Temporal Vulnerability and the Post-Disaster \u2018Window of Opportunity to Woo:\u2019 a Case Study of an African-American Floodplain Neighborhood after Hurricane Floyd in North Carolina

Daniel H De Vries

doi:10.1007/s10745-017-9915-4

Abstract

After major flooding associated with Hurricane Floyd (1999) in North Carolina, mitigation managers seized upon the “window of opportunity” to woo residents to accept residential buyout offers despite sizable community resistance. I present a theoretical explanation of how post-crisis periods turn into “opportunities” based on a temporal referential theory that complements alternative explanations based on temporal coincidence, panarchy, and shock-doctrine theories. Results from fieldwork conducted from 2002 to 2004 illustrate how several temporal influences compromised collective calibration of “normalcy” in local cultural models, leading to an especially heightened vulnerability to collective surprise. Four factors particularly influenced this temporal vulnerability: 1) epistemological uncertainty of floodplain dynamics due to colonization; 2) cultural practices that maintained a casual amnesia; 3) meaning attributed to stochastic timing of floods; and 4) competitive impact of referential flood baseline attractors.

Highlights

In 1999, a $40 million home acquisition and resident relocation Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) was Federal eligibility requirements for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) post-disaster grants that require Bstrictly voluntary^ participation raised the question of how this situation of involuntary agreement to relocate out of the floodplain developed
In the light of longstanding resistance and failed attempts, another major factor influencing mitigation success during Bwindows of opportunity^ appeared related to historical vulnerability of the community to surprise, influenced by culturally ascribed referential meaning and learning derived from specific histories of events that can be characterized as a temporal situatedness
The results show that temporal vulnerability varied historically in at least three distinct periods, each characterized by different temporal situatedness of the population and different critical moments relative to the hazard history (Fig. 3)

Summary

Introduction

In 1999, a $40 million home acquisition and resident relocation Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) was Federal eligibility requirements for FEMA post-disaster grants that require Bstrictly voluntary^ participation raised the question of how this situation of involuntary agreement to relocate out of the floodplain developed. McSweeney and Coomes focus on how during the Bwindow of opportunity^ post Hurricane Mitch in Honduras the poor were able to mobilize political forces to initiate institutional change and increase resilience, e.g., through relocation of production away from risky floodplains, renewal of social cohesion through more equitable intra-community distribution of land, and by restoration of more diverse income-generation strategies. While they provide historical insight into the impact of sociopolitical factors, their approach seems to presume that all post-disaster Bwindows of time^ are similar in character.

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Discussion

Conclusion