Coastal resilienceNatural protection: Coastal wetlands reduce cost of flood damages during hurricanes
As communities across the Southeast United States and the Caribbean count the cost of flood and wind damage during Hurricane Matthew, a pioneering study has quantified how much protection natural coastal habitats provide during hurricanes. The study found more than $625 million in property damages were prevented during this natural catastrophe by coastal wetlands along the Northeast coast. Without wetlands, the damage bill would be much higher for Sandy and other predicted hurricanes. Where wetlands remain, the average damage reduction from Sandy was greater than 10 percent.
As communities across the Southeast United States and the Caribbean count the cost of flood and wind damage during Hurricane Matthew, a pioneering study led by scientists at UC Santa Cruz has quantified how much protection natural coastal habitats provide during hurricanes.
Using the latest modeling techniques, scientists from the conservation, engineering, and insurance sectors studied the impact of Hurricane Sandy in the Northeast United States in 2012, when New York and New Jersey were badly hit by storm surges. UCSC says that the study found more than $625 million in property damages were prevented during this natural catastrophe by coastal wetlands along the Northeast coast.
Without wetlands, the damage bill would be much higher for Sandy and other predicted hurricanes. Where wetlands remain, the average damage reduction from Sandy was greater than 10 percent. Experts within the study team expect that the analyses of the effects of Hurricane Matthew earlier this month will demonstrate similar protections.
San Francisco Bay
“We were able to put a dollar value on the coastal protection benefits from wetlands, using Hurricane Sandy as a test case. The results are relevant for many other areas such as San Francisco Bay, where we have lost 85 percent of historic wetlands and face grave risks from future flooding,” said project lead Michael Beck, an adjunct professor of ocean sciences at UC Santa Cruz and lead marine scientist for the Nature Conservancy. “Our work shows how we can align risk reduction and conservation interests to identify where to do marsh restoration and how to fund it.”
In Maryland, wetlands reduced property damages from Sandy by nearly 30 percent, and in New Jersey, wetlands prevented $425 million in property damages. In Ocean County, New Jersey, the conservation of salt marshes is predicted to reduce average annual coastal property losses by more than 20 percent (see additional findings online here).
Critical protection
Wetlands are critical not just for catastrophic hurricanes, but also for all the likely storms in the region.
