Storm surge property damage could top $300 billion in 10 major U.S. cities along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, with most at-risk homes in the threatened areas outside of current FEMA flood zones, according to a study by CoreLogic, a leading provider of consumer, financial and property information and business services.

The 2011 CoreLogic Storm Surge Report complements the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood zone information to provide a complete picture of potential damage exposure at the property level.

Slideshow: Storm Surge Risk for 10 Coastal Cities

Long Island had the highest exposure to risk, valued at $99 billion, followed by the Miami-Palm Beach region and Virginia Beach. Projected exposure to storm surge damage for the ten geographies is:

Long Island, N.Y. – $99 billion
Miami-Dade, Fla. – $44.9 billion
Virginia Beach, Va. – $44.6 billion
New Orleans, La. – $39 billion
Tampa, Fla. – $27 billion
Houston, Tex. – $20 billion
Jacksonville, Fla. – $19.6 billion
Charleston, S.C. – $17.7 billion
Corpus Christi, Tex. – $4.7 billion
Mobile, Ala. – $3 billion

After identifying the top ten high-risk urban areas based on the probability of a hurricane striking, vulnerability to storm surge given on-shore and off-shore geographic attributes and population density, CoreLogic identified all residential properties in its parcel database within a predicted storm surge area and analyzed it against the associated property value of each home. The analysis divided property valuations first by hurricane category, then again within each region by ZIP code. The final results show the current value of all residential properties exposed to potential storm surge damage, and allow for the comparison of properties at risk for storm-surge damage to those properties also located within a FEMA flood zone.

The report also indicates that most at-risk homes within the 10 metro areas are in fact located outside of FEMA-defined flood zones. For example, 87.4 percent of surge-inundation zone properties are outside the designated flood zone in Virginia Beach compared with 12.2 percent of at-risk homes in both surge and flood zones. Among the densely populated coastal regions with the highest number of individual properties exposed to storm surge damage are:

Virginia Beach, nearly 289,000 properties
New Orleans, more than 278,000 properties
Tampa, more than 277,000 properties

The report also examines the effects of man-made mitigation efforts in the New Orleans metro area. Reconstruction efforts over the past six years, including raising levees, rebuilding flood walls and creating the massive Lake Borgne Surge Barrier, now provide a greater level of protection from storm surge destruction. Many homes previously designated in a high-risk surge zone now have a significantly lower chance of exposure to property damage.

“This year's study shows that as many as 170,000 properties in New Orleans proper are no longer exposed to risk from Category 1, 2 or 3 hurricanes ,” said Dr. Howard Botts, executive vice president and director of database development for CoreLogic Spatial Solutions.

Conversely, building has continued “unabated” on many barrier islands and particularly in Florida. “Any community with a strong retirement base continues to grow, immune from market forces,” Dr. Botts said. “NOAA has calculated that about 53 percent of all Americans live in coastal exposed areas, and that number will probably be going up with the new census figures. For insurers, the implications are huge—there are not a lot of safe areas where they can go.”

The study's main takeaway for the insurance industry is that even in supposedly “safe” areas, storm surges can cause significant damage. “If you're in a coastal area and near a creek, river or bay, you'll still have exposure,” Dr. Botts said. “Insurance companies traditionally would draw a 2500-foot buffer around the water body and assume you don't have exposure; in fact, what we've learned is that it's not true. The best thing an agent or broker can do is to look at what other possible sources of risk there are and recommend supplementary policies where appropriate.”

For a complete copy of the 2011 CoreLogic Storm Surge Report, visit http://www.corelogic.com/Products/hazard-analytics.aspx

Special Reports /

Study: Storm Surges Could Wreak $300 Billion Damages in 10 U.S. Coastal Cities

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