With hurricane Irene poised to come barreling up the mid-Atlantic region this weekend (and the potential for evacuation in New York City), we were inspired to take a look at hurricane and other coastal evacuation maps as provided by states along the eastern seaboard.

NYC Office of Emergency Management

The range of information, iconography, detail and even the use (or absence) of legends is strikingly varied. But I was also surprised at how easy or difficult it was to find useful hurricane, storm surge or evacuation information on the state level. While its understandable that local communities, cities and counties in coastal areas that regularly have to deal with tropical storms would be better at providing relevant information, it was still unsettling how hard it could be to dig up simple maps on official state websites—and sometimes I couldn't even find those.

Another unexpected trend I noticed was that north of the Mason-Dixon line there was a lot more reliance on links to FEMA and Army Corps of Engineers resources for emergency information (universities and flood insurance providers also tend to provide lots of info). For these maps I intentionally stuck with what I could find on state (and if necessary county or city) government websites with less than 5 minutes of searching.

Florida provides county level evacuation maps, shown is Miami-Dade

Georgia's Atlantic coast evacuation routes linked to from GA's Emergency Management Agency/Homeland Security - Hurricanes

SC DoT Statewide Coastal Evacuation Map

NC Hurricane Evacuation Routes provided by the Dept of Transportation

Hampton Roads Evacuation Routes provided by the VA DoT's Hurricane Evacuation Guide, w/links to Storm Surge Inundation Maps

MD Emergency Management Agency's Emergency Management Map

from DE All Hazards Evacuation Annex

Pennsylvania I couldn't find an evac map on PA.gov, but here are ReadyPA.org's emergency tips for tropical storms, tornadoes and thunderstorms.

NJ Office of Emergency Management provides coastal evacuation route maps by county and hurricane preparedness tips, Hudson County Evacuation Routes shown New York Couldn't find maps on NY.gov, but Nassau County provided the one shown

NJ Office of Emergency Management provides coastal evacuation route maps by county and hurricane preparedness tips, Hudson County Evacuation Routes shownNew York

Couldn't find maps on NY.gov, but Nassau County provided the one shown

Couldn't find maps on NY.gov, but Nassau County provided the one shown

Connecticut I couldn't find an evac map on CT.gov, but here are the Dept of Emergency Management & Homeland Security's emergency tips for hurricanes.

Rhode Island

RI Emergency Management Agency provides a page of hurricane evacuation maps by costal community, City of Providence shown

RI Emergency Management Agency provides a page of hurricane evacuation maps by costal community, City of Providence shown

Massachusetts I couldn't find an evac map on Mass.gov, but here are the Emergency Management Agency's emergency tips for evacuation.

Clearly some maps work better than others. Should we push for better usability and conformity standards in emergency response diagrams? Which details work best and which are extraneous? Who's got your favorite maps?