Run for Your Life?
Being displaced from your home is surprisingly common, even in the United States.
Natural catastrophes aren’t new. We’ve always had floods, hurricanes, and wildfires. What’s new, thanks to climate change, is these disasters are becoming more frequent and more intense. Math says this raises the odds one will strike any given person or location. You and your home, for instance.
Image: Printerval
It turns out being displaced from your home is surprisingly common, even in the United States. Last week the New York Times, citing new Census Bureau data, reported (that’s an unlocked link, btw) some 2.5 million Americans had to flee from weather-related disasters in 2023. The year before, it was 3.3 million. Hurricanes were the most commonly cited cause, followed by floods and fires.
This kind of data has been elusive because many events aren’t federally declared disasters. There are also large numbers of “low attention disasters” that may affect only a few homes. But of course, they’re still terrible for the people involved.
The US population is 330+ million. If these years are typical, it means something like 1% of can expect to be forced from home by some kind of weather event in any given year. Those may seem like good odds. But remember, you get another shot every year. So over 10-20 years the chances are considerably higher.
In many cases, evacuation isn’t so bad. You heed the hurricane warning, go see relatives inland for a few days, then go back home – which is hopefully still intact. Not a big deal. But it’s not always so simple, nor will you necessarily have much warning time.
Moreover, there’s every reason to think these kinds of events will grow bigger and more common in the near future – increasing the chance you’ll be caught in one. And climate change is only part of the problem. More people live in vulnerable areas – coastlines, wooded areas vulnerable to fires, low-lying potential flood zones, etc.
You may live in such an area and not even know it.
To find out, go to RiskFactor.com and enter your address. It will give you a 1-10 danger rating for flood, fire, wind, air pollution and heat. The data comes from First Street Foundation, which does risk modeling for property insurers.
But no matter what the models say, it’s a good idea to at least think about how you would evacuate if necessary. Where will you go? How will you get there? What should you take with you? How can you prepare your home to survive the kind of disasters that would drive you away?
The answers to those questions will come easier if you think about them before the disaster is upon you. “Grab your beer and run like hell” isn’t a plan. A few hours of real planning and preparation could save you a lot of money – and maybe your life.