The 2024 hurricane season was among the costliest on record with five major hurricanes making landfall in the US this year, including Hurricane Helene, which is initially estimated to have caused nearly $50 billion in damage.
The extremely active hurricane season has again raised questions about adaptation versus mitigation in regards to climate change’s profound effect on coastal cities.
The sustainability publication Treehugger recently published a list of the world’s “9 most vulnerable cities” to global warming. According to the post, five of the nine most vulnerable cities are in the U.S. These include Miami, Tampa-St. Petersburg, New York City, New Orleans, and Boston. Miami is the most vulnerable U.S. city according to the ranking due to the porous limestone bedrock on which the city is built being extremely vulnerable to saltwater intrustion, damaging foundations of buildings.
The ranking is based on potential economic losses due to rising sea levels, storm surge, and major rainfall events.
Greg Zimmerman is senior contributing editor for FacilitiesNet.com and Building Operating Management magazine.
