Allstate: Nearly 40% of Houstonians Won’t Evacuate

Thirty-nine percent of Harris County, Texas, and surrounding area residents won’t evacuate if a major hurricane was heading for Houston if the results from a survey by Allstate Insurance Company hold true.

Among those who said they would stay home, 52 percent indicated massive traffic jams were cited the main reason for not leaving. The results may not be surprising after the experience many Houstonians had when Hurricane Rita threatened to hit the city in 2005. Residents who tried to flee were stuck on outbound freeways as Rita veered to the East, plowing into Texas and Louisiana along the border between the two states. Some Houstonians reported spending more than 15 hours or more trying to go fewer than 100 miles.

Seventy-nine percent say they wouldn’t evacuate because they would be safe at home and another 40 percent say they need to protect their home from possible looting in the wake of the disaster.

Nearly half (48 percent) of Houston area residents say regardless of their intent they have no advance plan for a possible hurricane evacuation.

Allstate also reported that 40 percent of Houston area residents said they are generally not prepared for a possible hurricane.

Allstate conducted the telephone survey in mid-May in communities along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

More than half (55 percent) of the survey respondents said they are prepared for a hurricane, but the majority admitted to not having an evacuation plan or a family meeting place away from the coast. The exception was in New Orleans where 78 percent of respondents have an evacuation plan.