A new report out from a group called CoreLogic takes a close look at how much damage a storm surge could cause in metropolitan areas on the coast during a hurricane.
Typically wind, rain and power outages are among the biggest concerns during a hurricane, but the report shows storm surge could cause the most dangerous and costly damage in low-lying Southwest Florida.
Dr. Thomas Jeffrey, a senior hazard scientist with CoreLogic, said a storm surge is more than just flood water.
“There is a certain amount of velocity to the water itself,” he said. “So, you can have wave action and actual movement of the water. You can have structures that are actually destroyed, homes moved off foundations, just from the actual impact of the surge itself.”
According to the report, both Cape Coral and Naples are in the top ten metropolitan areas with the highest storm surge risk in the country.
In Cape Coral, more than 198,020 properties are at risk for flooding from a tropical storm or hurricane with potential damage of $42.8 billion.
In Naples, 76,104 homes are at risk for damage due to a storm surge. Due to higher properties values there, the damage comes with an equally high price tag: $34.5 billion.
The report also took into account the effects of sea level rise, which makes Florida more vulnerable to storm surge than any other state.
“I think Florida is one of those unique areas along the coast,” Jeffrey said. “It has the type of characteristics where a sea level rise may incur a fairly significant amount of damage, were it to happen, because of the way the terrain is and the fact that you have development extending inland from the coast in many of these metro areas.”
Jeffrey said depending on the intensity of the hurricane, storm surge damage could affect many inland properties, as well.
The report found there are more than 4.2 million residential properties exposed to storm-surge risk around the country valued at roughly $1.1 trillion, with more than $658 billion of that risk concentrated in 10 major metro areas.
Florida tops the state rankings with nearly 1.5 million properties at risk and $386 billion in total potential exposure to damage.
You can download the report here.
