Taxpayers across America may foot the bill for that damage. With few private insurers providing coverage, the federal National Flood Insurance Program serves about 5.6 million U.S. property owners at below-market prices.
The program, almost $18 billion in debt after the 2005 hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma, would have to pay for houses lost because of rising sea levels, Hunter said.
Short-term extensions have kept the program alive as the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate battle over its future. When it was suspended for 20 days in 2010, 47,000 home sales were delayed or canceled, according to a National Association of Realtors survey.
"They want to be able to build a home when the tide goes out and sell it before the tide comes back in," said Hunter, a former Texas insurance commissioner. "I don't like high rates, but I really don't like rates that are subsidized and invite construction in unsafe areas."
Florida's Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe Counties formed the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact in 2009 to coordinate defenses against ocean storms. The group of county commissioners is among the most important responses to global warming threats in the U.S., Strauss said.
"This problem has the potential to cause more economic damage than most of the things we read about every day," Strauss said. "Actual actions are few and far between."