Hurricane Helene Highlight: There Is No Place Safe to Retire

October 2, 2024 — Last week’s stunning devastation from Hurricane Helene puts an exclamation point on the hazards of just about anywhere you might want to retire. And it’s not just hurricanes – the natural disasters that have occurred across the U.S. in recent months are causing a lot of people to reconsider where they retire.

Where is a safe place to retire

Residents of Florida expect hurricanes and their damage, but as people in other states like the Carolinas and Georgia found out last week, no one is immune from storms like these. What made Helene’s damage so bad was that no one was expecting just how serious its impact was. Residents of the Asheville NC area, 500 miles away from the Florida Coast and one of the most popular areas of the country for retirement, are stranded by washed out roads and bridges, flooded infrastructure, and ruined homes. There is no power, fresh water is only available from state, local, and federal emergency supplies, and cell service is limited. Supplies are being brought in by mule trains. At least 57 people were killed in Buncombe County alone, home to the city of Asheville, and no one even knows how many more deaths will be in the final tally. Here is how you can help victims of the storm.

Unfortunately hurricanes are not the only natural disaster that can ruin your retirement – temperature extremes, earthquakes, tornadoes, forest fires, and flooding are devastating areas all around the country. As carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere rise to the highest levels in the history of the planet, our oceans are both rising and getting warmer. Natural disasters now mean that they are one of the most important considerations when choosing a place to retire. Since these factors affect your home as welll as your personal safety, they are just as critical as the cost of living, taxes, culture, climate, proximity of friends and family, and recreational opportunities. In fact, climate driven hazards are causing insurance rates to soar in many parts of the country.

In this article we will first talk about the kinds of weather and natural issues that could be detrimental to your retirement. We will also provide some ideas on what you can do to mitigate your risks.

Hurricanes. The hurricane belt runs east from Texas along the Gulf Coast, all the way around both coasts of Florida and its interior, and then goes up the Atlantic coast all the way to Maine. As Carolina residents found out last week, hurricanes turned into tropical storms can still cause terrible devastation, hundreds of miles from the coast. The number and the power of these hurricanes, exacerbated by warming oceans, is increasing. These storms are killing people and causing billions of dollars in damage. But hurricanes are certainly not the only natural disaster that can wreak havoc on your retirement.

Temperature extremes. Arizona, southern Texas, Nevada, California, and the Gulf Coast are paralyzingly hot during their long summers. Heat is a deadly killer compared to most other disasters – an estimated 10,000 people died in a 1980 heat wave, and 502 died in a 1999 heat wave. The planet is getting warmer, so this problem will only get worse. Cities like Phoenix are breaking records for the most number of consecutive 100+ degree days.

Tornadoes. With over 384 people killed, the 2011 Super Outbreak set a record for the worst tornado stretch in U.S. history. Tornadoes are quite common in the Midwest and Southeast U.S., but can and do occur just about anywhere, including as a component of many hurricanes. The so-called “Tornado Alley” stretches in the middle of the country from North Texas to Canada.

Earthquakes plague many parts of the U.S. and Canada. Although California and the Northwest are the most common places for earthquakes, they are not unheard of in other parts of the country including the Yellowstone area, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, New York State, and Georgia. Earthquakes not only cause horrible properly damage but can kill as well. Southern California has a 1 on 100 chance of a very serious earthquake in any given year. Uncontrollable fires and extended power outages are an attendant risk of earthquakes.

Floods. Cities and states along the Mississippi have some of our worst flooding problems, along with those regions drained by its tributaries from Minnesota to Louisiana to Tennessee and Pennsylvania. But flash floods can occur almost anywhere, as we have seen in Vermont, Colorado, the Carolinas, and elsewhere. As sea levels rise coastal areas in the Southeast such as Charleston and almost all of Florida are increasingly inundated by unusually high tides. Many times the water floods in from underground.

Tsunamis, volcanoes, and mudslides can hit the west coast, including Hawaii.

