At a Glance
- FEMA rolled out the National Risk Index at the end of last year.
- It puts three New York City-area counties at greater risk of tornadoes than Oklahoma County.
At first glance, the list of the 10 riskiest places for natural disasters in the U.S. seems counterintuitive.
Los Angeles County, with its risk of wildfires, droughts, heat waves and earthquakes, seems a logical choice to be high on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Risk Index.
Others near the top may leave you scratching your head.
For example, the New York City area, which has four counties in the top 11 — Bronx, New York, Kings and Queens — isn’t exactly known for being hit by hurricanes, tornadoes and wildfires.
Those counties rank high because FEMA’s tool looks beyond the risk factors from 18 natural hazards. It reviews a community’s expected annual loss from natural hazards based on how many people and how much property could be affected. It also examines how vulnerable residents are and a community’s ability to recover from a disaster.
That’s why New York County, home to Manhattan, is considered at much greater risk from tornadoes than Oklahoma County, Oklahoma. Of course, Oklahoma County has seen many more tornadoes than Manhattan. But, according to the index, the expected annual loss from a tornado in New York County is $219 million while the annual loss from a tornado in Oklahoma County is expected to be $5.1 million.
“It’s that risk perception that it won’t happen to me,” Mike Grimm, who led FEMA’s mitigation and resilience programs, told the Associated Press. “Just because I haven’t seen it in my lifetime doesn’t mean it won’t happen.”
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