Cost-and-Benefit Evaluation of Windstorm Damage Mitigation Techniques in Florida

Abstract

The hurricanes of recent years have caused many insurers to raise their premiums in response to increased losses. In the long-term, the most effective solution to reduce damage and insurance costs is to apply mitigation techniques. This paper presents a methodology for evaluating the effectiveness of various mitigation measures in reducing wind storm losses to residential buildings. The individual mitigations were combined into different sets. These sets of mitigations were applied to typical timber box and masonry residential structures of different ages and quality of construction (from weak pre-1970 to stronger post-2002 construction). In each case, a detailed cost analysis of the unmitigated and mitigated building was performed, and the relative cost-effectiveness of mitigation was assessed through comparisons of the results of portfolio analyses with and without mitigation. The mitigation cost-effectiveness study includes component vulnerabilities from Monte Carlo simulation, overall building vulnerabilities, cost analysis, and analysis of the effectiveness of different sets of mitigation measures for different regions of Florida. The cost of mitigation was then transformed into an annuity, and the variation of benefit/cost for each zip code was color mapped for the entire state of Florida. These maps are presented and discussed.