This map ranks US counties based on their vulnerability to hurricanes. Are you at risk?

While people living in coastal areas are most at risk during a hurricane strike, it is actually people inland who are most at risk of hurricane-related deaths. This is partly due to severe impacts such as heavy rains, flash floods, landslides and tornadoes caused by tropical cyclones.

according to National Weather ServiceOver the past 30 years, more than half of tropical cyclone-related deaths in the United States were due to inland flooding.

For example, Hurricane Floyd in 1999 caused powerful winds that reached as far as 1,300 miles (2,100 kilometers) inland. Of the 59 people who died in the storm, 50 died in inland flooding.

To reduce deaths inland, National Risk Index (NRI) created a map showing which regions of the United States are most vulnerable to various natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis.

This map contains data on projected annual losses due to individual natural disasters, social vulnerabilities, and community resilience, available at the county and census block level.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently released its outlook for the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season.

NOAA predicts “normal” weather this season with between 12 and 17 named storms. This information is critical for residents of states such as Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina, which have been identified as having the highest risk of hurricane-related damage, according to NRI data.

To see where you stand in terms of vulnerability to hurricanes, check out the map here.

How does the interactive map work?

The NRI Map is an interactive tool with several features to visualize the risk of natural disasters such as hurricanes.

This map shows a specific data set and controls that grade counties across the United States with different colors representing their risk levels for hurricane-related damage.

The darker the color (red to purple), the more likely the county is to experience hurricane-related weather, and the areas with the lightest color (yellow) are usually the least risky for the county. means that High-risk states are located on the East Coast.

If the source data is not available or a value or score cannot be calculated, additional classifications are used and displayed in shades of white or gray.