HURRICANE DANGERS COULD INCREASE, STUDY SHOWS

I thought this article was intersting, even thought it does not directly effect our local real estate market.

GALVESTON (Associated Press) – Hurricane-related flooding and damage along the Texas coast is expected to be more severe in the coming years thanks to the effects of global warming, according to a study released yesterday by Texas A&M University researchers.

Engineering researchers with the university used Corpus Christi to illustrate how climate change will impact hurricane-related flooding and storm surge damage along the Texas coast.

The study projected that rising sea levels and more intense hurricanes from global warming will increase structural damage to homes and buildings in Corpus Christi by 60 to 100 percent in about 20 years and by more than 250 percent by the 2080s.

This would translate into projected damage increases of between $100 million and $250 million in around 20 years and between $250 million and more than $1 billion by the 2080s.

Jennifer Irish, an assistant professor of Coastal and Ocean Engineering at Texas A&M University in College Station, said such damage could happen anywhere along the Texas coast and even the rest of the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The study was funded by the National Commission on Energy Policy, a nonprofit group based in Washington, D.C.