Sinkholes a ‘substantial risk’ in U.S. but flood damage in 2013 was moderate: report

Property damage from sinkholes will be “a substantial risk” in the United States, while total flood losses in the U.S. are forecast at about US$2 billion for 2013, according to a report from CoreLogic Inc.

CoreLogic released its annual Natural Hazard Risk Summary and Analysis on Wednesday, which “summarizes the property and structure, geographic and financial impact of natural disasters across the U.S. over the course of the year.”

Irvine, Calif.-based CoreLogic provides data on topics including property, location and hazard risk.

“One natural hazard that tends to receive very little attention took center stage in 2013 as three separate sinkhole catastrophes took place in Florida,” CoreLogic senior principal scientist Thomas Jeffery stated in a press release.

CoreLogic’s report was based on its own database, plus data from the National Climatic Data Center, National Interagency Fire Center, Eqecat Inc. and the U.S. National Weather Service.

CoreLogic noted that a sinkhole in Seffner, Florida caused a death when it formed underneath a person’s home last March.

“A tourist villa was heavily damaged when a 100-foot sinkhole formed near Clermont, Florida, and a 90-foot wide by 50-foot deep sinkhole resulted in the collapse of two homes in Dunedin,” CoreLogic stated. “The CoreLogic sinkhole database currently recognizes 23,000 identified sinkholes, suggesting that sinkhole activity and subsequent property damage will continue to be a substantial risk across the nation and for Florida residents in particular.”

The report also noted that flooding in 2013 in the U.S “was moderate compared with recent years, partly due to the low number of Atlantic storms and the related coastal flooding,” while national flood losses for 2013 “are expected to total” about US$2 billion.

“The most significant flooding event of the year was a September storm in Boulder, Colorado, which caused the damage or destruction of more than 19,000 homes and resulted in record-setting levels of precipitation and flooding affecting 17 Colorado counties.”

CoreLogic noted there were only 13 named Atlantic storms in 2013, two of which were classified as hurricanes.

“None of the storms in 2013 had a direct impact on the U.S., and as such, there was relatively minor damage related to Atlantic storms,” CoreLogic stated. “The first official hurricane of the year, Hurricane Humberto, formed on September 11, just three hours short of setting the record for the latest formation of the season’s first hurricane.”

CoreLogic noted there were fewer tornadoes in the U.S. this year than in any other year in the past decade, despite the May 20 disaster in Moore, Oklahoma. As of Oct. 25, there had been 710 tornadoes.

“A single severe storm, such as the one that occurred in Moore, can cause a tremendous amount of damage and destruction,” according to the report. “The true risk of future tornado activity is therefore tied not only to the frequency of storms, but also to the possibility of individual storms to increase in size, speed and severity.”