NEW YORK, June 19 (UPI) -- New York City officials say they have doubled the number of storm evacuation zones in a plan to better respond to lessons learned from Hurricane Sandy.
The six new zones replace the long-standing A, B and C zones, encompassing nearly 3 million people, 600,000 more than previous maps, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
Officials said 26 Housing Authority developments, four hospitals and nine nursing homes were added to the maps.
The new zones will help the city avoid "over- and under-evacuation," said Joseph F. Bruno, commissioner of the city's Office of Emergency Management.
A Twitter message from the office of Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the maps incorporated "post-Sandy data."
City officials said last month they were revising the evacuation zones. Before Sandy, a category 3 storm, hit in October 2012, officials found residents of the city's coastal neighborhoods had few places to go. Many of the areas were not evacuated and Sandy created significant hardships for them.
The new maps are based on hurricane surge data from the National Weather Service. They "will help the city to more effectively communicate to those most at risk," deputy mayor for operations Caswell F. Holloway IV said in a statement.
The new maps can be viewed at nyc.gov/hurricanezones.
