An experimental test of risk perceptions under a new hurricane classification system

This paper compared the current Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale (SSHWS; solely based on wind intensity) with the newly developed Tropical Cyclone Severity Scale (TCSS; based on rainfall, storm surge and wind intensities) to determine if a change in scale improves understanding of the risks posed by a tropical cyclone, and how it changes decisions related to evacuating and implementing measures.

The results show that the TCSS results in a substantially better identification of the main hazard (confirming H1). In turn, correct identification of the main hazard increases the intent to take relevant precautionary measures (i.e. sandbags for rainfall and storm surge hazards, and window protection for wind hazards). Overall, respondents exposed to the TCSS warnings seem to have higher intent to select relevant measures related to non-wind hazards as opposed to respondents exposed to SSHWS, though this is not significant at our 0.005 level (making H3a inconclusive). As hypothesized in H3b the paper shows that the intention to implement window protection does not differ between SSHWS and TCSS (which have the same category numbers for wind).