NYC to add 640K people to evacuation zones

NEW YORK (AP) — Hurricane evacuation areas would encompass 640,000 more city residents and the number of zones would double so officials could tailor evacuation orders better to the dynamics of a particular storm, under plans disclosed Friday.

Details on the new zones won't be released until June, but the changes could mean neighborhoods around the city might newly be told to clear out ahead of future storms, even as the city grapples with findings that nearly two-thirds of people shrugged off orders to leave before Superstorm Sandy.

As officials reckon with a new understanding of flooding risks after Sandy, the idea in expanding both the size and number of zones is this: "Only dislocate the people who need to be dislocated and ultimately give people more confidence" that evacuation is necessary, Deputy Mayor Caswell Holloway said at a briefing to release the city's self-analysis of its handling of Sandy.

More than 2.3 million people live in the city's three evacuation zones now. The roughly 375,000 residents of the most vulnerable area, called Zone A, were ordered to leave a day before Sandy walloped New York on Oct. 29.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave several televised briefings urging them to go, and the city sent out text-message alerts and dispatched police cars with bullhorns to some neighborhoods.

And yet a city-commissioned survey of 509 Zone A residents found 63 percent stayed home, according to the report released Friday.

Nearly three-quarters of them said they'd gotten the message that they were supposed to leave. But they didn't, for a range of reasons, mainly that they thought the storm wasn't strong enough to imperil them or that their homes could withstand it. Some said they wanted to protect their property from damage or looters, or they didn't think the storm would hit.

The choice proved fateful for some New Yorkers. Sandy killed 43 people in the city, almost all of them in Zone A. Thousands of homes were destroyed or damaged, and an estimated 1 million residents lost power citywide.

Getting people to heed evacuation orders has bedeviled officials around the country for years. Often, one-third to half of residents defy mandatory evacuation orders, experts say.

Some governments have tried dire warnings about the dangers of staying behind, moral appeals not to endanger rescuers and laws that threaten fines or jail time. In New York — where a little more than half the survey respondents said they thought the city could have done more to encourage evacuation — Friday's report calls for seeking to use digital billboards and making sure orders emphasize what's at stake.

"People need to believe, first of all, what you're telling them: that the situation is serious. ... But people need to believe, also, that if they leave, there's somewhere for them to go that's safe and what they leave behind will be safe. And we're going to continue to push those messages," Holloway said.

But some New Yorkers may not be disposed to listen, even after Sandy.

Robert Keith was sitting on the stairs inside his home in Broad Channel, an island near the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens, as Sandy's surge pushed in his door. He scooted up the steps as the water set his pool table afloat and climbed to about 5 feet. For days afterward, he slept in his car and showered at a volunteer fire department headquarters.

And yet, should another storm come, he'd stay again.

"I would say, mentally, 'Well, what the heck? I survived Sandy. How bad can this one be?'" he said by phone Friday.

The current evacuation zones are based mainly on storm surge risk projections, neighborhood geography and how accessible an area is by bridges and roads. The new zones come as federal flood map revisions are poised to double the number of homes and businesses in flood zones, and the evacuation maps also will take account of such factors as the direction in which a storm is traveling.

Beyond improving evacuation messages, the report makes dozens of other recommendations, such as buying more police boats, developing a system to track patients after hospital evacuations and lining up more generators and boilers. Other suggestions include getting more fuel trucks, deploying city staffers faster to work with community groups on relief operations and working with companies to extend cellphone towers' backup power.

Many recommendations involve crafting how-to plans for such needs as distributing food and water and checking on homebound people — things the city did after Sandy, amid some criticism about not moving fast enough.

By making ready-to-go plans now, officials won't "have to think in an ad-hoc way and respond to those things," Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs said.

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Arsenic scare prompts evacuation in Australia (AFP)

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australian officials on Sunday urged residents and visitors to a remote outback cattle station to leave, after a number were found to have high levels of arsenic in their blood.