Wildfires can occur anywhere, but are most common in the west and south. In 2017 much of Florida and Georgia were seriously affected by wildfires propelled by drought.

Very few safe harbors
The truth is that almost every area of the country is exposed to weather problems and natural disasters – there is no truly safe place and very few ideal regions. The New York Times reported 8 Metro areas with the lowest risk in its “Where to Live to Avoid a Natural Disaster“, using data from Sperling’s Best Places. All but one (Grand Junction, Colorado) are in Oregon or Washington State. Unfortunately many of the lowest risk cities have other, less dangerous weather issues like earthquakes or forest fires. Four of the 8 safe harbors, including Seattle, Salem (OR), and Corvallis (OR) are some of the cloudiest and rainiest places in the U.S.

So what can you do
Unless you decide to retire on one of the few places in the world that are totally safe from natural disasters, you have to choose carefully among those that are less safe. Fortunately there are some practical steps you can take to minimize the dangers. We will explore some of those here, and hope that our Members will be able to suggest others.

– Move to one of the States with the history of the fewest natural disasters. There are very few of these left, as wildfires and floods are occuring almost everywhere.

– Check out building codes and how your home was built. Building codes vary by state and city. Typically the newer your home the more advanced techniques it has incorporated in it – like roofs that are tied down, extra bracing in the framing, fireproof building materials, attachment to the foundation, etc. When your home was built is significant, as is the reputation of the builder (as it very hard for a lay person to assess how it was actually constructed).

– Use safer building materials and techniques. There are a number of things you can do to make your home stronger and more resistant to danger. If you live in an area with wildfires, choose concrete roofing tiles and siding. Get hurricane resistant windows or storm shutters – if a window is blown out by debris or wind your house can literally blow up in a hurricane. When buying a new home it is a lot easier to specify these things before it is finished, but retrofitting is always possible too.

– Move to an area with strict development rules. The State of Florida is among many jurisdictions that have eased restrictions on developers in recent years, e.g.; allowing them to build in more dangerous areas, fill in wetlands, and cover natural surfaces with impervious materials. The unexpectedly high flooding in Houston from Hurricane Harvey is a good example of what happens when authorities allow unchecked development. When considering an area to move to, explore how weak development controls, which can lead to flooding and other problems, might lead to problems there.

– Stay away from coastal and other areas prone to flooding. FEMA has maps that rate the flooding risk just about everywhere in the country. Stay away from problem areas – even if it hasn’t flooded there yet! As the flooding in Asheville proved, even places thought to be safe are not.

– Get high! High above the ground, that is. Even if the building code specifies a certain height for new construction, we are now seeing 100 year storms and even 500 year storms. The standard used to be 12? above sea level, now it is higher. Go high if building a home from scratch. When buying an existing home, its height above potential flood levels is one of the most important things of all to consider. Avoid living near streams and rivers.

– Check out the area’s history of natural disasters. Fault lines, flooding, forest fires – these are all big problems. It is like marrying a partner with a history – be careful, some things can’t be changed!

– What is your evacuation plan? Florida and The Florida Keys are a good example of places with that carry evacuation risks. The State has had mandatory evacuations, and when they happen, limited roads mean monumental traffic jams, fuel shortages, and the inability to get back home to work on damage. The pace of recovery is slow because it is so hard to bring in relief. If the area is hard to evacuate from, think twice about moving there.

The Bottom Line
It is easy to fall in love with a place and decide to retire there. But before you make that choice, consider what natural disaster risks it might harbor. If there are risks, do everything you can to mitigate them.

For further reference:
What Hurricane Irma Can Teach Us About the Renting vs. Buying Question in Retirement
Arizona Community’s Water Shut Off – Is There Any Place Safe to Retire

What do you think? Use the Comments section below to tell us about your weather and natural disaster concerns. Do you have a plan for how you can mitigate the risk of a natural disaster where you decide to retire? Have you crossed off some places because of these risks?