Hurricane force winds driven by climate change could expand and put tens of millions of properties in the United States at risk over the next three decades, according to a study by the nonprofit research group First Street Foundation.
The report notes that more than 13 million properties not exposed to tropical cyclones are at severe risk of damage from hurricane-force winds, which will push further inland as storms move further up the East Coast, it said. CNBC.
In addition, researchers estimated that the United States could experience an annual loss of $18.5 billion from hurricane force winds that would increase to $20 billion by 2053.
Of that amount of damage, it is projected that only in Florida there is a projected loss of around $1 billion dollars.
Florida, the state most vulnerable to storms, is expected to see a shift in hurricane arrivals from cities like Miami to areas farther north like Jacksonville, according to the report.
These projections come as dozens of residents across Southwest Florida are suffering the ravages of Hurricane Ian, which hit the state in September of last year, killing 150 people and displacing hundreds of others.
For its part, the mid-Atlantic region will experience the greatest increase in maximum wind speed, according to the report.
States like Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee could see wind speeds increase from 87 mph to 97 mph during hurricanes. Residents of these states are likely to be less likely to prepare for future increases in wind speeds, the report indicated.
New York, Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia are also at higher risk of destructive storm winds, according to projections.
Historical observations of tropical cyclone formation, strength, and landfall rates were used for the report, and adjusted to account for current sea surface temperatures, atmospheric temperatures, and sea levels using the latest data. climate models from the International Panel on Climate Change.
The methodology used measurements from more than 50,000 synthetic storm tracks to determine sustained wind speed and direction.
With information from CNBC