Significant Losses From Coastal Erosion Anticipated Along U.S. Coastlines
Release Date: June 27, 2000
Release Number: HQ-00-095
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Executive Summary of Erosion Hazards Study, 544 Kb (22 pages)
Evaluation of Erosion Hazards Report, 3.97 Mb (252 pages)
Washington, DC -- Approximately 25 percent of homes and other structures within 500 feet of the U.S. coastline and the shorelines of the Great Lakes will fall victim to the effects of erosion within the next 60 years, according to a study released today by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The study was prepared for FEMA by The Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment.
"This report, Evaluation of Erosion Hazards, provides for the first time a comprehensive assessment of coastal erosion and its impact on people and property along our nation's ocean and Great Lakes shorelines," FEMA Director James Lee Witt said. "The findings are sobering. If coastal development continues unabated and if sea levels rise as some scientists are predicting, the impact will be even worse."
Especially hard hit will be areas along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastlines, which are expected to account for 60 percent of nationwide losses. Costs to U.S. homeowners will average more than a half billion dollars per year, and additional development in high erosion areas will lead to higher losses, according to the report. Highly protected areas of large East Coast cities will not be adversely affected.
"As Americans visit their favorite beaches this July Fourth holiday, they should be aware of the erosion risks facing coastal homes and communities," William Merrell, president of the Heinz Center, said. "Given the rates at which some areas of the U.S. shoreline are eroding due to high intensity storms and coastal flooding, some of the homes and properties that vacationers will enjoy this summer may not be there much longer."
The study came about as a result of the ongoing debate over how best to manage coastal erosion and whether or not, or how, to use federal programs such as the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to address the problem. The federal flood insurance program currently covers erosion damage that occurs in connection with floods, but does not specifically take into account erosion in setting flood insurance rates in coastal areas. Nor does it cover damage caused by gradual erosion.
In an effort to help settle some of the issues, Congress, in 1994, asked FEMA to submit a report evaluating the economic impact of erosion on coastal communities and the NFIP, which is operated by the Federal Insurance Administration, a division of FEMA.
"This report clearly lays out the hard choices facing the Congress and this nation," Witt said. "It is now time to renew the public dialogue about how we can lower the risks to life and property and reduce the costs from the inevitable consequences of coastal erosion."
The study recommends FEMA be authorized to develop maps identifying coastal erosion hazard areas and include the cost of expected erosion losses when setting flood insurance rates for coastal areas. The independent report also presents possible federal policy options, most of them regarding the use of the federal flood insurance program to address the coastal erosion problem.
The Atlantic and Gulf coasts account for 45 percent of the U.S. coastline and they are home to 63 percent of the structures within 500 feet of the shoreline. The nation's highest average erosion rates - up to six feet or more per year - occur along the Gulf of Mexico coastline. The average erosion rate on the Atlantic coast is about two to three feet per year. However, actual erosion rates can vary widely from one location to another and from one year to another. A hurricane or other major storm can cause the coast to erode 100 feet or more in a single day.
Other findings from the study:
- Development in several high-risk coastal areas studied has increased by more than 60 percent over the last 20 years.
- Property owners within the first few hundred feet of the nation's coasts face as large a risk of damage from erosion as they do from flooding.
- Only about half of homeowners in high erosion areas on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts currently hold flood insurance policies.
- The regulatory components of the NFIP have been effective in reducing damage from flooding, but were not designed to, and do not, directly address erosion.
- To fully reflect erosion risk, insurance rates in the highest hazard coastal areas would have to be double today's rates, on the average.
- Assuming that enrollment in the federal flood insurance program holds steady, NFIP's payout for erosion-related losses over the next few decades is likely to be about $80 million per year.
- It would cost about $44 million for FEMA to identify, map, disseminate and maintain information on erosion hazards nationwide.
- There are about 10,000 structures within the estimated 10-year erosion zone (the amount of land expected to erode within 10 years) close to the shore.
- There are 87,000 structures within the estimated 60-year erosion zone.
- There are 338,000 structures within 500 feet of the shoreline. Fifty percent of these structures are located on the Atlantic coast, 13 percent are on the Gulf, 20 percent on the Pacific coast and 17 percent are on the Great Lakes.
NFIP or FEMA-related policy options presented by the study:
- Prepare and disseminate maps showing areas subject to erosion.
- Create Coastal High Hazard Zones that include both flood and erosion risks.
- Impose a mandatory surcharge for erosion on flood insurance in Coastal High Hazard Zones.
- Combine erosion surcharges with regulatory measures such as set-backs to reduce damages.
- Require communities to impose building standards appropriate for future flood conditions expected because of erosion.
- Provide erosion insurance in bluff areas.
- Provide relocation assistance and/or buyouts.
"Although we have not seen any significant shortfalls in the flood insurance program because of erosion losses, this study clearly shows that coastal erosion is a problem that is going to increase dramatically over the next several decades," Witt said. "However, I do not believe that the problem of coastal erosion is one that FEMA or the flood insurance program alone can solve. We may be able to help, but ultimately the solution to coastal erosion must be found at the local and state level through partnerships such as those fostered through initiatives like FEMA's Project Impact: Building Disaster Resistant Communities. Project Impact provides a model that communities can follow to address disaster risks."
Witt said that FEMA will review the study and identify any possible changes to the NFIP rating system that could be made under existing program authorities to establish risk classification rates for coastal erosion. However, it may be necessary for Congress to make some changes to those authorities to address inequities that could result from not having adequate information about erosion hazard risk areas to use in establishing those rates, he added.
The National Flood Insurance Program was established in 1968 to help reduce the federal share of costs in connection with flood losses, which at that time were exceeding an average $1 billion annually through the enactment of disaster-relief measures. Coastal erosion has been an issue of debate regarding its relationship with the NFIP ever since. Discussion has centered on whether or not erosion is a flood or flood-related phenomena, methods of determining areas subject to erosion and the extent to which communities should be required by the NFIP to manage building and development in erosion-prone areas.
An essential component for implementing the NFIP is the Flood Insurance Rate Map, which delineates Special Flood Hazard Areas and insurance risk zones, and is prepared by FEMA's mitigation division. Special Flood Hazard Areas are places that are subject to 100-year floods. The term 100-year flood is deceptive and confuses many people into thinking that a 100-year flood is a flood that happens only every 100 years. That is not accurate. A 100-year flood is a flood that has a 1 percent chance of occurring in any given year. Some areas, for example, have experienced 100-year floods in consecutive years.
FEMA already maps coastal zones as Special Flood Hazard Areas, termed "V-zones," in which structures are subject to damage from both flooding and significant waves. NFIP construction standards are more stringent in V-zones and insurance rates are usually higher than in A-zones.
Last Modified: Thursday, 06-Nov-2003 14:28:47