Report: Southwest Florida high on list of areas vulnerable to storm-surge damage

June 01--Storm surges could slam Southwest Florida this year, causing millions of dollars in damage, a new report says.

CoreLogic on Wednesday ranked the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area sixth and the Naples area ninth in the country for storm-surge risk.

The Irvine, California-based firm used its proprietary database to analyze information on more than 135.6 million properties nationwide.

Storm surges, defined as an abnormal water rise, are produced by low pressure systems and high winds hurricanes create, and they can flow inland for miles through rivers and creeks.

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In Lee County, 306,953 homes worth nearly $62 million in reconstructive cost value are potentially at risk for storm surges, CoreLogic said.

Of these homes, the research company said 40,465 homes worth $8.9 million were at "extreme" risk, described as likely to be affected by all categories of hurricanes.

CoreLogic said that in Collier County, 180,919 homes valued at $43.2 million could be vulnerable to storm surges.

Of them, 17,478 homes valued at $4.2 million were at "extreme" risk in Collier County.

CoreLogic said its analysis differs from that of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's maps, which are "designed to identify areas at risk for both freshwater flooding, as well as storm surge, based on the likelihood of either a 100-year or 500-year flood event."

FEMA maps "do not differentiate risk based on storm severity, and as a result, do not accurately reflect the total extent of potential risk along coastal areas," CoreLogic said.

CoreLogic said that since homeowners who live outside FEMA designated flood zones are not required to carry flood insurance, they "may not be aware of the potential risk that storm surge poses to their properties.'

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has identified storm surges as the most damaging aspects of a hurricane, as they destroy buildings and drown people.

NOAA predicted that this year's Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1, will be "near normal," with 10 to 16 named storms, four to eight hurricanes and one to four major hurricanes.

NOAA said that while it cannot reliably predict the number or intensity of hurricanes that make landfall at any given location, "it only takes one storm hitting an area to cause a disaster, regardless of overall activity."

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