Hurricane Risk Perceptions and Evacuation Decision-Making in the Age of COVID-19

Abstract

CapsuleFloridians’ risk perceptions regarding sheltering and COVID-19 were evaluated during the 2020 hurricane season. Results show that many view shelters as high-risk and would choose sheltering-in-place instead of risking exposure.

Individual hurricane evacuation intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic: insights for risk communication and emergency management policies

“…A similar recent study to ours is Collins et al ( 2021 ), who conducted a survey of about 7,000 residents in Florida and found that these households were less likely to evacuate to a shelter in the 2020 hurricane season with COVID-19, compared with the pre-COVID-19 situation. Collins et al ( 2021 ) further found that most of their respondents felt that being in a shelter during COVID-19 times posed a higher risk than enduring a hurricane in their home, highlighting the important role COVID-19 may play in individuals evacuation decisions. We conducted a survey around the same time in June 2020 in Florida to examine individuals’ general evacuation intentions at the start of the hurricane season, irrespective of whether this is to a shelter or some other place.…”

“…In particular, we examine how evacuation intentions are independently influenced by flood risk perceptions and COVID-19 risk perceptions using regression and mediation analyses that we employ to further our understanding of how a person’s socio-demographic profile can influence evacuation intentions through these perceptions. This moves beyond the simple descriptive analyses by Collins et al ( 2021 ). We also assess evacuation obstacles during the COVID-19 pandemic and how these compare to the 2019 hurricane season without COVID-19 that we collected using an earlier survey conducted in the same sample areas in February 2020.…”

Understanding the nexus between public risk perception of COVID-19 and evacuation behavior during cyclone Amphan in Bangladesh

“…Therefore, it is essential to comprehend the impact of COVID-19 on disaster management at the national level and decisional aspects at the individual level. Large-scale evacuation in the time of disaster challenges the physical distancing requirements of lockdowns, making the evacuees susceptible to COVID-19 infection (Collins et al, 2021;Ebrahim et al, 2020;Shammi et al, 2020). On 20 May 2020, when the super cyclone hit Bangladesh, the country was already susceptible with about 21,145 active COVID cases, and the cyclone Amphan created a dual crisis for the country.…”

“…Some studies, such as Pei et al (2020) and Currie et al (2020) , endeavored to predict the evacuation scenario during natural hazards in the COVID-19 pandemic by developing hypothetical models based on previous disaster data. The only study of Collins et al (2021) attempted to understand how COVID-19 risk perception influenced the willingness to evacuate coastal people of Florida in any upcoming hurricane. Collins et al (2021) reported that COVID-19 drastically influenced the evacuation willingness of coastal people, which is very alarming and justifies the need for this research.…”

“…The only study of Collins et al (2021) attempted to understand how COVID-19 risk perception influenced the willingness to evacuate coastal people of Florida in any upcoming hurricane. Collins et al (2021) reported that COVID-19 drastically influenced the evacuation willingness of coastal people, which is very alarming and justifies the need for this research. But no empirical studies are conducted to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted real-time disaster evacuation events.…”