Ian reconstruction cost value estimated at $253B: CoreLogic

Data and analytics company CoreLogic Inc. said Tuesday that its data analysis shows 1,044,412 single-family and multifamily homes along the Florida gulf coast with a reconstruction cost value of approximately $258.3 billion are at potential risk of storm surge damage from Hurricane Ian.

The projections assume Hurricane Ian makes landfall as a Category 4 hurricane and are based on the Sept. 26, 2022, National Hurricane Center forecast issued at 11 a.m. ET, CoreLogic said.

The reconstruction cost value figures assume 100% destruction of all at-risk homes and are not a representation of expected damages, CoreLogic said.

“Hurricane Ian has all the ingredients you need for a bad storm surge event,” Tom Jeffery, senior hazard scientist with CoreLogic, said in a statement.

Hurricane Ian’s slower speed and intensification over the Gulf of Mexico increases the threat of a widening wind field bringing damaging storm surge, CoreLogic said.

Hurricane-driven storm surge can cause significant property damage when high winds and low-pressure cause water to amass inside the storm, releasing a powerful rush over land when the hurricane moves onshore.