Property

Rising insurance premiums could lead to an economic crash in the Sunshine State, according to one expert

They would take over ownership of public right-of-ways surrounding $220M project

At least 50 homeowners in Charleston’s historic district have inquired about elevating their homes, a practice the city once discouraged but now largely accepts after a spate of recent floods and the growing reality of climate change.

WASHINGTON - South Carolina will receive millions of dollars in federal aid to offset damages from Hurricanes Florence and Michael last year. It will be welcome news for the state’s residents hit hardest by the massive storm. According to U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the situation was set to become dire “in the coming weeks, not months,” if Congress did not quickly overcome partisan disagreements and pass a disaster aid bill.

The court evaluated that it is high time the tendency of courts and other legal systems stopped forgiving those who violate the environment laws.

Over half of people in Britain would like to buy a home near the coast and many plan to move closer to the seaside or a water front in the future, a new survey has found.

MANILA (AFP-Jiji) — When Mary Ann San Jose moved to Sitio Pariahan more than two decades ago, she could walk to the local chapel. Today, reaching it requires a swim.

Recent opinions by Columnist David Collins supporting the proposed siting of a seasonal restaurant on a city-owned pier in the Downtown Waterfront Park and the editorial board’s praising Governor Ned Lamont’s announcement of a public-private partnership for upgrading State Pier both ignore the statutory provisions of the Connecticut Coastal Management Act.

This report by the NGFS sets out climate change-related risks as a source of financial risk and outlines six recommendations, particularly for central banks and financial supervisors to take initial steps to ensure the stability of the financial system. The report aims to build knowledge in the main gaps of identifying, measuring and managing climate risks in the financial system.

Governments seeking to help their most vulnerable residents prepare for hurricanes and other disasters should create community-based information campaigns ahead of time, according to a Rutgers study of economically disadvantaged New Jerseyans in the areas hardest hit by Superstorm Sandy.

An incredibly well-done bit of writing and multi-media storytelling on the Louisiana coast from Bloomberg.

Detroiters are still wringing out their lives, two weeks after torrential downpours swamped roadways and homes.

Sooner or later the offshore Cascadia fault zone is going to unleash a monster earthquake and tsunami. When that day comes, you hope that coastal schools, fire stations and hospitals are located high enough so that they don't get washed away just when you really need them.

Visiting Fiji for the first time as Secretary-General, António Guterres outlined two “fundamental challenges” facing leaders attending the Pacific Islands Forum on Thursday, namely climate change and the world’s rising ocean, which threatens to submerge low-lying nations.

SALISBURY, Mass. - For sale: waterfront property with sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean. Waves erode beach regularly. Flooding gets worse every year. Saltwater damage to lawn. Asking price: anyone's guess.

Eight residents of four Torres Strait Islands are making a world-first case against their own government at the United Nations (UN) for breaching their human rights. A win will not be legally enforceable, but it could draw further attention to the government's failure to act.

May 14, 2019 — Water levels on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River are almost two feet above average for this time of year, but they haven’t reached 2017 levels yet. On Sunday, Lake Ontario was still six and a half inches below where it was the same day two years ago, when major flooding hit the region.

Hurricane Michael killed seven people and caused more than $6 billion in damage in Florida in October, a toll compounded by warmer, higher seas and wetter air, the signs of climate change scientists have long warned about.

Newswise — In Norfolk, Virginia, officials are taking action to reduce their city’s vulnerability to flood risks. Flooding in Norfolk does not just happen during major storms. It can happen when the sun is shining, if the tide is high or the winds are right.

DeBordieu Colony, a wealthy, gated beach community, was the benefactor of targeted legislation in the Statehouse this week that would protect a stretch of beachfront houses. That’s if Gov. Henry McMaster signs it into law.

Breezy Point is beautiful in the summertime, a quaint neighborhood sitting on a slim peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic just south of New York City. In a storm, though, that dreamy setting can become a nightmare.

"We take judicial notice of recent devastation in Kerala which had taken place due to such unbridled construction activities resulting into colossal loss of human life and property."

Montreal, Canada - Residents of Île-Bizard are stunned after an island washed up just metres away from some waterfront homes on Saturday.

More flooding and erosion — which affects everything from water quality to property values and tourism — are expected in the Great Lakes region this spring as water levels continue their rapid rise after a 14-year low.

History is full of moments when communities facing an existential challenge have two fates.

