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Hurricane Preparedness and Evacuation Planning

The National Hurricane Program (NHP) assists federal, state, local, tribal and territorial emergency managers in hurricane preparedness, and evacuation and response planning efforts.​​​​​​ These efforts span from steady-state deliberate planning to operational decision support and crisis action planning when hurricanes threaten the United States. The NHP supports emergency managers through three goals:

  • Provide operational tools, information and technical assistance to emergency managers to support their hurricane evacuation and response decisions during hurricane threats.
  • Provide data, resources and technical assistance to support hurricane evacuation and response planning.
  • Deliver comprehensive hurricane preparedness training to emergency managers and partners.

The National Hurricane Program is an interagency partnership between FEMA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the NOAA National Hurricane Center (NHC). Each partner contributes personnel and resources to execute the NHP’s goals: three federal partners, one mission to save lives.

NHP Components

Sea, Lake and Overland Surge from Hurricanes (SLOSH) model products, developed by the NHC, identify areas at risk of storm surge flooding from hurricanes. SLOSH model products can be used for deliberate planning and operational decision support. SLOSH products are available via the Storm Surge Explorer in HURREVAC.

Learn More about SLOSH

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Hurricane Evacuation Studies (HES) provide critical planning factors and information that guide hurricane evacuation and response plans. The NHP provides technical assistance in partnership with USACE to conduct HES in hurricane prone states and territories. HES reports, evacuation zones and clearance times are available in HURREVAC.

The Hurricane Evacuation Decision Support Tool (HURREVAC) is a free web-based platform available to government emergency managers. HURREVAC combines real-time NHC forecast products and storm surge modeling with evacuation clearance times from Hurricane Evacuation Studies to help inform hurricane planning, response and evacuation decision making.

The NHP Program delivers several hurricane readiness and HURREVAC training courses for coastal and inland emergency managers. Several trainings are EMI accredited and instruction is provided by FEMA, USACE and NHC staff.

Request HURREVAC Training

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The FEMA Hurricane Liaison Team (HLT) is the operational component of the NHP. The team facilitates the rapid exchange of forecast and risk information between the NHC and the emergency management community. The team assists emergency managers with the application of forecast products, HES, and HURREVAC during a hurricane threat to inform hurricane planning, response, and evacuation decisions.

Post-storm assessments can be used to evaluate the accuracy and usefulness of the NHP tools, products and operational support to emergency managers. Assessment results are used to guide future improvements to the NHP.

The NHP engages intergovernmental stakeholders to coordinate and guide program implementation and development. Stakeholders include federal, state, local, tribal and territorial government officials, the end users of the program’s products and services.

The Interagency Coordinating Committee on Hurricanes (ICCOH) is the primary mechanism for coordinating the NHP’s goals, products, and priorities with state, and territorial partners. The ICCOH holds a yearly annual meeting and virtual forums quarterly.

Contact

State, local, tribal and territorial emergency managers should contact their FEMA Regional Hurricane Program Managers for more information.  For NHP program partner or FEMA Regional Hurricane Program Manager contact information, additional resources, or questions, contact FEMA’s National Hurricane Program.

For updates on NHP developments, subscribe to the NHP’s quarterly newsletter.

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View the Building Science library for hurricane publications related to structural safety.

Information on evacuation and shelter-in-place resources are available on FEMA.gov for emergency managers.

Review steps individuals can take on Ready.gov.