Preparing for the 2025 Hurricane Season: Considerations for Planners, Engineers and Emergency Managers
Jim Keith
Stormwater Engineer
In April, the 2025 National Hurricane Conference was held in New Orleans, twenty years since Hurricane Katrina devastated the city. Conference speakers included Craig Fugate, Former FEMA Administrator, and Kevin Guthrie, Executive Director of the Florida Department of Emergency Management, who shared their experiences during and after Katrina, as well as their urgent call for planners, engineers and emergency managers to develop strong state and local hurricane responses, which, they proposed, are “needed now more than ever.”
In the twenty years following Hurricane Katrina, we know the long-term negative impacts of severe weather events can be mitigated through resilience efforts. Emergency preparedness teams, including municipal utilities and engineering firms, can have a significant influence on how a community withstands these storms.
What makes hurricane resiliency such an urgent concern in 2025? Here are some considerations:
Predictions for Above-Normal Hurricane Activity
This hurricane season begins with many communities in the southeast U.S. still reeling from the devastation of Hurricanes Milton and Helene. The Colorado State University hurricane forecasting team is predicting above-normal activity this year, primarily due to warmer-than-normal Atlantic sea surface temperatures combined with a likely ENSO neutral (or potential La Nina) conditions, which provide a conducive environment for hurricane formation and intensification. NOAA is scheduled to issue its first seasonal hurricane forecast for 2025 in late May.
Tropical Cyclones Cause the Most Destruction
NOAA’s hurricane cost database notes that, “of the 403-billion-dollar weather disasters since 1980…tropical cyclones (or hurricanes) have caused the most damage: over $1.5 trillion total, with an average cost of $23 billion per event. They are also responsible for the highest number of deaths: 7,211 since 1980.” Large coastal cities along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts have the most to lose due to storm surge flooding, with cities including Tampa, New Orleans, New York City, Houston, and Miami are at risk of over $100 billion in damages from a Category 1 hurricane.
How to prepare municipalities and utilities for hurricane season?
Municipalities and utilities along the coasts should take steps to assess their facilities for their ability to withstand projected storms now and through their project life span. It is, after all, not a matter of if storm surge will impact a coastal facility but when. The time to assess your facilities is now.
For more on assessments that help determine utility’s vulnerability to the impacts of sea level rise and storm surge, read our article How to Assess Your Infrastructure to Be Climate Resilient.
Resources
Freese and Nichols’ coastal resilience team is experienced at supporting state and local clients in planning, preparation and recovery from storm events to build resilient communities. Our team has conducted climate vulnerability assessments for several utilities in coastal Florida and Georgia and assisted in the planning and design of mitigation measures in Texas and Louisiana to make those communities more climate resilient.
For more information, reach out to Jim Keith, Freese and Nichols’ Coastal Resilience Leader. You may also find additional hurricane preparedness tips and information at ready.gov.
Jim Keith, PE, CFM, is an Associate and the Stormwater Manager in Dallas.
