Tag: hurricane evacuation

Hurricane Evacuations During a Pandemic? How on Earth do you safely evacuate tens or even hundreds of thousands of people inland, during the Age of Covid-19? Great question. We may soon find out. “Hanna” was a dry run in south Texas and “Douglas” narrowly missed Hawaii. Now there’s a new tropical system which may, in theory, impact Florida this weekend. Giving people more time to prepare, opening up hotels, in addition to schools, to evacuees, and encouraging people who’s homes are up to code to stay put may help, but during a chaotic rush inland, social distancing and mask hygiene...

Focused evacuations and new sheltering options may help to lower risk. Hurricane evacuations are chaotic under the best of circumstances. But the specter of evacuees trying to outrun a hurricane and a deadly bug sounds like something out of a dark Stephen King novel. “Why would I leave the safety of my home to mingle with unknown, potentially un-masked strangers in hotels and auditoriums who might be infected with Covid-19? Why expose my family to additional risk? I’ll just stay where I am and take my chances with the storm.” Which may be precisely what not to do with a...