Some 7.3 million U.S. homes with an estimated reconstruction cost of $1.8 trillion are at risk from storm surge, Irvine, California-based data analytics provider CoreLogic said in its 2019 Storm Surge Report, issued days before the start of the 2019 hurricane season on June 1.
Texas and Louisiana are among the top four states with greatest number of homes at risk of storm surge. The other two are New York and Florida.
Florida is the state that is most exposed to storm surge flooding, according to CoreLogic. With more than 2.9 million homes at risk, Florida’s reconstruction cost value (RCV) is more than $603 billion, the highest in the nation.
The study notes that while Louisiana has the second highest number of at risk homes — more than 847,000 — it’s RCV, at more than $202 billion is the third highest.
The state with the second highest RCV is New York, at $240 billion. That state ranks third in terms of the number of homes at risk — more than 564,000. Even though relatively fewer hurricanes impact the state, New York’s densely populated coastal region is extremely vulnerable to flooding, the report pointed out.
Texas, with the fifth highest RCV — more than $113 billion, ranks fourth in terms of the number of at risk homes — upward of 561,000.
CoreLogic examined potential losses along a 3,700-mile coastline encompassing 19 states from Texas to Maine.
CoreLogic calculates the RCV of the properties analyzed in the report using the combined cost of construction materials, equipment and labor. The amounts represent the cost of completely rebuilding a property, assuming the worst-case scenario of 100% destruction.
This is the first year the Storm Surge report analysis includes multifamily structures, which encompass apartments, condominiums and multi-unit dwellings.
Fifty-seven percent of the total homes at risk of storm surge flooding are on the Atlantic Coast, representing 62.7% of the total RCV. The region has more than 4.1 million homes at risk of storm surge with an RCV of over $1.1 trillion.
The Gulf Coast has 43% of the homes at risk and 37.3% of the total RCV. The region has nearly 3.1 million homes at risk with over $668 billion in potential exposure to total destruction damage.
New York City and Miami metropolitan areas have greatest risk of storm surge, the report says.
Hurricane season runs through the end of November. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has indicated a near-normal season, with nine to 15 named storms forecast for the six-month period.
Source: CoreLogic
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