Florida's hurricane-proof town is the future of planning for climate change (2024)

America's city planners of tomorrow look set to base future developments on an innovative "hurricane-proof town" that successfully weathered Hurricane Ian, experts told Newsweek.

Babco*ck Ranch, a planned community of around 5,000 people that straddles parts of Charlotte County and Lee County in southern Florida, withstood the Category 4 storm with minimum damage—and no loss of power.

The town was the first entirely solar-powered town in the U.S. and was designed with extreme weather conditions in mind; all of its electricity cables and phone lines were buried underground and buildings were reinforced.

Work began on the site in 2015, with the first residents moving into their new homes in 2018. The community was dubbed a "hurricane-proof town" by CBS, which ran a profile about the venture after Hurricane Ian.

It is located just 12 miles northeast of Fort Myers, which was ravaged by Hurricane Ian on September 29, when at least 119 people were killed and countless buildings were destroyed or washed away in the subsequent floods. Estimates of the cost of the damage and economic losses inflicted by Hurricane Ian have run as high as $210 billion.

But it was a different story over at Babco*ck Ranch.

Developer Syd Kitson, chairman and CEO of Kitson & Partners and the founder of Babco*ck Ranch, said the hurricane buffeted the town for up to 10 hours, but the only damage was some felled trees and a few shingles torn from the roofs. He said the town's recovery was completed within a single day.

Kitson, a former football player for the Green Bay Packers, told Newsweek: "Babco*ck Ranch's resilience is the result of years of work and commitment by a team of outstanding engineers, architects and planners as well as our partners at Florida Power & Light. [Hurricane] Ian put us to the ultimate test. We've shown that building in the right place, and in the right way, with hardened infrastructure designed from the beginning with storms in mind, makes it possible to shelter in place and quickly rebound."

Babco*ck Ranch was designed with Florida's climate and ecosystems in mind, with indigenous plants and natural waterways for drainage. It was also built up to 30 feet above sea level to help protect it from flooding. While some 5,000 people currently call Babco*ck Ranch home, Kitson hopes 10 times that number will live across the site's 18,000 acres eventually.

A banner across the top of the town's promotional website describes the community as "the blueprint for the hometown of tomorrow."

And an engineering expert from one of America's largest commercial property insurers agrees. He told Newsweek that he believes towns such as Babco*ck Ranch will be the future in hurricane-prone areas across the U.S.

Clay Sanders, the group manager of field engineering at FM Global, said: "Babco*ck Ranch is a powerful example of how a Category 4 hurricane can be a distraction instead of a disaster. It demonstrates it's indeed possible today to build resilient communities in virtually any region if you follow a climate-focused plan.

"Whether your property is residential or commercial, like our clients' facilities, there are a lot of things you can do to enhance resilience, like running power lines underground, building above flood levels, and choosing strong roof and wall systems. Do these things, and your building will likely still be intact after the storm passes. We hope others go down this path."

He added that many newer communities are setting up further away from the coast, which typically suffers the worst damage and flooding during severe storms.

But he warned there may be "challenges ahead," saying: "Bear in mind these storms could get even worse. Climate change has resulted in warming ocean temperatures, which has led to more intense hurricanes and increased rainfall, on top of sea level rise, in areas like Florida. Hurricane Ian proved this out with severe winds and storm surge at the coast, and record rainfall in areas like Orlando. The damage could get worse, too, given that we now have over 22 million people living in the state. Urbanization puts more property in harm's way, creating a challenge that existing and planned communities will have to face together."

FM Global solely insures commercial property, but Sanders says many of the principles of weather preparation are the same for residential homes.

He said that, in Florida, his team "spend lots of time focused on wind and flood hazards and encouraging clients to build outside flood zones."

"Naturally, we stress the importance of securing roofs, windows, and doors; keeping wind out of the building; constructing above flood levels; and engineering other ways to keep water out of a property," he added.

"We also strongly recommend more resilient construction materials such as impact-rated glass and higher-rated roofing systems. Finally, we urge our clients to follow recommendations we derive from hands-on engineering research, the basis of all of our advice. Often that means building beyond minimum local codes to ensure a resilient future."

Jeremy Edwards, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) press secretary, told Newsweek that grants are available for at-risk communities to "build back better" to protect themselves against future storms.

He said: "FEMA is committed to helping people and communities before, during, and after disaster. Part of that mission means providing communities with the resources they need to build back better after disaster strikes and ensure they are more resilient against future hazards. That's why FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program provides critical funding to states, tribes, and territories that have received a major disaster declaration.

"As climate change continues to produce more energized hurricanes with deadlier storm surges, increased flooding, and other extreme weather events, this funding—along with a variety of resilience programs and resources—will help communities better prepare for when disaster strikes."

Update 10/19/22 6:33 a.m. EDT: This article was updated with a comment from developer Syd Kitson.