Can apps like Waze steer you clear of disaster? Maybe not

Navigation apps like Waze are trying to help motorists avoid hurricane flooding. But can people really rely on their smartphones to steer themselves out of a disaster zone?

Amid heavy rain from Florence, some smartphone or in-car

map directions in recent days have sent people in North Carolina onto flooded roads and others closed to traffic.

Google-owned Waze said Monday it has worked with local governments and its own community of volunteer map editors to mark closures of more than 1,300 roads in North Carolina and hundreds more in South Carolina and Virginia.

But the North Carolina Department of Transportation warned in a tweet on Sunday night that Waze and other travel apps are unable to keep up with Florence-caused road closings.

"It is not safe now to trust them with your life," the agency warned after another Twitter user credited Waze for helping her avoid floodwaters during Hurricane Matthew in 2016. "This storm, this flooding, these road closings are worse than Matthew, and they'll get even worse. Please stay safe!"

GPS-powered mapping systems have come a long way since updating an in-car navigation system required loading a compact disc with the latest geographic data. More cars now come with navigation systems that are updated remotely and automatically. Other drivers rely on apps like Waze, Google Maps or Apple Maps.

It can still be hard to keep up with Mother Nature.

Miguel Melo, 22, said he was trying to drive from North Carolina to Florida to get to a friend's house when his SUV stalled out in high water in Lumberton. He was waiting with his stalled car on a service road parallel to flooded Interstate 95.

"The GPS brought me here. It's stupid, and it's really bad. I'm in trouble," said the Raleigh resident, who was parked in a dry spot of road.

State officials had warned in previous days that GPS was taking people down routes where roads had flooded and urged people to check a list of road closures before driving.

"A map in a catastrophe is only so good as its ability to capture real-time information either from sensors or people," said Steve Goldsmith, a professor who directs Harvard University's Data-Smart City Solutions project.

Goldsmith, a former mayor of Indianapolis and former deputy mayor of New York, said the good news is that the flourishing of map apps has "unlocked the ability of people to post information in real time and help their neighbors." (AP)