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Assessing Improvement in the Public's Understanding of Hurricane Storm Tides Through Interactive Visualization Models

ABSTRACT Lindner, B.L.; Alsheimer, F., and Johnson, J., 2019. Assessing improvement in the public's understanding of hurricane storm tides through interactive visualization models. Journal of Coastal Research, 35(1), 130–142. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. In order to better understand the efficacy of efforts to educate the public about the risks of hurricane storm surge, links on the local National Weather Service (NWS) website and various media outlets were used to recruit 575 Charleston-area residents to complete two anonymous internet-based surveys. Most participants knew that storm surge was the primary risk from a hurricane in low-lying areas, particularly younger, new residents with less prior experience with hurricanes. One in five participants indicated that the NWS always or usually overstates the dangers of hurricanes, although most participants actually overestimated the accuracy of NWS track forecasts. Many users of a hurricane storm-tide visualization model anticipated more storm surge than they would actually receive in various hurricane scenarios. After model usage, there was a noted increase in user understanding of the importance of landfall location on the amount of storm surge, particularly among women and older participants. Comparing surveys completed before and after model usage, there was no change in the number of users that claimed they would evacuate for a hurricane scenario that produced a small storm tide, but there was a substantial increase in the number that claimed they would evacuate for a hurricane scenario that produced a large storm tide, particularly among younger and new residents. A quarter of users stated they would have reconsidered living in their current home if they had investigated the model prior to their move. Thus, significant evidence exists to demonstrate the effectiveness of this type of model in improving risk awareness among users.