Challenge

On an island connected to the rest of the Bay Area via five bridges, the City of Alameda, California regularly faces the threat of natural disasters. The City is particularly susceptible to tsunamis because of its low elevation and coastal location. With limited space on their island, developing more thorough evacuation planning methods became a must for Alameda.  

Solution

Our team assisted the City by building an evacuation planning tool that considers different tsunami characteristics, including time of day and inundation levels, land use patterns, and travel choices to identify expected time for evacuating people from Alameda or to lower-risk locations within the city. 

Working with the knowledge that it’s impossible to predict exactly what an evacuation will look like, the tool helps staff to consider and plan for different scenarios, including potential approaches to improve roadway operations during an evacuation and how emergency operations could adapt in response to potential changes in Alameda to ensure safe and efficient evacuations.