Skip to main content

Florida has ‘most limited’ disaster evacuation routes: study

Florida has 20 of the top 100 communities in the US that offer limited evacuation routes for natural disasters, says StreetLight Data. The company analysed 30,000 towns with populations under 40,000 with the aim of better preparing communities for floods, hurricanes and tornadoes. The top 100 communities was ranked by ‘evacuation risk’, which was determined by how many of the location’s daily trips enter and exit the town and via what route(s), adjusted for the number of available exits and overall populat
August 29, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

Florida has 20 of the top 100 communities in the US that offer limited evacuation routes for natural disasters, says StreetLight Data.

The company analysed 30,000 towns with populations under 40,000 with the aim of better preparing communities for floods, hurricanes and tornadoes. The top 100 communities was ranked by ‘evacuation risk’, which was determined by how many of the location’s daily trips enter and exit the town and via what route(s), adjusted for the number of available exits and overall population.

Paul Friedman, StreetLight’s chief technical officer, says: “Transportation infrastructure, and sharing information about transportation options, is one part of the complex requirements of disaster and evacuation preparation. We hope this data can be a useful support to those working in this challenging field.”

Other states that have the most evacuation-challenged towns include California (14 communities), Arizona (8), Texas (6) and Washington (also 6).

Additionally, findings revealed the most constrained evacuation routes are Camano (Washington), Hilton Head Island (South Carolina), Mercer Island (Washington), Hutchinson Island South (Florida) and Sanibel (Florida).

Related Content

  • Six easy steps to security
    October 22, 2018
    As security threats become increasingly vast and varied, multinationals are beginning to see the need for an effective global security operations centre to protect their organisation. James I. Chong spells out what is required. You know you need a global security operations centre (GSOC) to support what you’ve built, identify threats, and prevent disasters before they happen - but how do you know if it’s truly effective? There’s no shortage of information coming into operation centres. Too often, it’s the
  • Report finds speed cameras reduce crashes, injuries in DC
    February 10, 2014
    A new report carried out by Parsons Brinckerhoff on behalf of the DC Department of Transportation (DDOT) finds that speed cameras are helping to reduce accidents and injuries and slowing drivers down. The DDOT conducted an engineering study to determine a link between traffic safety and placement of automated speed enforcement devices (speed cameras) in the District of Columbia. As part of this study, Parsons Brinckerhoff and its team members conducted speed and volume studies, carried out field assessme
  • Dubai plans to be 'world’s most bike-friendly city' by 2040
    November 30, 2023
    URB consultancy aims to shift city where car is king to one that rivals Amsterdam
  • Full analysis: Massive US EV infrastructure plan
    February 21, 2023
    The White House has announced a huge financial boost, new standards, and major progress for a made-in-America national network of EV chargers to support the future of US EV charging