As southeastern North Carolina became the likely target of Hurricane Fran, coastal residents mobilized.  Tourists and residents evacuated barrier islands by the thousands and headed for local shelters or for roads away from the coast. Power and utility crews prepared to enter the region from all points in expectation of a long and costly cleanup. With residents' recent experience with Hurricane Bertha, and Fran's similarity in size and track to Hurricane Hugo, most took Fran seriously enough to evacuate the barrier islands.  Emergency officials throughout the region stressed that anybody staying in the region should hunker down throughout the storm, and expect to stay that way after the storm has passed, as well. 

In New Hanover County, a mandatory evacuation order was sent out for the barrier islands and beaches at 7:00 a.m. on September 5. Most beach towns in the area were evacuated by noon, and emergency officials were strongly recommending that people in low lying areas and mobile homes leave for safer shelter. According to local officials, the duration of substantial evacuation traffic was approximately nine hours in New Hanover County. Figure 1.26, below, illustrates the major evacuation routes in New Hanover County, while Figure 1.27 shows the percentage of survey respondents who evacuated for Hurricane Fran, by census tract. Figure 1.27 is based on a Behavioral Study conducted by the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW).
 
 

Figure 1.26.  Evacuation Routes - New Hanover County	Figure 1.27.  Evacuation results from a UNCW Behavioral Study*

* The UNCW Behavioral Study did not include sufficient households from each census tract to make valid inferences to all of the residents of that area.  Thus, generalizations about the behavior of entire census tracts based on the information displayed here should be avoided.