Behavioral Analysis for Southeast Louisiana Hurricane Events
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abstract
The goal of this analysis is to understand previous evacuation behavior and potential evacuation behavior during future hurricanes for the approximate 1.8 million people who reside in southeast Louisiana. To evaluate this behavior, the Stephenson Disaster Management Institute (SDMI) at Louisiana State University (LSU) partnered with LSUs Public Policy Research Lab to conduct a telephone survey of over 2,600 people in the 13 parishes that comprise southeast Louisiana. The study was conducted between May 2016 and January 2017, then submitted through Dewberry, the United States Army Corps of Engineers, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the Louisiana Governors Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. In August 2016 many of the participating parishes in the study area were severely affected by the historic 1,000 year rain event in the Greater Baton Rouge area. In consideration for those affected, calling in the most severely affected parishes was put on hold immediately after the event and resumed in October 2016. The cooperation rate for the total survey sample is 91%, meaning that of the calls answered by an eligible respondent, nine out of ten resulted in a completed interview. The margin of error for the total sample is 1.9%. Compared to the overall population of the study area, the sample tends to include more women and older persons; and respondents also tend to be better educated, wealthier, and more likely to live in one-unit structure homes than the general population. The sample is representative of the racial makeup of the 13 parish area, but contains slightly fewer respondents of Hispanic origin. The final results were weighted according to the U.S. Census Bureaus American Community Survey five-year estimates (2011-2015) to improve inference estimates for the entire 13-parish study area.
