Examining Rural-Urban Disparity in Disaster Impact and Recovery: Case of Tropical Storm Isaias

This study investigates the rural-urban disparity regarding the impacts of severe weather-related power outages in the United States, an issue that has not received much attention despite its significant socioeconomic losses. Specifically, the research focuses on the effects of Tropical Storm Isaias in Connecticut and utilizes geographic information system to assess the storm's impacts on 71 urban and 78 rural towns across three dimensions: trouble spots, impacted populations, and outage durations. The results indicated that while rural communities experienced fewer trouble spots and affected people in absolute quantities, they had longer recovery times compared to their urban counterparts. Furthermore, the disaster impacts were more severe in rural areas, with 60.5% of the rural population being affected as opposed to 37.5% in urban areas. These findings provide new insights into the geospatial dynamics of disaster impacts, which can assist emergency management professionals in identifying vulnerable areas for improved pre-disaster mitigation measures.