The Roles of Place Attachment and Geovisualizations on Hurricane Storm Surge Risk Perceptions and Behavioral...

We surveyed 1442 coastal residents of Georgia and South Carolina, USA, who are at risk of hurricane storm surge flooding. We explored whether respondents' place attachment-the connection or bond people have with a place-relates to how they perceive different dimensions of hurricane risks and to different intended behaviors. We further explored the effects on risk perceptions and behaviors of experimental geovisualizations designed to depict forecast storm surge flooding with differing scale, dimensionality, and features that give meaning to place. Place attachment was strongly associated with respondents' perceived exposure to storm surge flooding and rainfall flooding, with perceived susceptibility of negative impacts and severity of impacts, and with worry. It was also associated with intentions to take protective actions other than evacuating (e.g., get supplies and board up) and to listen to local officials. Participants who received the geovisualization with the realistic 3D rendering of storm surge perceived a higher likelihood of surge flooding. Other effects of the geovisualizations were more complex. For instance, multiple geovisualizations, which depicted scale, dimensionality, and place in varying ways, had an amplifying effect such that participants whose hypothetical home location was depicted outside the surge flood areas reported stronger behavioral intentions than those depicted inside the flood areas. Overall, results show that place attachment is important to further understand in relation to perceptions and behaviors pertaining to risks to people in a place that has meaning to them. It also affirms the importance of testing the effects, including unanticipated ones, of risk communication, including geovisualizations.