Thousands of U.S. citizens are still working to restore their homes and businesses after Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria wreaked havoc in the U.S. and Caribbean. We’ve all just experienced the most active hurricane season in recent memory.

SECOORA’s observing infrastructure took a major hit –  55% of our observing assets are either damaged or destroyed. This critical infrastructure informs us as to whether our ocean ‘highways’ are safe for work and recreation.  Without data, our ability to forecast and respond to future disasters in our region will be significantly impact. We need your help.

Damages to SECOORA Observing System

Prior to being damaged, SECOORA coastal stations and buoys captured high wind gust along Hurricane Irma’s path.

We need to repair equipment to forecast and respond to hurricanes.

Quick repairs to the system are needed to ensure NOAA National Weather Service, the U.S. Coast Guard, states, local emergency managers and the public have the information they need to make wise decisions.

What you can do:

1. Contact your senators and representatives and ask them to support supplemental funding for the IOOS. If you need help with contact information, please email abbey@secooraorgpact.wpengine.com.

2. Share both of the SECOORA and IOOS Association one-pagers. Page 2 of the SECOORA flyer shows which systems are damaged.

3. Remember that there were also very significant damages in the Caribbean (CariCOOS) and Texas (GCOOS).

Talking points:

1. Observations save lives and protect property by improving weather forecasts and warnings

2. We have detailed information on the damages in our region, if they need more information – click here

3. Without supplemental funding, the observing gaps in our region and the Caribbean, which are significant, will get even larger – increasing risks to people who live and work in our communities.

4. The supplemental funding request is for IOOS, which is a national program, and has three priorities. The first is to repair the damaged systems in SECOORA, CariCOOS and GCOOS regions. The second priority is to reduce the risk (harden) of future damage to the observing assets in these three hurricane prone regions. The third priority is to improve capacity across the national IOOS program to prepare and respond to extreme storms.

View the SECOORA Hurricane Damage One Pager

View the IOOS Association Hurricane Damage One Pager

Detailed information on SECOORA Damage

Prior to Hurricane Irma making landfall, SECOORA worked with each Principal Investigator to record the assets that were operational. Below is a table that reflects SECOORA’s damage estimates. SECOORA needs 1 million dollars to bring the system to 100% capacity.