County Launches New 'Know Your Zone' Hurricane Evacuation Lookup

Escambia County Emergency Management has launched a new "Know Your Zone" website for residents to look up their hurricane evacuation zone and storm surge impacts, just in time for the 2018 hurricane season. The new evacuation lookup tool is mobile responsive, features an improved address search tool and clearly shows residents the impact of storm surge simulations for each level of possible called evacuations.

The online lookup tool and map can be accessed at myescambia.com/knowyourzone.

For best results, use Internet Explorer version 10 or above, Google Chrome or Firefox.

With the new storm surge tool, residents can:

• See if their home is located in evacuation zone A, B, C, D, E or None
• View a storm surge simulation for each evacuation level and how water will impact their property
• View the impacts of storm surge on the entire neighborhood around that specific property by selecting “Show Neighborhood Impact”
• Look up shelter locations and evacuation routes 
• Read facts about storm surge and related hazards

Knowing your evacuation zone is one of the most important hurricane preparation steps you can take. It is very important that you look up your evacuation zone each year to find out if and when you should evacuate, even if you have looked it up in the past, as zones can change. Most importantly, don’t rely on previous storm experience. Just because you weathered the last storm, doesn’t mean you will weather this one. 

Every storm is different, even if it is the same category. Categories only measure wind speed and not storm surge, so it doesn’t tell the whole story. While wind can be very destructive, storm surge is often the killer - think “run from water, hide from wind.” A  category 1 storm can have much more deadly storm surge than a category 3, it just depends on that particular system. For more information about storm surge, click here.

While hurricane evacuation zones are based on storm surge, they also take into account other public safety factors such as being cut off from first responder support. Properties on barrier islands are all considered to be in a level A evacuation zone due to the risk to the bridge and to citizens being isolated, even if the “Know Your Zone” application doesn’t show any storm surge on the parcel for that evacuation level. It is vital that in the event of a storm, you listen to local Emergency Management officials and follow any evacuation orders issued.

Escambia County Emergency Management was able to create the new storm surge lookup tool in house using program code generously provided by Pinellas County, Florida.  For more information about Escambia County Emergency Management and hurricane preparedness, visit bereadyescambia.com.

Above: The items in the yellow circle show for this property, at a called evacuation level of C, storm surge is estimated at a depth of five feet. The red circle shows that this property is in an Evacuation Zone A. 

Below: The "Show Neighborhood Impact" view for the same property.