Navigating the Storm

Severe weather events—floods, hurricanes, forest fires, and snowstorms—increasingly disrupt communities. In 2024, the United States experienced 27 separate weather and climate disasters, each causing at least $1 billion in damages, just shy of the record 28 events in 2023. The combined cost of these catastrophes is estimated at $182.7 billion. Beyond the economic costs, the human toll—both physical and emotional—is immense.

Effective disaster preparedness, response, and recovery are crucial for fleet managers and municipal and state planners. Moreover, freight keeps our world moving and our shelves stocked whether it is fuel, emergency supplies or food items. When they experience these disruptions, we feel it as people.Transportation authorities and fleets face challenges like closed highways, traffic congestion, and freight delays and turn to data insights in these critical times.

A recent Altitude by Geotab study on the impact of severe weather events on commercial fleets revealed:

• Hurricane Helene in North Carolina: Significant flooding made roads and bridges impassable, with some roads closed for weeks or months, causing congestion on remaining open routes.

• Winter storms in New York: Commercial vehicle volumes on the I-90 reduced between 3,800 and 35,000 daily vehicle passes. During the peak of the storm vehicle volumes and distance traveled dropped by an average ~60%. 

• Wildfires in Los Angeles, California: Evacuations patterns and routes were identified, and vehicle travel across the wider region was reduced.

These real-world examples highlight the need for proactive, data-driven strategies. Imagine a municipality or region using data to identify and optimize potential evacuation routes before a disaster strikes. Or a transportation authority ensuring efficient freight movement and preparing alternative transportation scenarios to minimize disruptions. Or a fleet owner confirming vehicle maintenance schedules to ensure vehicles are ready to support the needs of each disaster.

Leveraging Data for Resilience

Today’s fleet managers and transportation planners can leverage data and insights to understand infrastructure vulnerabilities and create robust plans.This involves several key aspects:

• Big-picture awareness: Data-driven planning to understand the macro level impacts that natural disasters have on the road network they utilize and how best to efficiently and safely navigate them to continue operations.
• Predictive maintenance and preparedness: Assessing vehicle health and predicting maintenance needs, ensuring first responders have reliable vehicles and equipment, and reducing downtime.
• Monitoring charge and fuel levels: Identifying vehicles needing fueling or charging and staying ahead of fuel shortages to maintain readiness.
• Active tracking: Monitoring vehicle progress and reassuring the public that help is on the way; managing and tracking essential equipment, supplies, and resources.
• Managing notifications: Automated alerts of engine fault codes and remote diagnostics enable command centers to quickly determine if a vehicle is safe to continue responding, needs maintenance, or should be immediately removed from active service.

Data-Driven Solutions to Weather the Storm

Ultimately, keeping drivers and communities safe is paramount. Data and insights empower better decisions and outcomes. From government agencies and first responders to utilities and fleets, Geotab and Altitude are partners in preparedness, providing the tools and insights needed to navigate any weather event. By embracing data-driven solutions, we can enhance resilience and mitigate the impacts of increasingly frequent and severe weather.

To learn more about how our insights can help with understanding, preparing for and managing the impacts of extreme weather, like the transportation effects of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, harsh winter storms in upstate New York and historic wildfires in California, download the full study here: https://altitude.geotab.com/insights-and-customer-stories/