Survey of Trauma, Resilience, and Opportunity among Neighborhoods in the Gulf: Risk Perceptions and Decision-Making During Hurricanes Helene and Milton

This study is a follow-on to the STRONG study, which assesses trauma, resilience, and opportunity among populations in the Gulf Coast; this study focuses specifically on risk perceptions and decision-making during hurricanes Helene and Milton, which impacted the Gulf Coast region in September and October of 2024. <br><br>Hurricanes
Helene and Milton are poignant examples of the increasing threats to the U.S.
Gulf Coast from extreme weather events. The frequency and severity of such
disasters has increased in recent decades, and sea levels are projected to rise
along U.S. coastlines in the coming decades, with the highest anticipated
increase in the Gulf Coast. Moving forward, residents of coastal,
disaster-prone areas will have to make decisions about how to protect themselves
in the face of this increasing risk, including whether to evacuate during
hurricanes (a frequent occurrence along the Gulf Coast) or permanently migrate
from the region. In this study, we fielded a new survey to an existing
longitudinal study to understand how prior disaster experience and losses,
mental models, risk perceptions, and other factors are related to relocation
decisions.
We focused on capturing ephemeral psychological
and contextual states to address questions regarding mental models of changing
risks, how this affects risk perception, and ultimately how these tie to
protective action or inaction.