Equity, isolation, and federal disaster recovery assistance: Geographic discrepancy in hurricane recovery

The strength of a storm, geographic location of impact, and population density dictate different response and fiscal efforts. During the last 3 weeks of September 2022, three different ocean-based storms impacted three different locations in the United States (US), which were 5,600 miles (9,000 km) apart from each other. Established case study methodology was used to contrast the meteorological data of the measured strength at impact on US shores, population density, and post-storm recovery financial allocation from the federal government for these three storms. The hypothesis was that a storm impacting a smaller geographic area with a larger population would receive greater federal financial support than a stronger storm impacting a larger area with a smaller population. Despite post-Typhoon Merbok (Alaska) being a deeper low-pressure storm and impacting more land area, it received only a fraction of the recovery funding when contrasted with Hurricane Fiona (Puerto Rico) or Hurricane Ian (Florida) but a significantly higher per capita due to its geographically isolated location and lower population density.