Why Tampa Is the Most Vulnerable City in America for Hurricane Storm Surges

Tampa is the single most vulnerable city in the US for hurricane storm surges — thanks to a mix of fatal factors colliding to create catastrophic conditions should it take a direct hit from a major storm like the incoming Hurricane Milton, according to experts.

About 50% of the more than 3 million people living around Tampa Bay reside at elevations less than 10 feet above sea level, a 2015 study from the disaster consultants Karen Clark and Co. found — meaning millions of homes will be severely flooded if Milton’s 15-foot storm surge comes to fruition.

Tampa Bay was last hit by a major hurricane in 1921, when just a few hundred people lived in sparsely developed backwater towns — and the community was still devastated. Ocean waves broke in the middle of downtown Tampa, and swaths of infrastructure were washed away.

The area is practically tailor-made to create severe storm surges due to shallow depths in the bay and surrounding Gulf Coast. Waves blown by heavy wind can “pile up” and create a deadly wall of water, MIT meteorology professor Kerry Emanuel told The Post. . .

Finally, if Milton lands just north of Tampa, its counterclockwise rotation will slam wind and waves directly into the bay — just one more factor which led Emanuel to agree with Karen Clark and Co.’s assessment that Tampa faces surge dangers unlike any other US city. (Read more from “Why Tampa Is the Most Vulnerable City in America for Hurricane Storm Surges” HERE)