7.3 Million U.S. Homes At Risk From Hurricane Storm Surge: Report

ACROSS FLORIDA — More than 7.3 million homes in the United States are at risk of being destroyed by hurricane storm surge, according to a report released last month.

The report, compiled by risk management and data analysis company CoreLogic, said Florida has the biggest risk with 2.9 million homes in jeopardy, followed by Louisiana, New York and Texas.

“Damage from storm surge and inland flooding has proven to be far more destructive than wind in recent years, so we cannot rely on the hurricane category alone to give us a sense of the potential loss," Tom Jeffery, senior hazard scientist at CoreLogic, said in a press release. "A Category 5 hurricane in an area with few structures may be far less devastating than a Category 1 hurricane in a densely populated area.”

SEE ALSO: Hurricane Dorian Makes Landfall: Hurricane Watch Issued In FL

Throughout history, damage from storm surge and inland flooding has shown it can far exceed damage from wind. Superstorm Sandy, for instance, caused unprecedented levels of storm surge in New Jersey and New York.

Storm surge results when ocean water that is pushed inland ahead of the storm. The hydraulic impact created by these waves tends to be incredibly destructive, with each cubic yard of seawater weighing nearly one ton.

CoreLogic's analysis covers the 19 states that border the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. It does not include storms that occur within the Pacific basin. This is because storm surge damage along the coasts of Hawaii, California, Oregon and Washington is less likely to occur and is typically less damaging.

According to CoreLogic, 3.1 million single- and multi-family homes are at risk of storm surge along the Gulf Coast from the tip of Florida to Texas. Another 4.1 million homes are at risk on the Atlantic Coast from South Florida to Maine.

Graphics by CoreLogic

Florida has the greatest number of homes at risk, primarily due to the length of its coastline.

CoreLogic said the state has more than 2.9 million homes that are vulnerable. The reconstruction cost value (RCV) for these home is more than $603 billion.

The metro area of Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach continues to have the highest number of homes at risk of storm surge damage — more than 827,000 homes at risk with an RCV of $166 billion.

New York City is ranked second with 731,137 homes at risk; Tampa Bay is third with 464,644 homes at risk; New Orleans is fourth with 399,403 homes; and fifth is Virginia Beach, Virginia, with 391,364 vulnerable homes.

Because of the value of real estate in New York, the RCV value of the vulnerable homes is greater than metro Miami-Dade's. The reconstruction cost value for home damage in New York is $283 billion.

The cost to rebuild homes in Tampa is $84 billion; New Orleans is $100 billion; and Virginia Beach is nearly $95 billion.

CoreLogic said the analysis shows that a Category 5 hurricane doesn't always have the biggest impact in terms of loss.

Florence, for example, made landfall off the coast of North Carolina on Sept. 14, 2018, as a large, slow-moving Category 1 hurricane with wind gusts of 105 mph. Though the storm was not categorically intense, it caused significant damage in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. About 700,000 residential and commercial properties experienced catastrophic flooding and modest wind damage. This event caused insured flood losses, both storm surge and inland, of about $5 billion to $9 billion.

In contrast, Hurricane Michael made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane along the Florida Panhandle on Oct. 10, 2018. Unlike Florence, Michael was a compact, fast-moving storm and, consequently, the storm surge and rainfall potentials were low. The overall insured storm surge loss to residential and commercial properties was estimated to be less than $0.3 billion.

Read more about CoreLogic's analysis here.