Understanding Hurricane Evacuation Planning in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States: Fid-Bau Portal

Understanding Hurricane Evacuation Planning in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States

Vásquez, William F. / Murray, Thomas J. / Mozumder, Pallab

This study investigates planned evacuation logistics, including primary destination and means of transportation, in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States. Using responses to an Internet-based survey from a random sample of over 1,000 individuals, the authors estimate a number of probit and multinomial probit models to identify factors associated with the likelihood of having a hurricane evacuation plan, potential usage of public transportation to evacuate, and the primary evacuation destination. Survey results indicate that less than 36% of the respondents have an evacuation plan. Findings also indicate that most respondents would evacuate in their own vehicle to the home of a friend or a relative. About 19% would evacuate to a hotel, and less than 11% would go to a public shelter. Less than 5% of the respondents would use public transportation to evacuate. Evacuation planning is found to be associated with prior evacuation experiences, economic conditions, location, and household composition. Estimation results indicate that respondents who do not own a vehicle, have college education, and live in a large city are more likely to evacuate using public transportation. Respondents with evacuation experience, living in a flood zone, living in a large city and with more resources (income and vehicles) are less likely to use public shelters. Some policy implications of these results are discussed.