Google Maps To Mark Road Closures Caused By Hurricane Irma

It seems that Google Maps will play a big role in anticipation of Hurricane Irma. According to Rick Scott, Florida’s governor, the state is currently working with Google’s emergency response team to mark the closed roads on Google maps in real time.

In other words, the people will be able to use Google Maps to know in real time what roads open and the ones that are closed. We remind you that Irma is a Category 5 hurricane that already hit Florida. The officials have already ordered mandatory evacuations in major parts of Florida, including Fort Lauderdale and Miami-Dade County.

We remind you that Google Maps is already using Waze to indicate real-time traffic alerts in the area, but thanks with the partnership with the state of Florida, the maps service owned by the big search engine company will not have to rely anymore on Waze users on the road to report back.

This is important information for people who are evacuating ahead of the hurricane. At the same time, Google will also help drivers to navigate around closed roads in the aftermath of the storm.

Google has made an official statement where it said that “Our thoughts are with those affected by Hurricane Irma. To provide access to accurate and useful transportation information, we use algorithmic and manual methods to account for everyday and emergency road closures. We’re working directly with Florida officials to help provide up-to-date information to those affected by the storm. These road closures will also appear on our Irma Crisis Map, embedded as part of our SOS Alert on Search.”

So, if you have not left yet Florida and you’re planning to move somewhere before the hurricane hits your city, you should definitely use the Google Maps to easily get to safety.

Are you using Google Maps frequently? Will you use this application to evacuate Florida?