The number of Louisiana homes at risk of damage resulting from hurricane-related storm surges rose to an estimated 800,521 this year, up from an estimated 760,272 in 2015, according to a new analysis released Wednesday by global property information firm CoreLogic.
There are more than 6.8 million homes on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts at risk of potential storm surge damage this year. CoreLogic says it cost more than $1.5 million to completely rebuild those homes if hurricane-related storm surge occurs.
The potential damage to homes in Louisiana has a reconstruction cost value of $184 billion, according to the analysis. In Baton Rouge, 98,516 homes with an reconstruction cost value of $24.4 billion are located within storm surge risk zones this year. Of those homes, 6,704 are designated in the “extreme” risk zone, meaning that they would be affected by all hurricane category levels, CoreLogic says.
Florida continues to top the list for the most homes at risk, an estimated 2.7 million. Louisiana is second followed by Texas, New Jersey and New York.
“States with less coastal exposure but lower-lying elevations that extend farther inland, such as Louisiana and New Jersey, tend to have more total homes at risk because of the potential for surge water to travel farther inland,” reads the analysis.
At the regional level, the Atlantic Coast has just under 3.9 million homes at risk of storm surge with an reconstruction cost value of $953 billion, and the Gulf Coast has just over 2.9 million homes at risk with $592 billion in potential exposure to total destruction damage.
The firm examined risk from hurricane-driven storm surge for homes along the Atlantic and Gulf coastlines across 19 states, the District of Columbia and 88 metro areas.
