If last year was any guide, storms are getting increasingly intense, dangerous and destructive.To get more housing news,
you can visit shine news official website. Some 16 separate weather
disasters in 2017 caused more than $300 billion in economic losses,
including damage to both commercial and residential real estate,
according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or
NOAA. That is a new annual record.

This year started with a bang
as well. Back-to-back nor'easters slammed into the New England coast.
The powerful storms sent water flooding in to Boston's historic Seaport
District. It was what city planners had predicted, just not yet. "In
Boston, we've spent a lot of time thinking that these impacts are 20, 30
years down the road," said Deanna Moran, director of environmental
planning at Boston's Conservation Law Foundation. "The last couple of
nor'easters that we've had have made it very clear that these storms are
here now. They're happening more frequently. They're more severe.

"
Moran studies the impact of climate change on Boston real estate,
especially all the new development going on at the water's edge. The
water near Boston is warming more quickly than in any part of the U.S.,
save Alaska, due to Boston's proximity to the Gulf of Maine, which is
the fastest warming body of water on earth, according to NOAA. "Boston
is ahead of the curve in that we've been planning for these impacts,
pre-disaster, but I wouldn't say that we're ahead of the curve in terms
of actually doing things on the ground," Moran added. Planning started
at the top, in the mayor's office and with the city's "Climate Ready
Boston Initiative." It released a comprehensive report in 2016, looking
at risk, climate projections, and resilience initiatives.

The
initiative is headed by Austin Blackmon, chief of environment, energy
and open space for the City of Boston, who points to recommendations the
city has made to developers. "Through the city's zoning code, we were
able to say, if you want to build a large building in the City of
Boston, not only do you have to take into account what the climate
projections are and the floodplains are right now, but you have to look
at what those projections are in the future," Blackmon said. "You have
to let us know how you plan to protect your building all the way through
its useful life, in addition to making it energy efficient and other
goals that we have from a sustainability standpoint." But so far there
are only conversations and recommendations, not rules and regulations.
"It's something that we always continue to have those conversations with
the developers," Blackmon said.