Have a Game Plan in Place for Hurricane Coverage

By Kevin Sweeney
September 10, 2004 10:03 AM

The aftermath of Hurricanes Charley and Frances and the anxious anticipation of Hurricane Ivan have given business journalists across the state of Florida -- and the country, for that matter -- plenty of economic coverage angles to consider.

Costs associated with infrastructure and insurance, as well as concern over vital industries such as tourism and agriculture, have already levied billions of dollars in damage in the Sunshine state.

From a journalism perspective, the silver lining is in forecasting and preparation. Taking the necessary steps before a storm arrives can make all the difference in the comprehensiveness of your coverage.

"You definitely want to line up numbers for all of your key sources," says Rafael Gerena-Morales, business writer with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "You should also identify what your state or region's top sectors are. This can help sharpen reports when you are on a tight deadline."

Make a list of the primary corporations you think would be most affected in your coverage area. But keep in mind that not everyone can be included.

"Individually, talk to companies and see what they are telling their employees," Gerena-Morales recommends. "We can't get to every single company in every sector. So identify the major players that you are going to want to connect with."

The national attention associated with a natural disaster puts daily publications in direct competition with other media outlets, such as broadcasting and the Internet. Jeff Harrington, staff writer with the St. Petersburg Times, took this to task when covering the insurance implications.

"From the perspective of a newspaper, we had to be forward-thinking in our coverage as we were competing each day," Harrington says. "That's why I wrote about how mobile insurance units were going to roll into affected areas before they arrived. It's also why we wrote early on about Florida's unique insurance set-up, including the specter of some homeowners paying back-to-back hurricane deductibles of 2 to 5 percent."

Such an approach can help solidify your newspaper as the source that readers look toward consistently for reliable coverage. Harrington says his newspaper's Web site was periodically updated to provide interactive coverage to the online audience. The paper began running a table of toll-free numbers to contact various insurance companies, state regulators and Federal Emergency Management Association representatives the day Frances struck Florida's east coast.

Harrington traveled to Punta Gorda, Fla., after Hurricane Charley to get a first-hand look at the ravaged community for himself. This brought him face-to-face with the residents devastated by the storm and the insurance agents answering questions about their coverage.

This tactic paid dividends for both the Times and the Sun-Sentinel.

"Separate from the metro section, it is important to have a business reporter on site to get the business community's response," Gerena-Morales says. "You've got to get out there and see the face of an entrepreneur who may have been financially devastated from a hurricane. Go on the street to bring your report to life."

Gerena-Morales notes that the Sun-Sentinel sent out reporters after Hurricane Frances to discuss how the farming and insurance industry had suffered.

Look also at historical economic trends that might be dramatically impacted by a natural disaster. For instance, Frances struck the eastern shores of Florida during Labor Day weekend. This meant significant financial losses for the entire tourism industry, including hotel bookings.

Although many hotels filled up in the western part of the state as residents evacuated the east coast, those occupants were likely not spending the same amount of money as traditional tourists do.

Once you are on the scene, keep in mind problems you may encounter with contacting your newspaper. Harrington says many land lines were down, preventing traditional communication. He indicates a satellite phone may have come in handy to file his stories.

If your newspaper can afford it, it also helps to have more than one reporter on the scene. Harrington says it would have been a challenge to keep tabs on both industry officials in the state capital of Tallahassee and local officials if he did not have a colleague with him.

But the most important component is to have a plan in place once the storm hits, a process that is no doubt taking shape in Florida as Ivan approaches for possible landing somewhere along the Gulf Coast this weekend.

"The forward spin is part of today's story, examining the queasy state of the insurance industry with the prospect of a major, third hit this season -- be it from Ivan or another hurricane," Harrington says. "We try to look at this ahead of the game, report on the state of the insurance industry, which was overhauled after Hurricane Andrew in 1992."

While a game plan is critical, be prepared to be flexible. No one has to look past Hurricane Charley for evidence of how the lack of preparation by one community can change the dateline of a story within hours.

"It's important to have a game plan in place, but don't think of it as a prison," Gerena-Morales says. "It's just a blueprint that helps you operate, given tight deadlines. The best journalism is when reporters take in the scene of what happened through observation."

Please enter your friend's e-mail address

Please enter your e-mail address

If you would like to include a message, please add it here:

Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism