Limited shelter access exacerbates coastal flood risks for vulnerable communities

This study integrates coastal flood risk with access to shelter to detect priority areas and identify at-risk communities in coastal communities across the United States. The need is evident due to the escalation of flood hazards driven by sea-level rise and intensifying storm surges, the deterioration of aging infrastructure that undermines vulnerability, and the omission of shelter access in conventional risk assessments. While existing frameworks often emphasize physical exposure and hazard intensity, little is known about the integration of coastal flood risk with access to shelter in risk assessments. A bivariate spatial clustering method is employed to integrate coastal flood risk with access to shelter at the census block group level. Two findings are discerned. First, there is a mismatch between flood risk and access to shelter in coastal communities: high-risk areas tend to have limited shelter access. Of approximately 80,000 square miles exposed to high flood risk, 98 % are characterized by low shelter access, placing 17.8 million people (64 % of the population) in areas with limited emergency shelter availability. Second, racial and ethnic minorities (African Americans and Hispanics), along with mobility-vulnerable populations (the elderly and people with disabilities), are disproportionately exposed to coastal flood risks coupled with limited shelter access, particularly in Mississippi, Indiana, Texas, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania. The findings offer policy and planning guidance to support effective emergency response and resource allocation.