EV in a hurricane evacuation

[mjs020294]

Hurricane forecasts are much better these days for most tracks. A 200 mile range will get you to safety if you are driving more perpendicular to the storm track. The sad reality is many people leave too late to safely evac, traffic on roadways is a nightmare.

If the hurricane is traveling north through Florida many would need to drive 400-500 miles to get out of its path. Once you get around north Florida and south Georgia there really isn't much accommodation, so folks need to evacuate west to Alabama or north to Atlanta.

Evacuating a simple east-west or west-east hurricane is much easier.

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[ctenidae]

If the hurricane is traveling north through Florida many would need to drive 400-500 miles to get out of its path. Once you get around north Florida and south Georgia there really isn't much accommodation, so folks need to evacuate east to Alabama or north to Atlanta.

Evacuating a simple east-west or west-east hurricane is much easier.

That is one heck of a long evacuation route! Once you get past Vero Beach, it's 3,900 miles, easy, to your closest charger in Dingle. It is close to the pier, though, so that's convenient. A long drive from there still to go...

 

[mjs020294]

That is one heck of a long evacuation route! Once you get past Vero Beach, it's 3,900 miles, easy, to your closest charger in Dingle. It is close to the pier, though, so that's convenient. A long drive from there still to go...

It quicker if you take the west route lol

 

[Valkyrie]

If you live in west Florida before a storm hits, just drive to east Florida outside of the Hurricane uncertainty cone. In most cases travelling just a few counties away, perpendicular to the storm track, is all you need to travel to be safe. By the time the Hurricane passes through Florida it will be significantly weakened. Driving to Atlanta is overkill. EV's do well in traffic

 

[MachGT]

Last time i was in a hurricane evacuation i was stuck in traffic for ten hours, and panic hoarding left every gas station empty. So the EV would've been the better choice. You're never that far from an outlet.

The highway was littered with cars out of gas. EV wins.

 

[mjs020294]

If you live in west Florida before a storm hits, just drive to east Florida outside of the Hurricane uncertainty cone. In most cases travelling just a few counties away, perpendicular to the storm track, is all you need to travel to be safe. By the time the Hurricane passes through Florida it will be significantly weakened. Driving to Atlanta is overkill. EV's do well in traffic

The decision to evacuate is usually made 2-3 days before the storm is on your door step. Two days out the cone of uncertainty often covers the entire State. If you do evacuate you need to plan on being away for 3-5 days until it is safe to return. Most people are evacuating with family members and pets so you really need to find accommodation. Then you have to factor in the complete lack of charging stations in the vicinity where most EV ranges will get tested.

Take hurricane Ian for instance; tropical storm force winds reached over 400 miles from the eye. That makes driving pretty unpleasent especially when squails of heavy rain accompany the wind of 40mph with 50mph gusts. We live on the extreme NE of Florida the outer bands reached us around midnight on Monday and the hurricane just past us in the early hours of Friday.

 

[RockwallRick]

We stayed at home and survived Ian. He left us with 17 inches of rain but we live high up on a ridge so NO flood worries! All I need to do now is clean up all of the tree trash.

 

[mjs020294]

We stayed at home and survived Ian. He left us with 17 inches of rain but we live high up on a ridge so NO flood worries! All I need to do now is clean up all of the tree trash.

Same here but its amazing how much tree debris gets shaken out of oaks. We will be cleaning up all weekend.

 

[Mach1E]

If you live in west Florida before a storm hits, just drive to east Florida outside of the Hurricane uncertainty cone. In most cases travelling just a few counties away, perpendicular to the storm track, is all you need to travel to be safe. By the time the Hurricane passes through Florida it will be significantly weakened. Driving to Atlanta is overkill. EV's do well in traffic

You ain’t from around here, is ya??

That’s like telling you to go to another Hawaiian island when a hurricane approaches. You very well could be going closer to the storm!


Maybe a visual from Irma will help:

Oh and Atlanta? Still in the cone.

The hurricane force winds were as wide as the state of Florida. And tropical storm winds 4x the width.

 

[Valkyrie]

In that worst case forecast Mach1E, say you live in Miami, just travel to Orlando and get a hotel to be safe. 230 mile trip to get a much much weaker tropical system. When hurricanes travel over land, the land always wins.

 

[Tampamike]

We stayed at home and survived Ian. He left us with 17 inches of rain but we live high up on a ridge so NO flood worries! All I need to do now is clean up all of the tree trash.

Drove through there yesterday on the way back. Saw some flooding off SR60 and then lots of branches - mostly small ones. Bartow was hit pretty hard - trees and big branches down all over the place. I think they got a tornado too. There was a stretch of power line down where the poles were all over the place including one snapped in half.

Traffic was a little heavy in spots on SR60 - a little slow going through Lake Wales because of all the stop lights, some working and some not. The turnpike had a lot of cars but moved well. Tampa was fine. We avoided I-4. We saw power trucks everywhere starting in FLL.

 

[Garbone]

Well, we got power restored after only 20 hours without, very lucky. So wife went to Orlando to check on Grandma. Got back and plugged, car is full again this morning and no gas line like everyone else. I think she will be heading back to Otown again today. Of note is there are very few fast food places open on the I4 corridor and if they are the lines are around the corner, best to just eat at home.

One could say "well you have power so" but lets face it, if she was rolling in the Explorer the 100+ mile round trips would not be happening as the gas lines are insane at the moment with few station open and everyone filling a Jerry can or 3.

 

[mkhuffman]

Glad all our Florida forum members appear to be OK. And it is really interesting reading your first hand accounts of using your MME during a natural disaster.

I think it is clear that if you can charge at home, and at your destination, and you don't need to rely on a public charger, a BEV is more useful than an ICE vehicle during a natural disaster. Lots of "ifs" there, which is why I think an ICE backup is a good idea if you have one.

Florida MME owners: 1
Florida hurricanes: 0

 

[RockwallRick]

Drove through there yesterday on the way back. Saw some flooding off SR60 and then lots of branches - mostly small ones. Bartow was hit pretty hard - trees and big branches down all over the place. I think they got a tornado too. There was a stretch of power line down where the poles were all over the place including one snapped in half.

Traffic was a little heavy in spots on SR60 - a little slow going through Lake Wales because of all the stop lights, some working and some not. The turnpike had a lot of cars but moved well. Tampa was fine. We avoided I-4. We saw power trucks everywhere starting in FLL.

It’s always a good idea to avoid I-4!! Did you hit any love bugs on 60?

 

[Logal727]

In that worst case forecast Mach1E, say you live in Miami, just travel to Orlando and get a hotel to be safe. 230 mile trip to get a much much weaker tropical system. When hurricanes travel over land, the land always wins.

Orlando is tremendously flooded as well. Lots of cars gone

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