It’s no surprise that residential homes in the U.S. located along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts are susceptible to damage from storms and hurricanes, and data shows that potential damage from a single hurricane could exceed well beyond a billion dollars. However, the risk of storm surge flooding is not uniform along the coast and certainly not limited to states with a reputation of more frequent hurricane activity, such as Florida or Louisiana. In fact, a lower category storm that makes landfall in a highly populated area can be more catastrophic than a Category 5 storm that hits a small, sparsely populated town or undeveloped coastline.
Here in Southwest Florida, the Fort Myers-Cape Coral metro area ranks 6th nationally for the potential property loss (worst case) from a storm surge, with more than 313,000 homes in the path of storm tide waters. The potential reconstruction cost in Lee County exceeds $63 billion dollars. In Collier County, the Naples metro area ranks 9th nationally for potential (worst case) storm surge loss with an estimated 183,000 homes possibly affected with a reconstruction cost of over $40 billion dollars.
