With the arrival of this year’s hurricane season, a new report from CoreLogic estimates that over 6.8 million U.S. homes are at risk of storm-surge damage. The 2016 Storm Surge Report calculates that damage could total $1.5 trillion in reconstruction costs for homes in at-risk areas along the Atlantic and Gulf Coast shorelines.
Florida, Louisiana and Texas have the most homes at risk from the storm-surge impact following a hurricane or tropical storm. Storm surge could include damaging and lethal waves as well as flooding throughout low-lying coastal areas. Given its location and the high value and density of its real estate market, the report places Miami as the city with the most homes facing potential damage from a hurricane event.
Although hurricanes can strike at any time of the year, June through November is the period of the year when climatic conditions are most likely to brew up a storm. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts that the 2016 Atlantic hurricane season will be “near-normal,” with weather models predicting a 70 percent likelihood of 10 to 16 named storms this year.
It has been four years since Hurricane Sandy left its trail of destruction along the U.S.’s Atlantic seaboard, making it the second-costliest hurricane behind Katrina in terms of financial damage ($71 million according to NOAA’s Hurricane Research Division).
Main image: Damage to homes at Mantoloking, New Jersey, following Hurricane Sandy in 2012. (Greg Thompson/USFWS)