Close Menu
Invest Intellect
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Invest Intellect
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest
    • Home
    • Commodities
    • Cryptocurrency
    • Fintech
    • Investments
    • Precious Metal
    • Property
    • Stock Market
    Invest Intellect
    Home»Property»How Hurricane Helene, Milton worsened the climate refugee crisis
    Property

    How Hurricane Helene, Milton worsened the climate refugee crisis

    October 14, 20244 Mins Read


    play

    Climate change is now impacting where Americans choose to live

    Many U.S. locales have reached a climate change “tipping point.” Populations are declining as flooding becomes unbearable.

    Images from Florida, battered by two once-in-a-generation storms in a matter of weeks, are prompting a reckoning by Americans across the country.

    “Will Florida be completely unlivable/destroyed in the next few years?” one Reddit user wondered. And on Oct. 7, the science writer Dave Levitan published an essay titled “At Some Point You Don’t Go Back.”

    But for anyone wondering “why do they still live there?” a report from data analytics provider First Street offers some answers. Americans are perhaps more aware of the risks of a volatile climate than it might seem and have been migrating in response to its effects for many years. The catch: the vast majority of those moves have been local, to higher ground across town, say, or to the city next door, where better infrastructure may mean it doesn’t flood as often.

    As the threat has multiplied, however, the report’s authors say it’s now safe to assume that many parts of Florida have reached a “tipping point.” That’s the point at which moving a few blocks uphill isn’t enough, and so many residents are leaving the area permanently, the population could decline.

    “I do think there are places where we are approaching tipping points, and we will begin to see larger migration movements,” said Jeremy Porter, head of climate implications research at First Street, which released the report last winter.

    “In Florida, the fact that homes are seeing longer ‘time on the market’ and lower ‘sale to list prices’ is indicative of declining demand and population outmigration,” Porter said in a recent email exchange with USA TODAY.

    Florida’s real estate woes are well documented. “Of the dozen markets where prices have fallen over the past 12 months, seven are in Florida,” noted ICE, a real estate data company, in its October Mortgage Monitor. Challenging market conditions throughout the state may be in large part due to the difficulty in obtaining affordable property insurance: in some areas like Jacksonville and Cape Coral, premiums are up nearly 80% since 2019.

    Contract signings are also down in Florida, recent Redfin data showed. While Hurricane Helene probably accounted for some of the decline in recent weeks, sales activity also plunged 13% compared to a year ago in Fort Lauderdale and 15% in Miami, both of which are located on the eastern coast and are so far unaffected by storms.

    But as First Street data show, Florida isn’t the only place climate migrants are fleeing. At the micro level, more than 800,000 census blocks in the U.S. – or 7.4% of all blocks – have already passed local “tipping points” and are seeing outright population declines. These “Climate Abandonment Areas” have had a net loss of over 3.2 million people between 2000 and 2020 which can be directly attributed to flooding, the research shows.

    Many of these areas are familiar to locals: parts of Staten Island, New York, that see constant “sunny day flooding,” for example, or Bexar County, Texas, home to San Antonio – and an area not typically known for being waterlogged, Porter says.

    “In Bexar County, TX, 17.1% of all blocks are declining in population and have high flood risk above the ‘tipping point,’ making them Climate Abandonment Areas even though the county as a whole has grown significantly between 2000 – 2020,” First Street’s report notes.

    More: Homeownership used to mean stable housing costs. That’s a thing of the past.

    First Street’s data suggests that climate risk is already having a significant impact on local economies even if people aren’t fleeing in droves. Its model shows that many parts of the country that have seen the most growth despite being most exposed to extreme climate – the Houston metro, for example – would have attracted even more people if not for the known risks.

    The “thousand-year storms” that get so much attention may not be as perilous as consistent, low-level flooding, Porter said. “Say you’re stuck in your house, you know, twice a month every month out of the year. That slowly erodes the infrastructure in the area, and people start to avoid the area because it gets reputationally branded as an area that floods.”

    The 3.2 million Americans who have already left home because of climate concerns are just the beginning, First Street believes. Millions more are likely to leave in the coming decades.

    Porter said he thinks Americans will soon start to take climate risk into account when house hunting just like they do school quality and walkability. “What we’re going to see in the form of climate response is smarter ways of thinking about information like climate risk within cities,” he said



    Source link

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

    Related Posts

    Property experts warn about ‘worrying red flags’ when buying a house

    Property

    Family swap UK for Eastern Europe and show insane savings after leaving ‘rat race’

    Property

    Consistent delivery at property group despite weak UK economic growth

    Property

    Controversial property developer Matthew Doyle and his wife Kelsea sell their Sydney home for $2.8million

    Property

    NJ among states with highest property taxes. Here’s where it ranks

    Property

    What are the most dangerous cities in Louisiana? Study shows 10 crime rates

    Property
    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    Top Picks
    Precious Metal

    Boliden gains from higher metal prices, says it can handle tougher times

    Investments

    German Bond Yields Climb As Fed Minutes And US Data Loom

    Property

    Powerlong Real Estate : L’audience sur la liquidation d’une filiale reportée à novembre

    Editors Picks

    RI strengthens agricultural product supervision through collaboration

    March 26, 2025

    Garber Will Not Review Harvard’s Investments for Ties to Human Rights Violations | News

    October 29, 2024

    How Trump Just Made His Own Cryptocurrency Value Skyrocket

    April 24, 2025

    Best Solar Panel Installation Companies in San Antonio

    August 20, 2024
    What's Hot

    Top Fintech Venture Capital Investors

    October 10, 2024

    ‘Crypto Czar’, Silicon Valley investors to meet Donald Trump. Big Cryptocurrency order coming soon?

    March 6, 2025

    BFM Bourse : 17h/18h – 05/05

    May 5, 2025
    Our Picks

    Bangladesh’s Investment-to-GDP Ratio Declined 2024 | Declining investments dampen growth outlook | Economic Impact of Low Investment in Bangladesh

    February 13, 2025

    3 Reasons Why Crypto Pump In Q4 Is Inevitable

    July 13, 2024

    Comprehensive Analysis of Changes in the Cryptocurrency Market in Q3 2024: Rise of Bitcoin and Stablecoin Dominance, Surge in Ethereum Staking

    October 17, 2024
    Weekly Top

    Private Credit Is Targeting Fintech Loans

    August 5, 2025

    Nigerian firm to develop deep-water port, economic zone in St. Kitts

    August 5, 2025

    CaratLane Launches Silver Rakhi Collection For US Market

    August 5, 2025
    Editor's Pick

    The hottest housing markets in the U.S., according to Realtor.com

    August 16, 2024

    Former Mozambique finance minister on trial in US over ‘tuna bond’ scandal that spurred debt crisis

    July 17, 2024

    Fire at Salina energy plant prompts heavy emergency response

    August 28, 2024
    © 2025 Invest Intellect
    • Contact us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and Conditions

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.