CoreLogic: Hurricane Season Can Impact 6.9M Homes

Nearly 6.9 million homes along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts are at potential risk of damage from hurricane storm surge inundation this year, according to CoreLogic’s 2017 Storm Surge Report, which placed the total reconstruction cost value (RCV) at more than $1.5 trillion for a worst-case scenario at 100-percent destruction.

 

This year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is forecasting 12 total storms, with six possibly developing into hurricanes and three at a Category 3 level or higher. At a regional level, the Atlantic Coast could face the greatest threat, with 3.9 million homes at risk of storm surge with an RCV of $970 billion, while the Gulf Coast has just under 3 million homes at risk with $593 billion in potential exposure to total destruction damage. Texas and Florida have the greatest state-level threat, due to their long coastal areas, while the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach corridor has the greatest metro-level threat.

 

"Despite the fact that this year's hurricane season is predicted to have fewer storms than last year, it doesn't mitigate the risk of storm surge damage," said Tom Jeffery, senior hazard scientist at CoreLogic. "As we've seen with past storms, even one single hurricane at a lower-level category can cause significant damage if it makes landfall in a highly populated area."

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