FIU hurricane center director urges Congress to support natural disaster research

Stephen Leatherman, director of the International Hurricane Research Center at Florida International University, recently urged members of Congress to support efforts to institute national coordinated programs to reduce the impacts of hurricanes and other windstorms.

Leatherman testified before the House Science Committee on June 26. He asked representatives to pass the National Hurricane Research Initiative Act, which would boost national research on hurricanes and their impact.

Leatherman outlined high priority research objectives such as predicting hurricane intensity change, predicting storm surges and inland flooding, improving hurricane observations and understanding hurricane and structural interaction. Speaking on behalf of FIU, Leatherman said inadequate attention has been paid to hurricane science, research and education at the federal level.

“Hurricanes have shredded every ounce of public belief and trust in the safety and resiliency of community life by not only destroying people’s homes, but everything else in their daily lives – businesses, schools, hospitals, gas stations, and places of worship,” Leatherman said. “It is hard to identify any other societal need or engineering problem as challenging, recurring and multi-disciplinary as hurricanes.”

Leatherman has provided expert testimony for the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives several times. The International Hurricane Research Center, established by the private sector after Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida in 1992, is the statewide center for hurricane mitigation research in Florida.

-FIU-

Media Contact
Madeline Baró, 305-348-2234 or mbaro@fiu.edu