Household evacuation decisions and relationship to infrastructure disruption using evidence from Hurricane Irma

Hurricanes and extreme weather hazards disrupt infrastructure services causing cascading effects for households and communities. In this work, we use survey data from households affected by Hurricane Irma in south and central Florida to empirically estimate the effects of infrastructure disruptions on household evacuation decisions and to assess what factors determine the length of evacuation, after controlling for socio-economic and demographic variables. We find that the decision to evacuate prior to Hurricane Irma was affected by the prospects of losing access to critical infrastructure services, primarily electricity services. Medical infrastructure is also associated with evacuation decisions, specifically access to healthcare facilities and prescription medications. Our findings suggest that social networks provide additional support to a subset of evacuees. For those displaced to friends’ and families’ accommodations, over 63% stayed over 4 days before returning, in the upper range of the evacuation duration. The respondents linked the duration of evacuation and their returning behavior to the restoration of electrical service and access to other critical services, including the availability of fuel, food, and water supplies. Our study provides insights into the interdependence between household recovery and critical infrastructure services, notably power, communications, transportation, and health care.