GO TO HIGH GROUND: A COASTAL EVACUATION PLAN FOR STATEN ISLAND, NY

On October 29, 2012, Superstorm Sandy delivered a devastating blow to the New York City area, with particularly severe consequences for Staten Island. The tragedy is not only loss of life, but loss of vehicles and property. We developed a robust and resilient response plan entitled “Go to High Ground”. We utilized the ARCGIS Geographic Information System and Transmodeler software in developing this plan which defined transportation routes, high ground parking areas, possible bottlenecks and clearance times.

The plan is commissioned by the New York Governor's Office of Storm Recovery and developed by the College of Staten Island of the City University of New York. For those in a hurricane evacuation zone then the plan has a central message: Going to high ground, early, is your best and only option in a hurricane. Get in your vehicle and go as soon as you are ordered to leave. Strategies develop include changes to public education, alterations to signage, expansion of wayfinding and communication, traffic modeling of safe movement of vehicles and people not just from flood zones but to adequate refuge on high ground and ways to enhance overall ongoing and continuous coordination between community stakeholders and government before, during and after emergencies. The effort has already yielded changes to evacuation sign design and placement on Staten Island and other policy and practice changes are being considered now. A key takeaway is that that the public must understand that they are always at risk from hurricanes every season (ambiguous terms such as 'hundred year events notwithstanding) and that they must be ready and willing to evacuate when ordered and provided the means to do so.