New study identifies U.S. communities with the most limited evacuation routes

The U.S. is now entering peak season for major natural disasters, including wildfires in the West and hurricanes in East. According to recent statistics from CAL FIRE, since January 1, 2018 there have been 3,572 wildfires that have burned more than 245,850 acres in California alone. In comparison, since recording began in the mid-19th century, Florida has been directly hit by over 117 hurricanes, far more than any other state, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

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To help identify the communities and towns most affected by constrained evacuation routes, StreetLight Data analyzed the 30,000 towns in the U.S. with populations under 40,000 (according to U.S. Census data). Incorporating its advanced proprietary machine-learning algorithms, StreetLight then ranked the top 100 by “evacuation risk” from a transportation perspective. Evacuation risk 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.

StreetLight Data's evacuation route analysis revealed that the five U.S. states with the most evacuation-challenged communities are:

• Florida (20 communities) 
• California (14 communities) 
• Arizona (8 communities) 
• Texas (6 communities) 
• Washington (6 communities)

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