Local mitigation strategy (LMS) - Volusia County Government

SECTION 5: HAZARD PROFILESFigure 5.5: Average Annual Number of Thunder EventsSource: Federal Emergency Management Agency5.6.2 Location and Spatial ExtentSevere thunderstorms and their related hazardous elements (including lightning, hail, and straight-linewinds) are not confined to any geographical boundaries and typically are widespread events (Figure5.5). Further, while thunderstorms can occur in all regions of the United States, they are most commonin the central and southern states because atmospheric conditions in those regions are favorable forgenerating these powerful storms. Therefore, it is assumed that Volusia County would be uniformlyexposed to these hazards and that the spatial extent of that impact would potentially be large.5.6.3 Historical OccurrencesAccording to the National Climatic Data Center, Volusia County has experienced 148 thunderstormevents since 1950. Of these events, 141 occurred in the Volusia County study area. Further, 34 of thesethunderstorm events resulted in property damage totaling $2,552,499 (2009 dollars). Table 5.9 showshistoric thunderstorm events, including thunderstorm winds and high winds, which resulted in propertydamage in Volusia County. (Other windstorms, such as tornadoes and hurricanes, are addressedseparately in this section.) In addition to property damage, these severe thunderstorm events resultedin two injuries and over $70,000 in crop damage (2009 dollars).Volusia County Multi-jurisdictional Local Mitigation StrategyFebruary 20105:26