Emergency Management Hazards

The following information details the top 10 hazards facing Osceola County.

Follow the Osceola County Emergency Management Office on social media for live updates.

Hurricanes / Tropical Cyclones

According to the National Hurricane Center, a tropical cyclone is an organized rotating system of thunderstorms originating over tropical or subtropical waters with a closed low-level circulation and a warm core.

The strength of the tropical cyclone results in various classifications, including tropical depressions, tropical storms, and hurricanes. Tropical cyclones involve both atmospheric and hydrologic characteristics, such as severe winds, storm surges, flooding, high waves, erosion, extreme rainfall, thunderstorms, lightning, and in many cases, tornadoes.

Hurricane Center

Flooding

A flood occurs when typically, dry areas experience a temporary overflow of water, which exceeds the volume capacity, thereby threatening damage or harm to the community.

Flooding can occur at any time of the year, with peak times occurring during early Spring through the Fall. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provides an official Flood Insurance Rate Map delineating the geography-based level of flood risk to the County every ten years. These map revisions contain areas of high-risk flood potential known as Special Flood Hazard Areas.

Flood Map Services

Flood Threat Information

Tornado

A tornado is a violent and destructive rotating column of air usually exhibited as a funnel-shaped downward extension of a cumulonimbus cloud in contact with the ground. Tornadoes vary is shape and size but are often visualized as a condensation funnel where the narrow end touches the earth and is frequently encircled by a debris cloud.

According to the National Weather Service, most Florida tornadoes have wind speeds between 40 mph and 110 mph, are approximately 250 feet across, and travel a short distance before dissipating. Some tornadoes can attain 300 mph winds, a mile in diameter, and stay on the ground for dozens of miles. The average duration of a tornado in the state of Florida is 8-15 minutes.

Tornado Preparation

• Determine where your Safe Room will be. A Safe Room can be a bathroom with no windows or an interior closet. Make sure to go into your Safe Room when you learn of a Tornado Warning. Note: Please ensure you have a bike helmet or headgear in your Safe Room to protect your head from flying debris.
• A NOAA weather radio should be part of your Disaster Supply Kit. Set notifications to receive Tornado Watches and Warnings.
• Keep contact information of family/friends/loved ones that you can call or text to check on/have them check on you.
• Make sure you have basic supplies for at least 72 hours.

Disaster Supply Kit

• 3-day supply of water (one gallon per person per day)
• All current prescription medications (oxygen tank for those who need it)
• First aid kit (make sure to have antiseptic cleansers)
• Food that won’t spoil and a can opener
• Battery-powered weather radio, extra batteries
• Flashlight
• One change of clothing and footwear per person
• One blanket or sleeping bag per person
• Extra set of car keys
• Cash or credit card
• Special items for infants, the elderly or disabled family members
• Written instructions on how to turn off electricity, gas, and water, if authorities advise
• Copies of your important documents & papers
• Make sure your cell phone is charged at all times.

Recovery

• Take your garbage/debris to the curb so that it may be picked up. Try and separate trash in vegetative, C&D, or white good piles.
• Follow @OSCEOLAEOC for Essential Services Center locations.
• Listen to local news media outlets for updated information.
• Keep away from downed power lines and report them to your utility company.
• Watch for snakes or other animals that have been forced into your home by rising waters or flooding. Leave immediately if you smell fumes or gas and notify emergency personnel.
• If your home has not been damaged, keep children and pets inside, away from any damage or debris outside. If you must take your pets outside, keep them on a leash to prevent them from running away and being injured by debris.
• If your home is without power, use battery-powered flashlights and lanterns rather than candles to prevent accidental fires.
• Cooperate fully with local public safety officials.
• If you suspect any damage to your home, shut off electrical power, natural gas, and propane tanks to avoid fire, electrocution or explosions.
• If you see frayed electrical wiring or sparks or smell something burning, shut off your home's electrical system at the main circuit breaker, if you have not done so already.

Wildfire

A wildfire is an uncontrolled, rapidly spreading fire in grasslands, brushlands, or forested areas. Wildfires occur as a result of natural phenomena such as climate, vegetation, lightning, or human activities.

Wildfires are more prone to occur between November and April, when cool cold fronts are prominent, bringing in cold dry air. Wildfires have become increasingly more dangerous in recent years, posing a serious threat to 80% of Osceola County's landscape which is rural, undeveloped, and covered by natural vegetation.

Wildfire Situational Awareness Map

Wildfire Preparation

Wildfires often begin unnoticed. They can spread quickly, igniting brush, trees, and homes. Reduce your risk by preparing now, before wildfire strikes. Meet with your family to decide what to do and where to go if wildfires threaten your area.

Conditions That Cause Wildfires

• Prolonged drought can cause tender plants to die and dry out, creating fuel for wildfires.
• Cold weather, particularly during drought, speeds up the dying and drying process.
• Thunderstorms bring only limited relief when the woods are dry. Plants and trees dry again quickly, leaving the potential for wildfire.
• Wind dries plants and trees and can cause fires to spread.
• Burning on windy days increases the potential for wildfire.

