![]() Some 80 percent of Florida’s 22 million residents live within 10 miles (16.1 km) of the coast, said Mark Friedlander, a spokesman for the Insurance Information Institute. That was followed by Irma in 2017 ($59.5 billion), Andrew in 1992 ($55.9 billion), Michael in 2018 ($29 billion) and Wilma in 2005 ($27.9 billion). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Topping the list of costliest storms to hit Florida, in 2022 dollars, is Ian, at $84 billion, according to the U.S. Gulf Bay’s Fiddler’s Creek community, just one week after Hurricane Ian made landfall in 2022. As with other states, Florida is planning for sea-level rise forecast to hit 17 inches (43 cm) by 2040, according to The Business Case for Resilience in Southeast Florida, a report from the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact, Urban Land Institute, and other partners. The state has near- and long-term interest in holding back mother nature. Strategic planning focused on strength and durability is helping mitigate wind and flood damage and serving as lessons to other, more mature communities planning a more resilient future. “How could we convince people they could shelter in place? We knew if we did it right from the beginning, we could prove they could.”įlorida’s resilience continues to be a huge and growing practical and financial priority as existing buildings age and population growth across the state invites continued losses. “Storm safety was absolutely at the top of our list,” says Syd Kitson, the former professional football player-turned-CEO of Kitson and Partners, developer of Babcock Ranch. With homes and other buildings left mostly unscathed, residents were able to remain home after the storm, and the community welcomed storm refugees to its shelters. ![]() Working closely with utility Florida Power and Light, a large solar farm, batteries, and transfer stations connected by buried power lines helped ensure the community’s almost 5,000 residents never lost power. ![]() Located miles from the coast, the community’s elevation averages 30 feet, with many structures feet above streets that help channel rain waters toward natural and man-made retention ponds and flow ways. Don’t associate the minimal impact with luck. ![]() The damage was so minimal that inspectors from the Federal Emergency Management Agency determined that the storm had missed the 17,280-acre (6,993 ha) planned development. The master-planned community straddling Charlotte and Lee counties withstood hours of sustained winds over 100 miles per hour (161 kph) when Hurricane Ian made landfall in September 2022. The result is communities located and engineered in hopes of withstanding windstorms and rising waters.Ī recent success story is Florida’s Babcock Ranch. coastlines prone to hurricanes, developers have largely gotten the message from Mother Nature and the insurance industry: Harden your buildings or face future peril. A home in the Wildlight community near Jacksonville, Florida. ![]()
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