Climate change is significantly reshaping the landscape of home insurance across the United States, with Rhode Island feeling the effects particularly acutely. Rising sea levels, increased frequency of severe storms, and heightened fire and flood risks are forcing insurers to reassess their risk models, leading to higher premiums and, in some cases, policy cancellations.
Today’s children will live through three times as many climate disasters, including wildfires, floods and droughts, than their grandparents. This is due to the unprecedented rise in the planet’s temperature.
These changes are also being magnified by floods (quickly escalating costs of rebuilding after climate-related disasters). In Rhode Island, coastal communities are particularly vulnerable. Increased wind risks and the threat of flooding are causing insurers to raise premiums, especially for homes near the shoreline. Even inland areas are experiencing the ripple effects, as insurers factor in the overall increase in climate-related risks.
In some high-risk areas, insurance companies are choosing to withdraw coverage altogether. This leaves homeowners scrambling to find alternative insurance options, often at higher costs. There is increased scrutiny on homes within coastal areas, with many insurers either not writing new policies or making the policies prohibitively expensive.
Rhode Island’s extensive coastline makes it particularly susceptible to the impacts of climate change. Rising sea levels and increased storm surges pose a significant threat to these coastal properties. While Rhode Island’s Department of Business Regulation has stated that the rate increases are not directly caused by wildfires in places like California or hurricanes in Florida, the overall rise in reinsurance costs and the increased cost of building materials—affected by national and global trends—do have a knock-on effect in Rhode Island. The increased wind risk for coastal homes in Rhode Island is also a significant factor driving insurance costs up.
Climate change directly impacts sea level rise due to factors such as glacial melts and thermal expansion. This map provided by the NOAA displays how a 6 foot rise in sea levels will impact Newport, RI.
Climate change is forcing a fundamental shift in how insurance companies assess risk. Traditional risk models are no longer adequate in the face of increasingly unpredictable and severe weather events. The increasing reliance on sophisticated catastrophe modeling is driving prices up, as insurers gain a more accurate understanding of their climate risk exposure. For many, the affordability of insurance is becoming a major concern, particularly for fixed and low-income homeowners who may struggle to pay higher premiums.
Climate change is creating a more volatile and uncertain insurance market, with homeowners facing increased costs and reduced coverage options. Consult with your architect to better prepare for these types of severe weather events. A well-designed home may be the difference between surviving a storm, wildfire, or flood and having it destroyed. There may even be insurance discounts available for improved design features, or they may be the difference between getting insurance or not. Remember, insurance is often a requirement for obtaining a mortgage, so the design of your home will have a major impact on your ability to finance it in the first place.
Climate change causes more intense and frequent rain, which in turn causes more flooding. This chart provided by NOAA displays areas of Newport, RI that experience flooding.
As storms in Florida become more frequent, fires in California become more severe, and tornadoes in the Midwest grow more dangerous, this is not just an issue for people living in coastal communities. The issues of climate change have long been “kicked down the road” by politicians of previous generations, but nature and science have a way of asserting themselves—and they are doing so now through the home insurance market. Please reach out to A4 Architecture if you are in the Rhode Island or New England areas and wish to implement a program to make your home more resilient to storms, and therefore more insurable, over the long term.
Ross Cann, RA, AIA, LEED AP, is an author, historian, teacher, and practicing architect living and working in Newport, RI. He studied Molecular Biophysics at Yale College, holds an M.Phil. in Architectural History from Cambridge University in England, and an M.Arch. in Architectural Design from Columbia University in New York. He became a licensed architect in 1993 with an average score of 98% on his eight licensing exams.