Florida is developing rapidly. Will climate change impede its growth? [Video]

For Florida residents, the sound of waves crashing on the shore may now be as common as the distant hums of machinery and home construction.

The state has swelled with a rapidly growing population, and the state’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research has recorded more than 350,000 new residents moving in each year.

Developers have embraced the expanding market, making Florida the second-highest permit-issuing state for both single-home and multifamily permits, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

However, the destruction from Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helene has spotlighted residents’ ongoing vulnerability to the impacts of climate change.

In recent years, FEMA has expanded its flood risk map to include thousands of additional homes, home insurance prices have skyrocketed, and other insurance companies have pulled out of the state entirely.

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