Report: Several cities in region at high risk for storm damage

Most Floridians don’t need to be scared straight when it comes to having a healthy fear of the damage a hurricane could cause a city or region.

And if anyone isn’t properly scared, all they need to do is glance at CoreLogic’s 2021 Hurricane Report. It’s plenty scary.

The report from CoreLogic, a property information, analytics and data provider, projects that some eight million single-family homes nationwide are at risk of storm surge damage from hurricanes, and over 31 million homes are at risk of damage from hurricane winds. Metropolitan areas along the Eastern Seaboard and Gulf of Mexico will take the brunt of those hits, the report states.

Out of the top 10 cities nationally with the most homes at risk for storm surge damage, six are in Florida. While some of the list, to be sure, follows population, such as New York City being No. 1, a cluster of homes in one densely-populated city doesn’t explain how Virginia Beach, Fort Myers and Bradenton are ranked Nos. 5, 6 and 7, respectively. To cite one example? Nearly 285,000 area homes in Bradenton with a replacement value of $57.5 billion are at least at moderate risk of storm surge damage, the report shows.