PHEER Research Brief: Quantifying Healthcare Facility Disruptions in Hurricane Beryl Using Cellphone Location Data

This project investigates disruptions and recovery patterns in healthcare visitation caused by Hurricane Beryl’s landfall on July 8, 2024, in Harris County, Texas. Using human mobility data from SafeGraph, we developed a Mobility Disruption Index (MDI) to quantify changes in visits to 4,113 healthcare facilities across the county. To understand the drivers of these disruptions, we integrated satellite-derived nighttime light imagery, meteorological data, and ZIP-code-level socioeconomic indicators. The primary audience includes emergency management agencies, public health departments, healthcare system administrators, resilience planners, policy makers, and researchers in disaster resilience, public health, and geospatial data science. The findings and methods can directly inform operational decision-making, resource allocation, and resilience planning in disaster-prone communities.