HAMILTON, Skagit County — Mayor Joan Cromley crossed over a backwater slough, chatting with a Seattle conservationist on a tour of her town, when a noise blared, shrill as a car alarm.

EDISTO ISLAND — Two of the coast’s mysterious shell rings — human-made and centuries old — lay buried in the woods on tiny Pockoy Island. For years nobody knew they were there.

The property market is predicted to have $571 billion wiped from it by 2030 as a result of climate change and extreme weather events if a business as usual approach is taken, according to a new report released by the Climate Council.

Failing septic systems pollute Lowcountry waters with raw sewage and leave some residents with fouled yards and homes, but the cost of modern sewer connections and questions about government mandates have made the problem tricky to solve.

Marine aquaculture will expand, but the quality and location of this growth will depend on sound governance, researcher says

The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday ordered the demolition of five apartments in Ernakulam's Maradu municipality for violation of Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules. The order was passed by a Bench led by Justice Arun Mishra.

Coordinate preparations for ‘environmental, physical and economic impacts of climate change.’

Gov. Brian Kemp signed amendments to the Shore Protection Act into law Friday. H.B. 445, sponsored in the senate by Republican State Sen. Ben Watson (District 1), prescribes new ways to define the scope of the state’s influence on private beach-front property.

PANAMA CITY — Hurricane Michael might not have dominated the headlines during the Florida legislative session, but local lawmakers came away with a big haul.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources reports that Kohala lands within the Kula Iwi (homeland) of Kamehameha the Great on Hawai‘i Island; stunningly beautiful coastal pasture in Hāna, Maui; restored access to a Hawaiian fishpond on Kaua‘i’s north shore; and two tracts of high-quality O‘ahu forest can now be protected for public benefit with the help of grant funding from the State Legacy Land Conservation Program.

Seawalls proliferate, oceanfront construction continues to boom, according to county data

Maine’s seaweed business has grown like a weed in recent years, with proponents touting it as both a “superfood” and an economic generator for the rural state — but the industry is now facing sticky new restrictions.

Commissioner George P. Bush of the Texas General Land Office -- the lead coastal agency in Texas -- on disaster recovery.

CLIMATE CHANGE IS ALREADY CHANGING THE LIVES OF ATLANTIC CANADIANS, BUT WHAT CAN WE DO TO STOP IT, OR ADAPT TO IT, OR SOFTEN THE EFFECTS? WE ASKED PEOPLE FROM ACROSS ATLANTIC CANADA WHAT THEY SEE AS THE BIGGEST IMPACTS ON THEIR OWN LIVES AND WHAT — IF ANYTHING — CAN BE DONE TO DEAL WITH THEM.

PANAJI, India: The Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) has ordered the demolition of 171 temporary structures erected in no-development zones (NDZ) at Morjim, Mandrem, Galgibaga and Agonda stretches that are popular for their turtle-nesting sites. Out of the 171 temporary structures facing the axe, 64 are in South Goa and 107 in North Goa. A senior GCZMA official told TOI that both district collectors have been asked to implement the demolition orders.

NEW DELHI (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated along India's eastern coast on Thursday as authorities braced for a cyclone moving through the Bay of Bengal that was forecast to bring extremely severe wind and rain.

“We find empirical support for significant and negative impacts, in property value appreciation due to the increasing risks of tidal flooding. This is likely to be linked to both observable increases in flooding events for locales within the Miami-Dade region as well as the documented increases in media coverage of these events.” – Authors Steven A. McAlpine & Jeremy R. Porter

CNT Editor Note: This report from June 2018 was produced by Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars / Environmental Change and Security Program, and reported through their blog, New Security Beat. We chose to feature the report to introduce CNT readers to the Wilson Center and the level of "think tank" analysis going into issues like climate change and coastal risk management.

Treehouse huggers stay tuned. 12th Circuit Judge Ed Nicholas decided April 29 to move ahead with the owners’ 2013 case to declare a city setback unconstitutional before ruling on an enforcement case seeking to enforce city orders to remove the structure and pay fines.

Plan will expand financing and technical assistance for ocean health and marine economy projects from 2019 to 2024 for Asia and Pacific region countries

In Houston, it was the petrochemical plants. In North Carolina, it was the hog farms. In both places, churning floodwaters caused by recent storms were turned into a toxic stew that endangered local water resources and public health.

Vast complexes of floating rafts would support apartment buildings on the sea.

As the threat of climate change grows more prevalent by the day, cities must take the lead in reducing our carbon footprint and becoming more resilient. This year, New York City has taken a big, green step forward, with actions by Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Council that will decrease our emissions.

