Travelers Guide to Hurricane Evacuation

The obvious answer is: Don't travel to an area under a hurricane warning. However, business travelers and tourists can find themselves in the midst of a hurricane evacuation with little warning and few resources. During my own unexpected evacuation from the path of Hurricane Ivan in 2004, I learned a few things to pass along.

My son and I were working in Louisiana and Mississippi in the fall of 2004. When The Weather Channel started reporting that Hurricane Ivan was headed to the Gulf Coast, the company we were contracting for cancelled the audits scheduled for the remainder of the week. It was time to evacuate and head home to Ohio.

Ohio receives its share of blizzards and tornadoes and we learn from childhood how to stay safe: get off the roads and let the storm pass. This isn't the case in hurricane zones. The low-lying areas may not get a direct hit from a hurricane but flooding and storm surges can make it very dangerous to stay.

My normal drive from Biloxi to Central Ohio would typically take about 11 hours. During our evacuation from Hurricane Ivan, my son and I spent more than 28 hours in my car. This is what I learned.

Hurricane Evacuation for Travelers: Learn Your Evacuation Route
Our typical route would have been to travel East to Mobile, AL and then head North on Interstate 65 to Louisville, KY. I-65 is the main evacuation route, traffic would be very heavy and my boss convinced me we should drive a little out of our way through Hattiesburg.

The 75-mile trip via US Route 49 would take a little less than 1 ½ hours under normal circumstances. I expected traffic to be heavy but I never anticipated that leg of my journey to last almost five hours.

Hurricane Evacuation for Travelers: Fill Your Vehicle with Gas
I was shocked at how high the gas prices went in Biloxi during the Hurricane Ivan evacuation. The manager of the truck stop we were auditing warned us he had been instructed to raise the prices and I was able to fill my car before the price went up. You won't find a better price along the evacuation route and you could run the risk of running out of gas in heavy traffic.

Hurricane Evacuation for Travelers: Try to Reserve a Hotel Room
As soon as you learn you will need to evacuate, get online or contact a major hotel chain to see if they have any available rooms on your evacuation route. Trust the fact that everyone else is seeking a room for the night (or more), the competition will be high and the prices will seem steep.

Once I realized I would be leaving Biloxi, I planned to drive until around midnight and then find a cheap hotel somewhere. There were no available rooms between Hattiesburg and Meridian. We eventually found a gas station just inside the Alabama border and were given permission to sleep in my car on their lot.

Hurricane Evacuation for Travelers: Buy Snacks and Beverages
We ate dinner before we left Biloxi but the bottled water we kept in the car was well-appreciated after a few hours. Restaurants and convenience stores will be busy along the way. When traveling, I always tried to avoid "empty" snacks such as cookies and chips and often found the protein in beef jerky to outweigh the high sodium content on long road trips. Another decent snack choice that needs no refrigeration is peanut butter sandwich crackers.

Hurricane Evacuation for Travelers: Leave as Soon as Possible
My biggest mistake when beginning my evacuation trip was believing that the traffic would be lighter if I waited. We had dinner at one of the few full-serve restaurants still open in Biloxi and didn't start our journey until around 6:30 PM. I learned that I wasn't the only one with the "let the traffic clear" theory as I inched my way toward Hattiesburg at 15 miles per hour. I may not have been able to drive any faster but I might have gotten a little further before midnight and been able to find a hotel room.

When Hurricane Ivan made landfall at 6:50 AM on September 16, 2004 near the Alabama-western Florida border, I was sleeping in my car in Western Alabama. The lessons I learned can save another traveler in a battle with Mother Nature.

Sources: NOAA