--- title: Hurricane Matthew Is Already Hitting East Coast Pocketbooks description: Hurricane Matthew is forcing 2 million people to flee their homes before the storm hits, and the costs of the evacuation are likely to be huge. authors: - name: Kristen Bahler role: Managing Editor url: https://money.com/author/kristen-bahler/ bio: Kristen Bahler has spent more than a decade turning culture, work and consumer spending trends into conversation-driving stories. Today, she leads Money's sponsored content channel and reader-favorite franchises like Best Places to Live and Best Places to Travel. education: Northeastern University, MA Journalism at_money_since: 2016 articles: 52 covers: - Insurance - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristen-bahler/ published: '2016-10-06T22:25:40.000Z' modified: '2016-10-06T22:25:40.000Z' section: Insurance tags: - flood insurance - Hurricane Matthew - pubdesk - Travel word_count: 317 canonical: https://money.com/hurricane-matthew-costs/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Hurricane Matthew Bears Down On Atlantic Coast Of Florida](https://img.money.com/2016/10/gettyimages-612976738.jpg) *A storefront is barricaded with sandbags in Daytona Beach, Florida.* As Hurricane Matthew threatens to throw the East Coast into disarray, several coastal counties have already issued mandatory evacuation orders. For the estimated 2 million people from Florida to South Carolina that the orders apply to, that's not going to be an easy endeavor. Or a cheap one. For starters, there's transportation expenditures—the plane and bus tickets and gasoline that enable a safe getaway. For those who aren't lucky enough to have family or friends within driving distance, hotel costs are an additional factor. Data on the costs of hurricane evacuation is sparse—costs fluctuate by distance traveled—but a widely-circulated [study from 2003](http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/listing.aspx?id=9206) estimates that the aggregate evacuation costs to individuals in coastal counties range from $1 million to $50 million depending on storm intensity and emergency management policy (the study used data from North Carolina residents who experienced Hurricane Bonnie in 1998). For those in hurricane-threatened zones who aren't facing evacuation, preparation brings a different set of costs—door and window sealing, generator purchases, and more. Fully locking down your home could cost $4,000 or more, [CBS News](http://www.cbsnews.com/media/how-to-prepare-your-home-for-a-hurricane/) estimates. And then there's flood insurance. Following Hurricane Sandy, the cost of insurance skyrocketed—between 2003 and 2013, the [average premium climbed](https://money.com/homeowners-insurance-katrina/?iid=sr-link1) 69%, to more than $1,000 a year. (Note: If you're in hurricane zone and are staying put, [these are the essential items](https://money.com/hurricane-essentials-items/?iid=sr-link1) you'll need.) As the hurricane approaches more population centers, a handful of people have stepped up to help defray some of the costs. Airbnb is reportedly connecting those fleeing the storm with free places to stay in other parts of Florida and South Carolina. A search of the company's [Disaster Response Tool](https://www.airbnb.com/s?page=1&source=map&airbnb_plus_only=false&sw_lat=24.865001905656268&sw_lng=-85.20880875551643&ne_lat=31.594966577127025&ne_lng=-78.55109391176643&search_by_map=true&zoom=7&collection_id=179848628&ss_id=xq3b49am&allow_override%5B%5D=&s_tag=nk0ejczB) late Thursday afternoon showed about 25 properties in central Florida offering free rooms. But for millions of Americans, unfortunately, the financial consequences of the impending storm loom as large as the physical and emotional ones do. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/hurricane-matthew-costs/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Insurance", "item": "https://money.com/insurance/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Flood Insurance", "item": "https://money.com/flood-insurance/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Hurricane Matthew Is Already Hitting East Coast Pocketbooks" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/hurricane-matthew-costs/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/hurricane-matthew-costs/", "name": "Hurricane Matthew Is Already Hitting East Coast Pocketbooks", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-10-06T22:25:40.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/hurricane-matthew-costs/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/hurricane-matthew-costs/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2016-10-06T22:25:40.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Hurricane Matthew Is Already Hitting East Coast Pocketbooks", "articleSection": "Insurance", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/10/gettyimages-612976738.jpg", "width": 5055, "height": 3370, "caption": "Hurricane Matthew Bears Down On Atlantic Coast Of Florida" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Kristen Bahler", "url": "https://money.com/author/kristen-bahler/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/kristen-bahler/#author", "description": "Kristen Bahler has spent more than a decade turning culture, work and consumer spending trends into conversation-driving stories. 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