Economic damages from Hurricane Sandy attributable to sea level rise caused by anthropogenic climate change

Benjamin H. Strauss (), Philip M. Orton, Klaus Bittermann, Maya K. Buchanan, Daniel M. Gilford, Robert Kopp (), Scott Kulp, Chris Massey, Hans de Moel and Sergey Vinogradov
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Benjamin H. Strauss: Climate Central
Philip M. Orton: Stevens Institute of Technology
Klaus Bittermann: Tufts University
Maya K. Buchanan: Climate Central
Daniel M. Gilford: Climate Central
Scott Kulp: Climate Central
Chris Massey: US Army Corps of Engineers
Hans de Moel: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Sergey Vinogradov: Stevens Institute of Technology

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract In 2012, Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast of the United States, creating widespread coastal flooding and over $60 billion in reported economic damage. The potential influence of climate change on the storm itself has been debated, but sea level rise driven by anthropogenic climate change more clearly contributed to damages. To quantify this effect, here we simulate water levels and damage both as they occurred and as they would have occurred across a range of lower sea levels corresponding to different estimates of attributable sea level rise. We find that approximately $8.1B ($4.7B–$14.0B, 5th–95th percentiles) of Sandy’s damages are attributable to climate-mediated anthropogenic sea level rise, as is extension of the flood area to affect 71 (40–131) thousand additional people. The same general approach demonstrated here may be applied to impact assessments for other past and future coastal storms.

Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-22838-1

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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22838-1

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