The Science, Skill, and Luck, Behind Evacuation Order Calls

(THE CONVERSATION) Government officials order coastal evacuation even when it’s sunny at the beach with not a cloud in the sky and no hint of the ominous threat thousands of miles away other than from satellite images. People who know I study hurricane evacuations have often asked me to explain this curious decision. In the end, evacuation planning is part science, part skill based on experience, and part luck.   Who makes the call Evacuations are an example of the precautionary principle: protect people from harm before an event occurs. In the case of hurricanes, the harm is the storm surge – the rise in the sea caused by the hurricane over and above the tides. Storm surge is the cause of most deaths and damages from hurricanes, which is why emergency managers are so concerned about it and go to extreme lengths to get people to evacuate for their own safety. Hurricane planning starts after each hurricane season as city, county and state officials reassess the past season, review operations and update their evacuation zones. In South Carolina, for example, nearly 1.1 million people reside in a designated hurricane evacuation zone, but this number does not include seasonal tourists or students enrolled in coastal colleges and universities. In North Carolina, a million people live in storm surge-prone coastal counties, not including seasonal tourists. In South Carolina, only the governor can issue a mandatory evacuation order. In North Carolina, the governor has that a...
Source: JEMS: Journal of Emergency Medical Services News - Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: News Administration and Leadership Source Type: news