Since 2019, the state of Florida has built about 77,000 new properties in high-risk flood areas. Despite the recent damage caused to the state from hurricanes Helene and Milton, construction and development continues to take place.
Florida was recently impacted by two major hurricanes within about a month of each other. Despite Florida’s high hurricane and flooding risks, construction and development of new properties continues.
Since 2019, Florida has built 77,000 new properties in what’s considered high-risk flood areas, the most in the United States, according to an analysis by climate-modeling firm First Street Foundation for The Wall Street Journal.
According to Jean Eaglesham and Carl Churchill of Realtor.com, “the building binge is putting the real-estate industry, and the banks that finance it, on a collision course with insurers.”
“The new construction is one reason insurance bills for Milton and Helene are expected to be between $40 billion and $75 billion. Big payouts from natural disasters are driving insurers to raise raises and pull back on coverage.”
Between 2019 and 2023, the US experienced around 290,000 newly built properties in high-risk flood areas. That’s about one in five of the 1.6 million properties built within that four year period, according to the First Street analysis.
“Other states with heavy new construction in areas at high risk of flooding include Texas, with 63,000 properties since 2019, California with 21,000 properties, and North Carolina with 11,000,” the First Street analysis found.
“We build in some of the most silly places, knowing what could happen. New development was one of the main reasons insured losses from catastrophes are increasing.” said Andrew Siffert, senior meteorologist at insurance broker BMS Group.
“The lenders need to play a role. The lenders are really in the best position to make sure there’s the right consideration of the long-term risk. A lot of times that’s not happening right now,” said Robert Gordon, a senior vice president at industry body the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.
“Even as climate change drives up the frequency and severity of natural disasters, developers keep building in harm’s way,” Eaglesham and Churchill wrote.
“Americans moved to risky areas as they became more vulnerable because of climate change. In the decade through 2020, the U.S. population overall grew 7.4% but rose 10.2% in the South and 9.2% in the West, including areas vulnerable to storms and wildfires.”
First Street’s analysis stated that “high-risk zones” are much larger than official maps may suggest. Homes that are located in flood zones need flood insurance, and should be backed by the government. Located outside of those zones, insurance requirements don’t exist, so developers build there, even though they’re considered high risk.
“Millions of people are at heightened risk of flooding in hurricanes, without the protection against that risk they would be afforded if flood zones were more accurate,” said Jeremy Porter, First Street’s head of climate-implications research.
A spokeswoman for FEMA, said it “uses the latest science and data for maps. FEMA’s process is careful to neither understate nor overstate the current flood risk.”
“States such as Florida should consider changing the building codes for areas that aren’t in official high-risk flood zones, and just go up a foot or so. The sea level in his Florida hometown—and Milton target—St. Petersburg is nearly a foot higher than when I was born,” Trevor Burgess, chief executive of insurer Neptune Flood, said.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