South Carolina - Lawyers with the Army Corps of Engineers were scheduled to talk Wednesday with one of two property owners who declined to sign easements to allow a federally-funded beach renourishment project on the south end of Pawleys Island. The town will learn today whether the missing easements, two of the 113 required, will alter plans to start work in the fall.

The state Supreme Court ruled a Monroe County township’s zoning ordinance bars the short-term rental of homes in strictly residential districts in a widely anticipated decision with statewide implications for homesharing platforms like Airbnb.

As rising sea levels caused by climate change overtake its white sand beaches and city streets hawaii’s iconic Waikiki Beach could soon be submerged.

This week, Indonesia's president announced that the capital Jakarta was sinking at an alarming rate -- and that the capital needed to be relocated.

Washington is announcing a goal of retrofitting or removing all of its flood-prone buildings by 2050, the first major U.S. city to set such a policy. City sets goal for 2050 as threat from climate change worsens. Challenges include new housing, addressing federal buildings

PANAMA CITY — Nearing a self-imposed May deadline to create a comprehensive blueprint, the Bay County Long-Term Recovery Task Force received a 400-page draft report that outlines 320 proposals or concepts for the community’s regeneration from Hurricane Michael.

Americans must assume more responsibility for protecting themselves from the rising toll of natural disasters, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency warned.

WACHAPREAGUE, Va. — The tide is high, but this seaside town is holding on.

For a glimpse into the future of Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes, keep an eye on the effort underway to relocate residents of Isle de Jean Charles.

MOBILE, Ala. (WPMI) — Residents in one Midtown neighborhood raised concerns after the city put up more than a dozen “for sale” signs on more than a dozen lots last month because they say it's prone to flooding

RALEIGH - Hurricanes are getting worse, but residents, businesses and governments aren’t doing enough to avoid repeated losses from future floods, according to a new report.

Understanding the 24,000-Acre Dangermond Preserve’s High Hopes and Huge Hurdles

Water quality problems from algae and red tide not only cause some buyers to back out of Southwest Florida home purchases; they also appear to dampen sales values, local real estate agents say.

Zurich Insurance and ISET-International release Hurricane Florence Post-Event Report on the new realities of severe weather resilience.

The earth's warming temperatures are already leading to catastrophic events like earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, and landslides. But there may be a way to channel these disasters to protect coastal communities.

City leaders believe Corpus Christi is missing out on hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in taxes from short term rentals on sites like AirBNB. The city has been looking for a way to start collecting those taxes, and a recent Supreme Court ruling may pave the way for that to happen.

RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. — You might remember the name, Fane Lozeman. He has a long history of taking on Riviera Beach and winning, including twice at the United States Supreme Court.

An American fugitive in hot water with Thailand’s government had his sea home raided. On Saturday, the Thai navy boarded the floating home in the Andaman Sea of Michigan bitcoin trader Chad Elwartowski and his Thai girlfriend, Nadia Supranee Thepdet, members of the burgeoning seasteading movement.

Transatlantic Media Fellowship Parts of Miami could be under water in only a few decades. That is why prices are now skyrocketing in a low-income neighborhood previously largely home to Haitian residents.

RESOLUTE BAY, Canada -- After finishing a training drill on surviving the bitter cold, the soldiers gathered around Ranger Debbie Iqaluk to hear about an inescapable fact of life in the high Arctic: The ice is melting despite the low temperatures. And that means the Russians are coming.

When Miami Beach borrowed $162 million from Wall Street this week, it wanted investors to know rising seas and extreme weather are a real risk to the city and that it’s doing something about it.

As the winter snowpack melts and fears of spring flooding rise, Canada’s public safety minister Ralph Goodale has a “tough message” for municipalities, homeowners and businesses: build in a flood zone and you could be on your own.

An American Bitcoin investor and his girlfriend have gone into hiding after being told they face the death penalty for building a home in the sea off the coast of Thailand and trying to establish his own 'micronation'.

City governments around the world are becoming more aware of making sure their cities can withstand or recover quickly from unpredictable events and disasters.

Global insured losses from disaster events last year totaled $85 billion, Swiss Re Ltd. said Wednesday, the fourth-highest recorded in a single year. But for 2017 and 2018 combined, the impact of global insured losses from natural catastrophes reached $219 billion, a record high over a two-year period, according to the Swiss Re Institute’s sigma report.

