Nearly 460,000 Tampa Bay homes at risk for storm surge damage
If Florida is hit with a major hurricane this season, 459,000 homes in Tampa Bay could be at risk for damage by storm surge, the third-most among major metro areas. And rebuilding them all could top $79 billion.
According to the CoreLogic Storm Surge Report released Thursday, the Sunshine State has 2.7 million homes at risk for storm surge, the largest number of homes of the 19 states assessed for the report.
Should Florida get hit, it is also facing the highest rebuilding costs -- $552 billion. Even a glancing blow could cause significant damage.
"Depending on the location of a storm's landfall and that area's population density and reconstruction costs, lower-category storms can cause just as much damage as storms in higher categories," said Dr. Tom Jeffery, senior hazard scientist at CoreLogic.
States with the most homes at risk:
1. Florida: 2.7 million
2. Louisiana: 817,000
3. Texas: 543,000
4. New Jersey: 471,000
Number of homes at risk in Florida per risk category:
• Extreme: 351,000
• Very high: 1 million
• High: 1.8 million
• Moderate: 2.3 million
•Low: 2.8 million
Reconstruction cost for homes in Florida per risk category:
• Extreme risk: $69 billion
• Very high risk: $215 billion
• High risk: $353 billion
• Moderate risk: $459 billion
• Low risk: $552 billion
Metropolitan areas with the most homes at risk:
1. Miami: 788,679 homes
2. New York City: 726,048 homes
3. Tampa Bay: 459,082 homes
4. New Orleans: 395,975 homes
Projected metropolitan rebuilding costs*:
1. New York City: $277 billion
2. Miami: $156 billion
3. New Orleans: $95 billion
4. Tampa Bay: $79 billion
* Total replacement value for all homes with hurricane exposure.
Contact this reporter at mcarollo@tampabay.com or (727) 892-2249. Follow @malenacarollo.
