Too Many Flee Hurricanes

Effects of last fall's Hurricane Floyd are still being felt on the East Coast.

Right now, it's a sweet potato shortage: Floyd ruined the crop.

But disaster planners are studying more serious matters, like keeping people out of harm's way in a hurricane.

CBS News Correspondent Jeffrey Kofman reports that for many, it's safest to stay put.

1999's Hurricane Floyd sparked the largest peace-time evacuation in American history, and probably the largest traffic jam.

As Hurricane Floyd stormed from South Florida to North Carolina, exhausted evacuees found that road trips that normally take two hours took as much as twenty.

Miami-Dade Emergency Management Director Chuck Lanza says, "I think the only thing more dangerous than being in a coastal area when a hurricane strikes is being on the road."

As the 2000 hurricane season approaches, people who run emergency operations don't want to see a repeat.

Jack Beven of the National Hurricane Center says, "If the storm comes and catches all those cars on the highway, it is going to pick them up and blow them around just like twigs on a tree."

The biggest problem, according to a new study of the Floyd evacuees, is that as many as a third of the people on the roads didn't need to be there.

Prof. Jay Baker of Florida State University says, "We had a lot of people leave in Floyd who are what we call 'shadow evacuees.' That means that they evacuated from places that weren't told to evacuate."

The danger in a hurricane isn't the wind, it's the waves—the storm surge—which is why people right on the coast need to flee. People inland are safe in solid homes or shelters. The study found that many who fled were either confused or just being cautious.

Baker says, "The only thing wrong with people who over-respond as a precautionary measure is it makes it more difficult for the people at greatest risk to evacuate."

With just over a month until hurricane season comes again there's a new message, not everyone has to evacuate.

CBS Hurricane Consultant Bryan Norcross says, "We have very strong buildings here that can withstand these storms. It'll be scary but it'll be a lot more scary if you are stuck on a turnpike in a traffic jam."

When a hurricane is approaching the instinct is to flee. The lesson from Floyd is that it's safer to find somewhere solid—and close to home.