More than a year and a half after Hurricane Harvey slammed into Texas, killing dozens, the state is still waiting on billions in federal recovery dollars. In the meantime, Texas lawmakers are looking to prepare the state — the most disaster-prone in the nation — for future storms.

In the battle of the beachfront treehouse, the march from the treehouse to the courthouse continues

ATLANTIC CITY - Pat and Alonzo Bailey live in a modest, one-story house two blocks from the bay in Bungalow Park. The couple say they spend about $2,600 on flood insurance annually, a rate determined by three factors: the elevation of their home, its location in the 100-year floodplain and a lack of flood vents on the foundation.

Sitting next to his Pensacola Beach neighbor at a recent Santa Rosa Island Authority meeting, Mark DeNunzio gave beach leaders one example the often inequitable and frequently nonsensical system that determines the amount of taxes and lease fees beach residents pay for their homes.

On September 14, 2018, Hurricane Florence made landfall on the North Carolina coast before idling in place for days. As it moved westward across the state at only 2-3 MPH, the sluggish storm saturated the Carolinas with an average 17.5” of rainfall—and close to 36” in some areas.

Even the tax-break package the Republican majority traditionally touts has been downsized to make money available for environmental work across the state and rebuild the devastated eastern Panhandle.

The Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, supported by USAID, have launched 226,280-hectare conservation areas to protect small islands in North Maluku.

By a narrow 3-2 vote, Southern Shores Town Council at its April 2 meetings gave preliminary approval to limiting septic capacity for all new Southern Shores homes and capping the overnight occupancy for any vacation rental property at 14 persons.

Should other people have a say in how you use your backyard? Tammy Alford, president of Florida Coastal Property Rights, doesn’t think so.

Damage from flooding in March 2019 is estimated at US$8 billion from events across the globe, according to Aon’s “Global Catastrophe Recap – March 2019.”

Some of the world’s largest insurers are eagerly pitching cities, states and even school districts on policies designed to pay out quickly with few questions in the event of extreme weather. The catch: Even a hurricane might not be extreme enough.

As seas rise, middle- and working-class Hawaiians worry they’ll be forced out of their homes, while the rich rebuild.

View the condition of Mexico beach six months after the major storm demolished the area.

New Zealand - A surf club, several buildings, picnic areas and roads along a 40-metre section of the Kāpiti Coast may have to be either relocated or closed due to the rising threat of storms and coastal erosion.

Continuing the series on Pensacola Beach ownership and access, Abigail Megginson explores the double taxation claims on the beach and how that issue could potentially affect development and public access.

THE SALTON SEA COULD BE AN IDEAL BACTERIA BREEDING GROUND. DETECTED LEVELS ARE LOW SO FAR, BUT ELSEWHERE, PEOPLE AND PETS HAVE DIED.

Crosstowne Christian Church knows how to handle a flood better than most.

North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Ingram Dunes is a 9.4-acre section of maritime forest surrounded by development and one of the last undeveloped areas of the city. Since 2016, a group has been working to preserve Ingram Dunes as a passive park and nature preserve.

New research from the University of Notre Dame shows that many coastal homes have significant structural vulnerabilities that leave homeowners and their homes largely unprotected from storms. Additionally, the majority of coastal homeowners have little to no intention of reducing these structural vulnerabilities, even though they live in areas frequently affected by damaging hurricanes and flooding.

Long Beach, California - City's 12% occupancy tax had gone uncollected prior to April 1 adoption of new agreement. More than 70,000 visitors used Airbnb rather than Long Beach hotels to find accommodations in 2017, the company said.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- With some parts of the country still recovering from the events of Hurricanes Michael and Florence in 2018, meteorologists at AccuWeather are advising coastal areas to brace for two to four major hurricanes in 2019.

A $40 million canal stretched across 6,387 feet in the middle of North Beach would change the face of the peninsula for the better, a Dallas developer said.

The UN has just unveiled a floating city. Or, at least a framework for how floating cities will be built.

Miles Conway bought what he thought was a secluded slice of paradise on Hutchinson Island just over the Indian River County line. But the unspoiled barrier island is being ruined by a wave of unregulated vacation rental properties, he said.

The federal flood insurance program has a knack for inspiring ideas from reformers across the political spectrum on how to improve government.

Regenerate Christchurch has spent two years and nearly $500,000 working out how the city's eastern suburbs will adapt to sea-level rise, but is yet to come up with any options.

Every uptick in wind speed along the Gulf of Mexico shoreline is of enormous interest to Mike Eilts.