“These economic costs will be very difficult, if not impossible, for the world to bear if emissions are allowed to continue unchecked,” says Peter Stott at the UK Met Office in Exeter. “In the case of Sandy, government modelling indicates that over 99 per cent of the damages came from coastal flooding.” Although hurricane damage is usually also caused by strong winds and heavy rainfall, damage from Hurricane Sandy in the US for these factors was “mostly negligible”, says Strauss. The estimate only includes damages caused by coastal flooding. This equates to approximately 36,000 housing units. The team’s model also estimates that between 40,000 and 131,000 more people in the US were exposed to flooding than would have been the case in the absence of human-induced sea level rise. Benjamin Strauss at Climate Central in New Jersey and his colleagues have now estimated the economic costs of human-induced sea level rise on Hurricane Sandy. Rising sea levels, linked to climate change, are known to worsen the effects of coastal storms by intensifying storm surges and increasing floods. The destruction there – for instance to power grids and transportation networks – required investment of more than $62.5 billion to repair. It left extensive damage in its wake, affecting US states including New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Hurricane Sandy, the largest Atlantic hurricane on record, swept over the Caribbean and other islands before striking the east coast of North America in late 2012. Without sea level rise caused by human-induced climate change, Hurricane Sandy would have caused $8.1 billion less damage, according to a modelling study. U S Air Force photo/Master Sgt Mark C Olsen/Alamy
Aerial views of damage caused by Hurricane Sandy to the New Jersey coast
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