Providence-Metro Is Ranked Among Most Vulnerable to Hurricanes, More Than a Month Left in the Season

Providence-Metro Is Ranked Among Most Vulnerable to Hurricanes, More Than a Month Left in the Season

 

Hurricane season is getting very active. Last week, Puerto Rico and other areas in the Caribbean were hammered by Hurricane Fiona. Approximately 40% of Puerto Rico is still without power nearly a week later.

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Now, the Tampa/St. Petersburg metro area on the west coast of Florida is facing a dangerous hurricane Ian. The Tampa Bay Times newspaper headline states on Tuesday, “Hurricane Ian, a ‘potential historic catastrophe,’ takes aim at Tampa Bay.”

The region is under a hurricane warning, facing up to 12 inches of rain and storm surges of up to 10 feet.

Presently, Ian is expected to hit the Tampa area at about 12 noon on Wednesday

”When I look at this storm, I feel like I felt when Andrew was approaching Miami and when Katrina was approaching New Orleans,”  Jeff Masters, a meteorologist for Yale Climate Connections and a former hurricane hunter told the newspaper. “We have a potential historic catastrophe in the making.”

While this storm is not a risk to New England, the risks are always looming.

 

For decades, Rhode Island has Awaited the Next Big Hit

Rhode Island was devastated in 1938 and with Hurricane Carol in 1954.

The 1938 New England hurricane hit Southern New England with wind gusts that reached Category 5 strength in eastern Connecticut, Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts. There was no warning for the storm. It was reported that the anemometer at the Blue Hill Observatory in Milton, Massachusetts registered a peak wind gust of 186 mph before the instrument broke.

The storm killed over 600 people and is considered to be the worst hurricane to strike New England in modern times.

Hurricane Carol was a Category 3, it flooded downtown Providence, devastated much of Rhode Island, and it killed 68.

In more recent years, Rhode Island was hit hard by Category 2 Hurricane Bob in 1991 and in 2012 much of the region was severely damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

 

 

Providence-Metro Area Most Vulnerable to Major Economic Damage

The 2022 Hurricane Report by CoreLogic, the property data company, warns that the Providence metro area is one of the most vulnerable to a major hurricane with devastating economic impacts.

CoreLogic studies have indicated that up to 70% of the damages from floods are to homes that are uninsured.

In its 2022 study, CoreLogic looks at the “reconstruction cost value (RCV) figures are based on an assumption of total (100%) destruction of the structure, or the cost to completely rebuild the existing structure assuming total destruction. The RCV combines materials, equipment and labor, but does not include the value of the land or lot.”

CoreLogic evaluated the storm surge and hurricane wind risk levels for both single-family (SFR) and multifamily (MFR) residences along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts for the 2022 hurricane season.

 

Report Finds that:

Providence metro area is ranked as the 11th most vulnerable for damage from wind for SFRs.  The study estimates that 474,328 housing units are vulnerable and the potential economic damage could be $176 billion.

 

 

Providence metro area ranks 6th in the United States for MFRs with 33,577 homes at risk and a potential cost of $24.6 billion from hurricane winds.

 

Providence metro area ranks 13th for storm surge damage for MFR with a potential cost of $2 billion.