Coastal wetlands reduce property damage during tropical cyclones

Significance With rising sea levels and increasingly intense storms associated with climate change, there is substantial interest in alternative defensive measures for protecting low-lying coastal communities against coastal flooding. Coastal wetlands are known to dampen storm surge and wind impacts, but policymakers have doubts about employing wetlands as natural levees due to lack of empirical evidence of effectiveness. Using detailed geospatial data, we explore a comprehensive set of natural and human factors to examine the role of coastal wetlands in reducing tropical-cyclone–related property damage. Using all 88 tropical storms and hurricanes hitting the United States between 1996 and 2016, the expected economic value of the protective effects of wetlands is estimated for all counties along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts.