Hurricane price tags soaring on crowded U.S. coast

By Jim Loney

MIAMI (Reuters) - The damage caused to U.S. coastal cities by hurricanes promises to rise into the stratosphere, raising concerns about a possible $500 billion storm and prompting calls for tougher building codes.

Devastating hurricanes like 1992's Andrew and Katrina of 2005 have failed to put a dent in massive construction along the hurricane-vulnerable Atlantic and Gulf coasts, where millions of people face evacuation when a storm threatens.

Katrina, which swamped New Orleans, was the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history, with damages of $80 billion.

But a study published earlier this year found that a 1926 hurricane that struck Miami would have caused $157 billion in damage, adjusting for inflation and current building.

The study suggested there could be a $500 billion hurricane by the 2020s.

"It's not that far fetched. The damages seem to be doubling every 10 years," said Max Mayfield, former director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center. "As we continue to build at the coastline, the damage is going to continue to go up. There's no way around that."

The higher prices tags are the inevitable result of U.S. migration to the coast, as well as rising real estate values, experts said at the U.S. National Hurricane Conference held this month in Orlando.

The population of coastal counties on the Atlantic and Gulf increased from 66.8 million in 1980 to 88.3 million in 2006, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.