In the Bleak Midwinter: The Effects of Power Outages Caused by Winter Storm Elliott

Power outages are a secondary hazard that often co-occur with natural hazards and force people to modify their routines through behavior changes to survive until power is restored. The infrastructure in the United States was not meant to meet the demand of the current population and is in dire need of improvements. Due to climate change, more anomalous weather events are expected to occur more frequently, causing infrastructure systems to experience conditions outside their design standards, further exasperating their operational limits. Therefore, the same infrastructure systems could be expected to fail more frequently, especially electrical infrastructure. This research seeks to understand how people were affected by power outages caused by the December 2022 winter storm (also known as Winter Storm Elliott) in counties surrounding Buffalo, NY, and Raleigh, NC, to determine if any relationship exists between traditional indicators of greater social vulnerability, like those of racial and ethnic minority and lower income groups, and adverse power outage effects. A household survey was deployed via a Qualtrics quota sample that targeted participants in these areas, as the Buffalo area had significant lake effect snow and the Raleigh area had the largest number of reported power outages after the storm passed, respectively. The survey collected information from 2,062 participants about their power outage experience, how prepared they were for the storm, what adaptation methods they used, and their overall mood during the outage. Difference-in-means tests were used to analyze the data to determine if there are statistically significant differences between outage length and socioeconomic factors like race and income. This research hypothesized that racial and ethnic minority groups and those earning lower incomes are more likely to experience more prolonged power outages than whites and those who earn higher incomes. Results will determine if characteristics of greater social vulnerability in natural hazards translate to adverse power outage effects.