We are already in the midst of hurricane season in Florida and there is bad news as Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa and Miami are the most vulnerable to hurricanes this season according to a new study. The Weather Channel compiled a list of the top five areas most at risk to hurricane damage and three major cities in Florida were in the top three.
According to The Weather Channel’s study, the most vulnerable area in America when it comes to likely hurricane damage is Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, who were grouped together to take the top spot in the study. New York City was second on the list followed by the Tampa Bay area. According to TBO.com the last major hurricane to hit Tampa was in 1921 and that was a category 3 storm causing plenty of hurricane damage.
The story says that the Tampa Bay area is susceptible to hurricanes for a few reasons. First, evacuation times could near 100 hours for the most powerful hurricanes like a category 5. Second, there has been intense development near water in the Tampa Bay area with high rises and multi-million dollar homes lining water front areas all over Tampa Bay. Third, the Tampa Bay area lacks elevation which could allow a hurricane to cause destruction far inland as it plows through a fairly flat landscape.
New Orleans, which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, has long been considered the city that is most at risk from a direct strike according to experts but the Tampa Bay area was also considered a close second. The rankings take into account population, development and the length of time since the last major hurricane hit. For that reason New Orleans was left off this current list as well as Huston and Galveston, Texas. Savannah, Georgia and Atlantic City, NJ were the last two cities in The Weather Channel’s top five.
