DOI: 10.17603/ds2-a4xz-nt65
title: 2024 Hurricanes Helene & Milton Pinellas County Preliminary Report, in Hurricanes Helene and Milton Evacuation Decision Making

description: Emergency managers and communications experts aim to improve compliance with evacuation orders in hurricane-prone areas. Hurricanes Helene and Milton presented an opportunity to better understand preparedness, risk perception, and evacuation decisions among Pinellas County residents. To explore these factors, researchers disseminated a digital survey using Qualtrics—available in English and Spanish—collecting 1,324 responses between April and August 2025 from Pinellas County specifically. This report summarizes preliminary findings on respondents’ general evacuation preparedness and the perceived risks that influenced their decisions to evacuate to a shelter or hotel, shelter in place, or relocate elsewhere (e.g., friend, family member, coworker) in response to the storms.
description: This project examines hurricane evacuation decision-making, risk perceptions, and preparedness behaviors among residents impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton during the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season. Emergency managers and communications professionals continue to face challenges in improving compliance with evacuation orders in hurricane-prone regions, particularly as storms intensify and evacuation guidance becomes more complex. To better understand these dynamics, researchers conducted a digital survey of residents who experienced one or both hurricanes, resulting in 2,940 responses. The survey explored how individuals perceived risk, evaluated official guidance, assessed household preparedness, and ultimately decided whether to shelter in place, evacuate to an emergency shelter, or evacuate to an alternate location.

The survey was administered online using Qualtrics, with data collected between April and September 2025. Preliminary reports summarize respondents’ self-reported preparedness levels for each hurricane, perceived storm severity, trust in information sources, and contextual factors influencing protective actions. By capturing responses across multiple phases of the hurricane season, the dataset reflects evolving perceptions before, during, and after storm events. This allows for a more nuanced understanding of how experience, messaging, and situational constraints shape evacuation behavior over time.

The reports generated by this project can be reused in several ways. Researchers may use the qualitative responses to examine relationships between risk perception, preparedness, and evacuation behavior, and/or to test and refine theoretical models. Emergency management practitioners can leverage the findings to improve evacuation messaging, tailor preparedness campaigns, and identify barriers faced by populations in hurricane-prone areas. The dataset may also support comparative analyses with other hurricane events, regions, or disaster types, contributing to broader research on disaster resilience and protective decision-making.

This project is unique in its comparative focus on two distinct hurricane events within the same season, allowing for within-population comparisons of behavior across storms with different characteristics and public responses. The large sample size and emphasis on decisions made, provides deeper insight into why residents comply with or resist evacuation guidance. Additionally, the project integrates preparedness behaviors, risk perceptions, and evacuation choices within a single dataset, offering a more holistic view of household-level evacuation decision-making and protective actions conducted to prepare for two back-to-back hurricanes.

The primary audience for this project includes emergency managers, public health practitioners, disaster researchers, planners, and policymakers seeking evidence-based insights to inform evacuation planning and risk communication strategies. Secondary audiences include academic researchers, graduate and undergraduate students, and community organizations working to strengthen hurricane preparedness and resilience in vulnerable regions.