Coastal population grows despite increasing threats
More residents living in areas in danger of hurricanes, rising sea
Hurricanes have caused record flooding, killed dozens of people and wiped out entire communities along the coast in recent years.
But the devastation — and the growing threats from sea level rise — haven’t seemed to deter people from moving closer to the water.
Counties along the country’s vulnerable coastlines, including South Florida, have continued to grow in population, according the U.S. Census, which published estimates of population changes from 2010 to
2018.
It means more people are living in areas that are constant targets of hurricanes, including Hurricane Michael, which decimated communities in the Florida Panhandle less than a year ago.
Most counties bordering the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf Coast gained more residents in the previous eight years, according to the data.
The Atlantic coastline has grown by about 4 million people since 2010,
bringing the total population of the area to about 60 million, or about 18 percent of the total U.S. population.
That’s a 7 percent increase in coastal populations, higher than the country’s overall population growth of 6 percent during the same period.
South Florida may be one of the most at-risk regions — Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach are among the largest coastal counties bordering the North Atlantic in terms of population. The three counties saw more than 632,000 new residents in those eight years, an increase of about 11 percent but lower than the statewide population growth of 13.3 percent.
More people close to water also brings another impending risk from the effects of climate change. South Florida and other beachside communities continue to face the threats of record-breaking flooding, which forecasters predict will likely worsen.
Meanwhile, local officials are scrambling to come up with solutions on how to protect communities from the rising seas, changing building codes and building barriers to fortify against the intruding coastlines.
Given the risks, it could be good news that the rate of growth in South Florida is slowing, but other areas in the state continue to outpace most other counties in the U.S. St. John’s County, where St. Augustine is located, topped the list of population growth among coastal counties nationally. Nearly 64,000 more residents moved in between 2010 and 2018, a nearly 34 percent increase, data shows. Several counties on Florida’s Gulf Coast also made the Top 10 for fastest growth, including Walton, Manatee and Lee counties.