Sunita Somvanshi
When the lights go out after a storm, not everyone gets power back at the same time. A new Ohio State University study reveals that communities already struggling with social and economic challenges often wait longer in the dark.
The research examined power outages across 482 counties in the five Gulf Coast states from 2017 to 2022. The findings show a troubling pattern: areas with higher social vulnerability frequently experience longer power outages after disasters like hurricanes and heat waves.
“Communities that are already struggling when a disaster strikes and then endure a long power outage – that can compound their problems,” explains Smitha Rao, study co-author and assistant professor of social work at Ohio State.
The researchers found that seven of the ten counties predicted to have the longest outages were in Louisiana, all along the Mississippi Delta. The remaining three were in Texas and Florida. These problem spots often showed up in areas that also ranked high on social vulnerability measures.
The study used hierarchical Bayesian models to analyze the relationship between outage duration and social vulnerability. It incorporated the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), developed by the CDC, which measures factors like poverty, transportation access, housing quality, and community resources.
Regions hit hardest by extended outages included areas along the Mississippi River, Texas counties bordering the Gulf, southern and central Florida, and throughout Louisiana and Mississippi. Hurricanes, tropical storms, and heat waves caused the longest power disruptions.
“Even short power disruptions can have a big impact on vulnerable communities,” notes study co-author Shane Scaggs, an incoming President’s Postdoctoral Scholar at Ohio State.
The research found that Louisiana consistently experienced longer power outages than other Gulf states. Outages clustered along coastal and riverside counties, particularly the Mississippi Delta and Florida coast.
Interestingly, the study revealed that high social vulnerability doesn’t always predict longer outages. The ten counties with the shortest outages (all in Texas) showed varying levels of vulnerability. But as Scaggs points out, “high-vulnerability communities might be more susceptible to harm from long outages because they already have limited capacity to adapt and recover from disasters.”
The consequences of extended outages can be severe for vulnerable populations. Without electricity, medical devices fail, food spoils, and homes become dangerously hot or cold. For people already living paycheck to paycheck, these additional hardships can be devastating.
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What makes the study unique is its combination of power outage data, disaster information, and social vulnerability metrics at the county level. Previous research has rarely connected these factors so thoroughly, especially in one of America’s most disaster-prone regions.
The findings could help guide future infrastructure investments and emergency planning. Rao suggests targeting resources to areas where social vulnerability and outage duration overlap.
“We identified the counties that were faring worse on both counts: higher levels of social vulnerability and longer power outages,” she said. “That may be where conversations can start about making improvements.”
The study’s third co-author, Anaís Roque, assistant professor of environmental social sciences at Duke University, emphasizes the importance of using this information to drive action: “By mapping where social vulnerability and prolonged outages intersect following hazards, we can support decision makers and community leaders in identifying where investments and interventions are most urgently needed.”
The research was supported by the Sustainability Institute at Ohio State and published in the journal Humanities and Social Sciences Communications.
As climate change brings more frequent and severe weather events to the Gulf Coast, addressing these power resilience gaps becomes increasingly urgent. The study offers a roadmap for utilities, emergency managers, and community leaders to build a more equitable response to future disasters.
