Six Florida counties ranked in the top 10 nationwide for having the highest hurricane vulnerability, with the recently battered Lee County leading the list.
The rankings, which are based on FEMA’s National Risk Index, were released Aug. 11 by a national landscaping startup called Lawn Starter co-founded in Austin by a tech analyst. The report considered overall hurricane risk, storm history, financial impact, and disaster cleanup.
Here’s how Florida counties compare in hurricane vulnerability rankings.
Which Florida counties were ranked most vulnerable to hurricanes?
Lee County, which was hit hard by Hurricane Ian in 2022, topped the list as the most vulnerable county. Other Florida counties in the top 10 are third-place Bay County, fifth-place Charlotte County, seventh-place Collier County, eighth-place Polk County, and 10th-place Sarasota County.
What were the criteria to rank Florida counties for hurricane vulnerability?
Counties were ranked by Lawn Starter on a scale of 1 to 100 with points given for overall hurricane risk, hurricane history in the past 10 years, financial impact and disaster cleanup. Each metric was then weighted based on its impact. The metrics were gathered from FEMA, NOAA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency…