Reentry After an Evacuation Order

Reentry After an Evacuation Order:

How State and Local Governments Can Make Returning Home Less Traumatic

Every year, government officials are criticized for reentry efforts – the process and time allowed for people to return to their homes and businesses in the aftermath of a hurricane evacuation. What’s missing from this conversation is the voice of small business owners and homeowners.  As I’ve written in this space before, we need to convince state and local leaders to change the way we think about hurricane evacuations. A critical area for improvement is how, and when, evacuated citizens can return home safely. As the former director of a state emergency management agency – where I served as the coordinating officer for 14 disasters, including eight presidential-declared events –  tells me that reentry plans are often created in a vacuum that do not include opinions of the whole community.

Rethinking Reentry Strategies

Many communities allow only “critical workforce” to return to an evacuation zone first, but what defines the “critical workforce?” I would argue that in coastal communities small business owners  who support the tourism that drives their region’s economy, are indeed critical. Keeping business owners away from their damaged businesses can create an unnecessary economic hardship for a community that needs to quickly rebuild. We must find better reentry solutions for small business owners, so they can make repairs and contribute to restoring disaster-affected zones.

A recent survey of business owners in disaster-prone areas conducted by the Stephenson Disaster Management Institute’s Small Business Resiliency Project, a program run by Louisiana State University, showed that reentry was a top concern. Obviously, citizens should not return to areas that still pose threats to life and safety; however, emergency managers can, and should, simplify reentry strategies.

How Better Reentry Strategies Can Reduce Residential and Commercial Damages

The longer floodwater sits in residential and commercial properties; the more damage it causes. And the longer we keep citizens away from their homes, damage worsens, thereby increasing FEMA Public Assistance, FEMA Individual Assistance, and other disaster costs.

An excellent case study in how to simplify and strengthen reentry procedures can be found in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. This county recently implemented a color-coded reentry protocol that should serve as an emerging best practice for other jurisdictions. Anne Arundel created an all hazards evacuation plan that divided the county into easily recognizable zones.   The zones are designed to both reduce the number of people they ask to evacuate, and can be activated in a phased manner. This zone concept is also utilized during reentry. Each zone can be assigned a color code, which helps citizens understand the level of damage in different parts of the county, and whether or not they can access their home or business safely This process avoids shutting down the entire county and allows citizens to return to areas that experienced less severe damage:

Final Thoughts

Before a major disaster, it is the responsibility of state and local leaders, and emergency managers, to develop plans and procedures that keep citizens safe. This includes the order to evacuate when it is absolutely necessary. But it is also our responsibility to help evacuees return in a safe and timely manner. Communities should consider adoption of simplified reentry for residents and business owners returning from an evacuation. Such an approach allows citizens to quickly salvage their business and property, and restore their community to economic prosperity.

Brock Long is Hagerty Consulting’s former Executive Vice President. Brock is a former Director of Alabama’s Emergency Management Agency (EMA) and has more than 16 years of experience assisting and supporting local, state, and federal governments. . Brock developed Alabama’s response to the H1N1 influenza and served as the on-scene State Incident Commander for the Alabama Unified Command during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.