{"id":1575,"date":"2026-06-19T09:40:05","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T09:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1575"},"modified":"2026-06-19T09:40:05","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T09:40:05","slug":"shelter-in-place-or-evacuate-how-to-increase-your-chances-for-survival-in-a-hurricane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1575","title":{"rendered":"Shelter in place or evacuate? How to increase your chances for survival in a hurricane"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Large-scale emergency evacuations are fraught with problems, especially around urban Honolulu.<\/p>\n

Read more Why preparation matters when disaster response is delayed<\/a><\/p>\n

That was painfully evident during last July\u2019s tsunami warning, when thousands of vehicles caused chaotic traffic gridlock as everyone tried to leave tsunami zones along the coastline all at once.<\/p>\n

A day after the warning, Honolulu Transportation Services Director Roger Morton told Hawaii News Now, \u201cThe problem was, no matter how much green (traffic signal) time we provided, if the traffic was crawling, it could be 100% green time and the cars couldn\u2019t get through because the traffic was congested.\u201d<\/p>\n

More time for evacuation preparations<\/h2>\n

Those evacuations came with little notice, but hurricanes and tropical storms offer one key advantage: time.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re tracking this system. We know that it\u2019s approaching. The hurricane is not going to be like one of those \u2018five hours and tsunami,\u2019\u201d said Hawaii Emergency Management Agency administrator James Barros.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also different from the flash flooding during March\u2019s Kona low storms, which gave people almost no time to prepare in several neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you think about it, it hit North Shore \u2014 Waialua, Haleiwa. It got Maui. It got parts of the Big Island. And then a couple of days later, Manoa gets it,\u201d said Barros.<\/p>\n

But a hurricane or tropical storm could impact a larger area with destructive winds that could extend several miles from the center of the system along with heavy rain.<\/p>\n

MORE: <\/b>First Alert Hurricane Season 2026: Lessons from the Kona lows<\/b><\/p>\n

Older, wooden homes at risk<\/h2>\n

Many homes in Hawaii are older and some are single-wall wood construction. So that begs the question: if a hurricane comes, do you shelter in place? Or do you evacuate? And if so, where to?<\/p>\n

Experts estimate there are nearly 200,000 homes constructed with wood in the state, including single-wall homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI rent a storage space,\u201d said Barros. \u201cWe get storage spaces all over. All my opala that\u2019s in my storage space, that\u2019s going to be safe because i\u2019s a hardened building. But the house I live in \u2014 Cat 3? Might be pushing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Don\u2019t rely on hurricane refuge areas<\/h2>\n

There are what officials call \u201churricane refuge areas.\u201d But it\u2019s a last resort for people who don\u2019t have a safer place to ride out a hurricane or tropical storm.<\/p>\n

Read more State finalizes agreement to acquire Wahiawa Dam and irrigation system<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have hurricane shelters across the state. We just don\u2019t have enough to shelter everyone,\u201d Barros said. \u201cSo what we\u2019re looking at is more of a kakou effort, that it\u2019s everybody in this sheltering mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of that effort starts with your own home.<\/p>\n

\u201cStrengthen your home first,\u201d Barros said. \u201cTry to figure out how you can employ hurricane clips, hurricane straps. How do I secure the windows?\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

If you aren\u2019t able to do that, Barros said you should look elsewhere. For example, high-rise condos are an alternative to take refuge.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo I have a family member who lives in a hardened building? Somebody that lives in urban Honolulu? The buildings are hardened. You just go in here, stay away from the glass windows, and you\u2019ll be okay,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Emergency officials say hotels and resorts along the shoreline in Waikiki are also safe for a so-called vertical evacuation, where you\u2019re high enough to avoid a storm surge.<\/p>\n

There have also been talks with businesses in office buildings in areas like downtown Honolulu.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cWhen we talk to a business, too, they don\u2019t want to be an American Red Cross shelter for anybody to come in. But can you be a shelter for your employees and their families?\u201d said Barros. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re a campus (like the) University of Hawaii, you have hardened buildings. We\u2019re not asking you to shelter everybody on the island, but what about your faculty? What about your student population? Give them a safe place, a \u2018hunker down,\u2019 safe place to be,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Officials beefing up notification services<\/h2>\n

The tsunami warning and the Kona lows have also prompted emergency officials to strengthen the ways that keep you informed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to ensure that our notification systems are solid across the state, from the scientists at the National Weather Service down to the state, down to the counties and out to our communities,\u201d said Barros.<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018We felt hollow\u2019: Otake Camp flood survivors urge preparedness<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If your home isn’t a safe place to hunker down, there are other options to consider \u2014 with public shelters being a last resort.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1574,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nShelter in place or evacuate? How to increase your chances for survival in a hurricane - Hawaii Moving Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1575\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Shelter in place or evacuate? How to increase your chances for survival in a hurricane - Hawaii Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If your home isn't a safe place to hunker down, there are other options to consider \u2014 with public shelters being a last resort.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1575\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hawaii Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-19T09:40:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1575#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1575\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0\"},\"headline\":\"Shelter in place or evacuate? How to increase your chances for survival in a hurricane\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-19T09:40:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1575\"},\"wordCount\":761,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1575#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/1dbc6600af559bbe9f6e4ec0bfc61b47.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1575#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1575\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1575\",\"name\":\"Shelter in place or evacuate? How to increase your chances for survival in a hurricane - Hawaii Moving Insider\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1575#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1575#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/1dbc6600af559bbe9f6e4ec0bfc61b47.avif\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-19T09:40:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1575#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1575\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1575#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/1dbc6600af559bbe9f6e4ec0bfc61b47.avif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/1dbc6600af559bbe9f6e4ec0bfc61b47.avif\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1575#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Shelter in place or evacuate? How to increase your chances for survival in a hurricane\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Hawaii Moving Insider\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Shelter in place or evacuate? How to increase your chances for survival in a hurricane - Hawaii Moving Insider","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1575","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Shelter in place or evacuate? How to increase your chances for survival in a hurricane - Hawaii Moving Insider","og_description":"If your home isn't a safe place to hunker down, there are other options to consider \u2014 with public shelters being a last resort.","og_url":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1575","og_site_name":"Hawaii Moving Insider","article_published_time":"2026-06-19T09:40:05+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1575#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1575"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0"},"headline":"Shelter in place or evacuate? How to increase your chances for survival in a hurricane","datePublished":"2026-06-19T09:40:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1575"},"wordCount":761,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1575#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1dbc6600af559bbe9f6e4ec0bfc61b47.avif","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1575#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1575","url":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1575","name":"Shelter in place or evacuate? How to increase your chances for survival in a hurricane - Hawaii Moving Insider","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1575#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1575#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1dbc6600af559bbe9f6e4ec0bfc61b47.avif","datePublished":"2026-06-19T09:40:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1575#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1575"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1575#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1dbc6600af559bbe9f6e4ec0bfc61b47.avif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1dbc6600af559bbe9f6e4ec0bfc61b47.avif","width":1200,"height":600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1575#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Shelter in place or evacuate? How to increase your chances for survival in a hurricane"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/","name":"Hawaii Moving Insider","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com"],"url":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}