The Northern Territory coroner has declared Mount Bundy Station, 130 kilometres (80 miles) south of Darwin, a restricted area and called for the 140 residents to be evacuated.

"The evacuation was a precautionary measure to ensure people's safety and limit any further people from being potentially exposed to the arsenic source," Darwin Police Commander Kym Davies said.

A 17-year-old boy from Mount Bundy Station died in May, and while no official cause of death has been identified, arsenic poisoning is thought to have contributed to the death.

Eight other long-term residents of the station have been found to have elevated levels of arsenic in their system, police said, adding that the cattle station would remain closed until the arsenic source was found.

"Prolonged exposure is usually needed to record elevated levels of arsenic," said Northern Territory Chief Health Officer Doctor Barbara Paterson.

"All of the eight people who have recorded elevated arsenic levels have received medical attention and will be offered follow-up attention."

Arsenic is naturally occurring and chronic exposure to the element is linked with cancers of the liver, kidney, bladders and skin, as well as heart disease.

Fatal arsenic poisoning is rare in Australia, with a Royal Darwin Hospital spokeswoman saying there were only two such deaths between 1964 and 2007.

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Oklahoma fires force evacuation of hundreds of homes

Oklahoma fires force the evacuation of more than 1,000 homes By the CNN Wire Staff STORY HIGHLIGHTS NEW: It has burned approximately 3,500 acresNEW: A large fire west of Lawton, Oklahoma, is about 65% contained In nearby Texas, a firefighter dies after flames hit his truck (CNN) -- Strong winds whipped up two wildfires in southern Oklahoma on Friday, forcing the evacuation of more than 1,000 homes.

The first fire, a large grass fire, burned west of Lawton, which is about 80 miles southwest of Oklahoma City. It forced people in approximately 900 homes and the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company to evacuate, according to Comanche County officials.

Roughly 50 firefighters were working to battle the blaze, officials said in a statement Friday night, but helicopters could not be brought in because of the strong winds. The fire, which was about 65% contained, has burned some 3,500 acres.

Seven structures, including barns, sheds and outbuildings, have been lost so far, officials said. One home was damaged.

The National Weather Service issued a high wind warning for Lawton on Friday, warning of possible early evening gusts of up to 60 miles per hour. The weather service said strong winds would likely complicate fire-fighting efforts.

Crews were also battling a second blaze in northern Comanche County that was about 65% contained Friday night, officials said. Evacuations were issued for about 130 homes in that area. Four unoccupied structures have been destroyed in the fire, which has scorched about 2,200 acres, officials said.

The American Red Cross opened an evacuation shelter to help house families forced from their homes.

Meanwhile, in northern Texas, a firefighter died when flames hit his truck, said Marq Webb, spokesman for the Texas State Lone Star Incident Management Team. The firefighter was a local firefighter from Eastland County, he said.

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Grass fire forces evacuation of town

Grass fire forces evacuation of Kansas town By the CNN Wire Staff STORY HIGHLIGHTSNEW: Residents allowed to return to their homesNEW: Three homes are damagedA large grass fire was sparked Sunday (CNN) -- A large grass fire prompted authorities in Satanta, Kansas, to briefly evacuate the town's 1,200 residents as the blaze damaged at least three homes, a spokeswoman for Haskell County Emergency Management said.

The fire began about noon Sunday and burned about 12 to 15 square miles, emergency management spokeswoman Misti Hall said.

No injuries were reported. Residents were asked to seek shelter at a nearby high school as emergency workers worked to contain the fire.

Residents were allowed to return to their homes Sunday night, though some roads remained closed "due to continued fire flare-ups."

Weather conditions Sunday were described as "extremely windy" by Sharon Watson of the Kansas Division of Emergency Management. Watson said similarly windy conditions last month fueled a grass fire that consumed 38,000 acres.

CNN's Greg Morrison contributed to this report

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