![]() ![]() One way that states can move residents out of harm’s way is by offering to buy out their homes and permanently converting that land to open space. But these measures are expensive, and rely on political will or the willingness of landowners to sell. They can create more stringent building requirements, or they can buy up and preserve undeveloped land. States have a few options to discourage people from building in flood zones. ![]() While the National Flood Insurance Program was originally intended to discourage floodplain development, in practice it has done the opposite by removing a lot of the financial risk involved, said Jenny Brennan, a climate analyst at the Southern Environmental Law Center. In return, the government offers them flood insurance through a federal program that is over $20 billion in debt - largely due to escalating hurricane damages. Still said.įederal law permits people to build in flood zones, so long as they meet certain minimum standards. “We just seem to be going through this vicious cycle that is becoming more vicious with the amount of people and infrastructure we put in these areas,” Mr. Cutting down trees and paving over wetlands takes away open land that would otherwise absorb rainfall. The growth itself can make flooding worse. It’s not just that people are moving to hurricane-prone areas. The map shows the number of Atlantic hurricanes whose paths came within 60 nautical miles (69 miles) of each county. Source: Upshot analysis of the National Hurricane Center's Atlantic hurricane database “It’s always climate change plus something, and we’re moving more people into harm’s way than out,” said Kathie Dello, North Carolina’s state climatologist. And this booming coastal population is, by many accounts, a larger contributor to rising hurricane risks than climate change. Simply put, there are many more people living along the paths of hurricanes than ever before. And rising sea levels make storm surges more damaging and coastal flooding more frequent.Īnd the newcomers will keep coming: One 2022 study projected that by 2050, population growth will increase the number of Americans exposed to flooding nearly four times as much as climate change will alone. There’s every reason to expect more damage in coming years: A warming climate adds moisture to the air, unlocking the potential for wetter and more powerful storms. The hurricanes keep coming, and the people, too: The fastest-growing places along the Atlantic coast this century are also among the most hurricane-prone.īetween 20, the five hurricanes that hit the Carolinas cost the two states over $33 billion in damages in current dollars, displaced hundreds of thousands of people and led to the deaths of more than 90, government data shows. Photos and videos by Erin Schaff.įor this article, Aatish Bhatia reported from the Myrtle Beach area and interviewed dozens of residents, local officials, climatologists and flood risk researchers. ![]()
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