NSF RAPID: Hurricane Evacuations in the Age of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic increases the complexity of planning for hurricanes as social distancing is in direct conflict with human mobility and congregation. COVID-19 presents not only urgent challenges for this hurricane season due to the likeliness of continued or heightened COVID-19 threat, but also challenges with the next hurricane season with additional waves of the pandemic. There is severe urgency to understand the impact of COVID-19 risk perceptions and the extent people are willing to risk their lives by sheltering in place rather than evacuating during severe hurricanes. This page hosts materials from a series of surveys conducted in 2020 and 2021, both pre- and post-hurricane, that address the complex decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The information on this page can be used by researchers and emergency managers to better understand decision-making, risk perceptions, and practical issues of hurricane evacuations in conjunction with a global pandemic.