Fact Check Team: East Coast storm underlines shift in population due to heightened flood risk

WASHINGTON (TND) — The East Coast was hit with a major storm this week, causing high winds and major flooding.

Massachusetts and Maine were the two hardest-hit states.

A new report published in the journal Nature Communications found flood exposure is linked to shifts in population size and composition.

In fact, 7% of census blocks – which are roughly the size of a city block – are experiencing a population decline due to flood exposure.

For context, 21.8 million properties currently have some exposure to flooding, and 23.5 million will by the middle of the century.

Researchers estimate that between 2000 and 2020, neighborhoods experiencing a population decline due to flood exposure saw a net loss of about nine million residents; many of those neighborhoods are in places that are growing overall, like Texas and Florida.

One example the study mentioned is Miami.

Researchers predict that over the next 30 years, certain areas of the city with a high chance of impact from severe weather and storms are more likely to see their population decrease, even though a lot of the city is expected to see population growth.

Climate abandonment – or leaving a place because of climate risks – is also heavily concentrated in the Midwest, like in Indiana and Michigan.

On the other hand, Louisville, Kentucky, Detroit and Chicago have a lot of space with very little flood risk.

2023 is not quite over, but it has broken the record for most natural disasters with losses of over $1 billion.

According to the National Centers for Environmental Information, as of December 8th, there have been 25 confirmed natural disasters costing more than $1 billion in losses each.

This includes 1 drought, 2 floods, 19 severe storms, one wildfire, one tropical cyclone and one winter storm.

Since 1980, the U.S. has seen 373 confirmed natural disasters, averaging around eight per year, and costing over $2.6 trillion in total.

That average more than doubled between 2018 and 2022 to 18 a year, costing more than $623 billion during those five years.