After Hurricane Milton, here’s how to improve evacuation during disasters

As Hurricane Milton roared ashore near Sarasota, Florida, tens of thousands of people were in shelters. Hundreds of thousands had fled coastal counties ahead of the storm, congested highways north and south as their counties issued evacuation orders.

But not all left, despite dire warnings about what was one of the strongest storms on record two days earlier.

As rain and Hurricane Milton flooded neighborhoods late on October 9, 911 calls poured in. In Tampa’s Hillsborough County, more than 500 people had to be rescued, including residents of an assisted living community and families trapped in a flooded home after a tree crashed. though the roof at the height of the storm.

In Plant City, about 20 miles from Tampa, at least 35 people were rescued this morning, said city manager Bill McDaniel. Although the storm was not as powerful as feared, McDaniel said his city was flooded in areas and levels he had never seen. The traffic signals were out. Power lines and trees were down. The sewage treatment plant was flooded, which disrupted the public water supply.

Evacuating may seem like the obvious move when a major storm hits your region, but that choice isn’t always as easy as it may seem.

Storm recovery requires money, planning, the ability to travel, and, most importantly, the belief that moving is better than staying put.

I recently reviewed years of research on what motivates people to leave or seek shelter during hurricanes as part of a project with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Natural Hazards Center. I found three main reasons people don’t travel.

Removal can be expensive

Evacuation requires transportation, money, shelter, the ability to leave work before the storm, and other resources that most people do not have.

With one in nine Americans facing poverty today, many have limited options to get out. During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, for example, many residents did not own cars and did not have access to evacuation buses. That left them despondent because of the dangerous storm. An estimated 1,400 people died in the storm, most of them in flooded houses.

When millions of people are under evacuation orders, transportation problems also arise.

Gas shortages and traffic jams can leave people stranded on highways and unable to find shelter before the storm hits. This happened during Hurricane Floyd in 1999 as two million Floridians tried to evacuate.

People who have experienced evacuations in the past or seen news footage of congested highways before Hurricane Milton may not travel for fear of getting stuck.

Health, pets, and physical mobility

Planning a move is even more challenging for people with disabilities or in nursing homes. Additionally, people incarcerated may have no choice in the matter—and the justice system may have few options to remove them.

Excluding nursing homes, disabled people, or prison populations is complicated. Many shelters are not prepared to meet their needs. In one example during Hurricane Floyd, a disabled person came to the shelter, but the hallways were too narrow for a wheelchair, so they were restricted from sitting in the frame where they were staying. Relocating people with fragile health, and doing so under stressful conditions, can exacerbate health problems, leaving nursing home staff to make difficult decisions.

But failure to exit can also be fatal. During Hurricane Irma in 2017, seven nursing home residents died of heatstroke after their facility lost power near Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In some cases, public water systems are blocked or contaminated. And floods can cause many health risks, including the risk of infectious diseases.

In a survey of 291 long-term care facilities in Florida, 81% sheltered residents during the 2004 hurricane season because they had limited travel options and were experiencing problems finding accommodations for residents.

People with pets face another difficult decision—some choose to stay at home because they are afraid to leave their pet. The study found that pet owners are less likely than others to evacuate due to the difficulty of transporting their pets and finding shelters to take them. In devastating storms, it can take days to weeks before people can return to their homes.

Perception of danger can also get in the way

People’s perceptions of danger can prevent them from leaving.

A series of studies show that women and minorities take hurricane risks more seriously than other groups and are more likely to evacuate or go to shelters. One study found that women are almost twice as likely as men to leave when given a mandatory evacuation order.

If people have experienced a storm before it caused significant damage, they may perceive the dangers of a future storm to be low and not overwhelming.

In my review of the study, I found that many people who did not get out were reluctant to go to shelters and preferred to stay at home or with family or friends. Shelter conditions were sometimes poor, crowded, or lacked privacy.

People were worried about safety and whether shelters could meet their needs. For example, religious minorities had no assurance that shelters would be clean, safe, have private areas for religious practice, and food options consistent with religious practices. Diabetics and people with young children were also concerned about getting adequate food at shelters.

How to improve human transport in the future

There are ways leaders can reduce barriers to exit and shelter use. For example:

• Building more storm-proof shelters can create safe havens for people who don’t have transportation or can’t leave their jobs early enough to get out.
• Planning more shelters and transportation that can accommodate people with disabilities and those with special needs, such as nursing home residents, can help protect vulnerable people.
• Opening shelters to house pets and their owners can also increase the chances of pet owners evacuating.
• Public education can be improved so that people know their options. Clear communication about the risk of how these storms differ from previous ones and what people may experience can also help people make informed decisions.
• Being prepared saves lives. Many areas can benefit from advance planning that takes into account the needs of multiple, diverse populations and can ensure that people have means of escape to safety.

This article has been updated with more details about the damage from Hurricane Milton.

Carson MacPherson-Krutsky is a researcher at the Natural Disasters Center at the University of Colorado Boulder..

This article has been republished from The conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the first article.