Simple Ways to Protect Your Home and Family

• Regularly clean roof and gutters.
• Inspect chimneys at least twice a year. Keep the dampers in good working order. Equip chimneys and stovepipes with a spark arrester that meets the requirements of National Fire Protection Association Code 211.
• Use a 1/2" inch mesh screen beneath porches, decks, floor areas, and the home itself. Screen openings to floors, roof, and attic.
• Install a smoke detector on each level of your home, especially near bedrooms. Test the smoke detectors monthly and change the batteries two times a year. A helpful reminder is to change the batteries when the time changes in the spring and fall.
• Make sure your home has an ABC-type fire extinguisher. Teach everyone in your family how to use the fire extinguisher and show them where it is kept.
• Have a ladder on hand that will reach the roof.
• Consider installing protective shutters or heavy fire-resistant drapes.
• Keep handy household items like a rake, axe, handsaw or chainsaw, bucket, and shovel that can be used as firefighting tools.
• Have a garden hose on outside taps that are long enough to reach any area of the home and other structures on the property. Equip garden hoses with spray-gun nozzles.
• Know the location of your fuel supply shut-off valve. Typically, they are at the tank or meter. Check with your fuel supply company.
• Make sure you have a portable radio and backup batteries.

Family Disaster Plan for Wildfires

• Meet with your family now to decide what to do and where to go if a wildfire threatens your home.
• Place emergency phone numbers by the phone. Include your local fire station’s phone number.
• Decide where you will go and how you will get there if you have to evacuate. With fire, you may have only a moment’s notice to evacuate. When practical, plan at least 2 escape routes out of your home and out of your neighborhood.
• Keep firefighting tools handy. Items to include are a shovel, rake, axe, handsaw or chainsaw, and a 2-gallon bucket.
• Have a plan for your pets.
• Practice family fire drills.
• Identify a family meeting place in case all members of the family aren’t home when an evacuation takes place.
• Make sure your children understand what to do if a fire threatens.

Terrorism

Terrorism is defined as any violent or destructive acts committed by individuals or groups aimed at intimidating a population, people or government to accept or meet their demands. The purpose of a terror event is to create fear while promoting an ideological goal.

The Central Florida region recognizes that terrorism is both foreign and domestic. Certain domestic ideological groups exist in Osceola County as well as the region. Each poses a threat to the County as well as the region. The consequences of any terror incident are significant, and every method of mitigation should be employed to reduce the effects.

Severe Thunderstorm

Severe thunderstorms are a common occurrence in Osceola County. The National Weather Service defines severe thunderstorms as occurring as a single storm, in clusters or lines, consisting of heavy rain and lighting, and producing large hail, 1-inch in diameter (quarter size) or greater, strong wind gusts of 58 mph or greater, or tornadoes.

Lightning is a phenomenon present in all thunderstorms and is sometimes characterized as a separate hazard. Florida is the lightning capital of North America and is generally attributed to the subtropical climate.

Pandemic

A pandemic is the widespread propagation of a contagious disease in the human population. Further, it means extending beyond regional boundaries including across continents. Generally, a pandemic is an epidemic spreading to the far reaches of the globe.

In considering the pandemic, many diseases are capable of reaching this threshold. Most notable are the influenza viruses because they mutate so rapidly and are easily spread among humans. For example: a simple sneeze can spread the influenza virus resulting in contamination for more than one person.

Agricultural / Livestock Disease

Agricultural/Livestock Diseases are transmissible diseases that can be passed directly or indirectly between humans and animals. They have the potential for very serious and rapid spread, irrespective of national borders, and are of serious socio-economic and/or public health consequence.

From livestock to citrus to honeybees, Osceola County farms a wide variety of agricultural products. According to the 2012 Census of Agriculture, Osceola has over 547,058 acres of land in farm production, nearly 60% of the County’s land area, including cattle, sod, citrus, peach, blueberry, vegetable, and bee farming. There are currently over 365 operational farms in Osceola County, 233 of which (64%) manage livestock operations, and the remainder produce crops.

Hazmat Disease

A hazardous material (HAZMAT) is any item or agent (biological, chemical, and physical) that has the potential to cause harm to humans, animals, or the environment, by itself or through interaction with other factors. Chemical manufacturers are one source of hazardous materials, but there are others, including service stations, hospitals, and hazardous materials waste sites.

Hazardous materials come in the form of explosives, flammable and combustible substances, poisons, and radioactive materials. These substances are most often released from transportation accidents or because of chemical plant accidents. There is a recent phenomenon known as chemical suicide whereby the subject mixes two household chemicals in an enclosed space, such as a vehicle. These incidents have rapid effective results and pose a threat to responders.

Sinkhole

Sinkholes are natural depressions in the surface of the earth caused by the removal of soil or bedrock, often both, by water. Sinkholes vary in diameter, volume, and composition from less than a few feet to hundreds, even thousands of feet. The size may vary in diameter and depth, including sidewall consistency ranging from smooth soil-lined bowls to bedrock-edged chasms.