Southeast tops top 10 hurricane-prone areas

Dr. Stephen P. Leatherman, director of the International Hurricane Research Center at Florida International University, in Miami released the Top 10 List that nobody wants to be on: the 10 Most Vulnerable U.S. Mainland Areas to Hurricanes:

1. New Orleans

2. Lake Okeechobee, Fla.

3. Florida Keys

4. Coastal Mississippi

5. Miami/Ft. Lauderdale

6. Galveston/Houston, Texas

7. Cape Hatteras, N.C.

8. Eastern Long Island, N.Y.

9. Wilmington, N.C.

10. Tampa/St. Petersburg

Not surprisingly, New Orleans tops the list with the protective levees of this below-sea level city being in little better shape than when Hurricane Katrina hit.

The only other area that is protected from flooding by levees is adjacent to Lake Okeechobee, Fla., where the second most deadly hurricane disaster in U.S. history occurred. Presently more than 40,000 people live near the dike structure that has been declared by two reports to be a “grave and imminent danger to the people and the environment of South Florida.”

Waveland, Miss., was hit by a 30-foot storm surge during Katrina, but the entire coastal area of Mississippi was devastated by Katrina’s high surge. Hurricane Camille in 1969 did a similar amount of damage. Such disasters are to be expected, yet beachfront property in Mississippi is now selling at a premium in spite of the widespread devastation.

Topics Florida Catastrophe Natural Disasters Mississippi Hurricane