Increased economic damages from hurricanes in the United Statesare due to the country's growing population and wealth centered oncoastlines, not to any spike in the number or intensity ofhurricanes, according to new research by experts at the NationalOceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

The Natural Hazards Review paper, “Normalized Hurricane Damagein the United States: 1900-2005,” contradicts some claims thatclimate change, increasing the intensity and volume of storms, isincreasing losses.

“There is nothing in the U.S. hurricane damage record thatindicates global warming has caused a significant increase indestruction along our coasts,” said Chris Landsea, one of theresearchers and the science and operations officer at NOAA'sNational Hurricane Center in Miami.

What could be of more concern to the insurance industry is thepaper's observation that if more people continue to move to thehurricane-prone coastline, future economic hurricane losses may befar greater than previously thought.

The researchers conclude that potential damage fromstorms–currently about $10 billion yearly–is growing at a rate thatmay place severe burdens on exposed communities, and that avoidinghuge losses will require a change in the rate of population growthin coastal areas, major improvements in construction standards, orother mitigation actions.

The results illustrate the effects of the tremendous pace ofgrowth in vulnerable hurricane areas, NOAA said. According to thereport, if the 1926 Great Miami Hurricane were to hit today, thestudy estimated it would cause the largest losses at $140-to-$157billion, with Hurricane Katrina second on the list at $81billion.

The findings were disclosed in a newly published paper in theNatural Hazards Review. Researchers said they had found thateconomic damage from hurricanes in the United States has beendoubling every 10 to 15 years.

“We found that although some decades were quieter and lessdamaging in the U.S. and others had more land-falling hurricanesand more damage, the economic costs of land-falling hurricanes havesteadily increased over time,” said Mr. Landsea in a statement.

“Unless action is taken to address the growing concentration ofpeople and property in coastal hurricane areas, the damage willincrease by a great deal as more people and infrastructure inhabitthese coastal locations,” he continued.

The paper was written by Mr. Landsea; Roger A. Pielke Jr. fromthe University of Colorado; Joel Gratz from ICAT Managers Inc.;Douglas Collins from Tillinghast-Towers Perrin; Mark A. Saundersfrom the University College London; and Rade Musulin from Aon ReAustralia.