Summary:
This article discusses the economic cost of hurricanes and suggests strategies for limiting damages in the future. The article also identifies the ten costliest hurricanes to hit the U.S. since 1980.

Details or Sample:
Some communities may never fully recover from a hurricane´s devastation. Hurricane Andrew virtually destroyed the Homestead, Florida, area, including an Air Force base. The military families and those residents with insurance or other funds moved away, leaving only the poorest, many of them homeless, remaining. Over 15 years later, Homestead is just beginning to rebuild in a significant way. Three years after Hurricane Katrina caused catastrophic storm surge and flooding damage in New Orleans and Mississippi, many families are still living in trailers or have moved away never to return.

Costliest U.S. Hurricanes

Below are listed the ten costliest hurricanes to hit the U.S. from 1980 through the present, according to the National Hurricane Center. The damage figures are not adjusted for inflation.

1. Katrina, 2005: Hurricane Katrina is the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history. The damages were estimated at $81 billion. The major damage was done in New Orleans and along the Mississippi and Alabama coasts. Seven other states also experienced damage from Hurricane Katrina. Much of the damage in the area of landfall was caused by a huge storm surge and the breaching of the levee system in New Orleans.

2. Andrew, 1992: Hurricane Andrew hit the Dade County, Florida, area and went on to Louisiana. The damages were estimated to be $27 billion.
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Except for Hurricanes Floyd and Andrew, all the costliest storms occurred within the past decade. Is increasing billions of dollars in hurricane damages inevitable or are there ways to cut back on the damages?

One way to reduce hurricane damage is to strengthen building codes to require homes and businesses to withstand hurricane-force winds. Moreover, the tougher building codes need to be supported by rigorous inspection and enforcement. Florida has taken a lead in updating building codes. After Hurricane Andrew in 1992, it became apparent that some of Andrew´s devastation was caused by outdated building codes, poor construction, and inadequate enforcement. South Florida´s counties responded by enacting some of the strictest codes in the nation. The state of Florida now has a standard building code, applicable throughout the state. The homes built according to the new standards withstood the active hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005 better than homes built before the new standards. Florida also has a program under which they reimburse homeowners up to $5,000 for hurricane-proofing their houses with hurricane-resistant windows, doors, garage doors, and roofs.

The increasing toll in damages is also due to the unrelenting development along the coastal areas. Much new construction along the coast is condominiums, which house more people in a small area than single family homes. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of coastal counties on the Florida coastline has increased from 66.8 million in 1980 to 88.3 million in 2006. The increasing population and construction means that there are more properties to destroy and more residents to evacuate. Development along the coastline also leads to beach erosion, which requires costly sand replacement projects to remedy. Thus, at a minimum, coastal states need to limit further development in the vulnerable areas.

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Written by: Carla Neeley Freitag
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