Hurricane Katrina also highlighted some of the inherent weaknesses of these systems and certainly exposed the difficulties of facilitating effective responses (Hartman and Squires 2006).