Florida Waterfront Property Contributes to the Risk of Hurricanes

The Florida real estate market is best known for its impressive waterfront property, with private docks and beaches on the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean. But what many Florida waterfront property owners and buyers don´t know is that the state´s coast is dangerously overbuilt.

“More than 13 million people live in coastal counties, up from 200,000 a century ago. As a result, all four of last year´s Florida hurricanes made the list of America´s 10 most damaging storms ever.” The increasing magnitude of these storms is laregely due to the development of Florida waterfront property, which “degrades the barrier beaches and coastal wetlands that can serve as natural buffers against hurricanes.”

Scientists and environmentalists have been battling to protect the state´s coastline for years, but warnings have been ignored, and Americans are migrating to coastal counties in record numbers, only accelerating the construction of new Florida waterfront property.

If this construction continues unchecked, scientists predict that the next big storm to roll through Florida could have an impact as devastating as that of Katrina on New Orleans.