Engineering for Resilience: Advancing Safety, Recovery, and Insurability

From Katrina and Wilma to Beryl and Helene, billion-dollar storms continue to test our infrastructure and communities. This article examines lessons learned, evolving resilience strategies, and how proactive design can protect people, property, and even insurability.

This year marks two decades since Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma reshaped the nation’s approach to disaster preparedness—and just one year since Hurricanes Beryl and Helene reminded us how quickly a storm can escalate into a billion-dollar event. Though separated by time, these storms are bound by impact, underscoring the speed of disaster, the scale of destruction, and the critical importance of preparation.

The 2005 hurricane season ranks among the most active on record, producing four storms that each caused more than $1 billion in damage (adjusted to 2024 dollars), according to NOAA. In comparison, the 2024 season was also historically significant—marking the third-costliest U.S. hurricane season after 2017 and 2005—with five storms exceeding the $1 billion threshold.

Katrina remains the costliest hurricane in U.S. history, with inflation-adjusted damages estimated at $201.3 billion. It destroyed more than 200,000 homes and claimed 1,833 lives, making it the nation’s second-deadliest storm this century after Hurricane Maria. Katrina revealed critical weaknesses in the electrical grid, flood protection systems, and emergency evacuation and sheltering procedures that continue to influence disaster resilience planning today. Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida bore the brunt of the storm, though impacts—including high winds and flooding—were also felt inland as far as Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee.

Often overshadowed by Katrina, Wilma still caused significant destruction, resulting in $30 billion in damage and 35 fatalities. Most of the damage occurred in Southwest Florida. Wilma left millions without power for weeks and highlighted the vulnerabilities of windows and glass curtain walls, even in areas considered well prepared. The storm emphasized that recovery can be long and difficult—even in highly developed regions.

The 2024 hurricane season, though often compared to 2005, left its own mark—producing five billion-dollar storms (CPI-adjusted) and becoming the third-costliest season in U.S. history, trailing only 2017 and 2005.

The first storm of the season, Beryl caused an estimated $28–32 billion in economic losses across the U.S. and Caribbean, with $7.2 billion in the U.S. alone. In Texas, 2.7 million people lost power, with many enduring outages for days or weeks during extreme heat. Houston was hit especially hard, facing widespread blackouts, downed infrastructure, and severe flooding. The storm underscored how even modern cities remain vulnerable to extreme weather.

Helen caused $78.7 billion in damages in the U.S. and resulted in 219 fatalities. Striking Florida’s Big Bend region—the area’s third major hurricane landfall in just over a year—Helene became the deadliest Atlantic hurricane since Maria (2017), and the deadliest to strike the U.S. mainland since Katrina. Florida, North Carolina, and Georgia experienced the most severe impacts, though Virginia, Tennessee, and South Carolina also suffered significant damage.

These disasters remind us that while we cannot prevent them, we can reduce their toll through planning, engineering, and rapid response.

When a hurricane strikes, the danger doesn’t end after landfall. Structural failures, flooding, and cascading power outages can compound risks long after the storm passes. Facilities without resilient design or a response plan face longer downtimes, higher repair costs, and heightened safety concerns.

Hurricane Beryl wasn’t expected to be catastrophic. As a Category 1 storm, it should have been manageable for Houston. Instead, it claimed more than 40 lives when power outages during a heatwave left millions without air conditioning for days.

Walter P Moore’s approach to resilience is rooted in proactive engineering. We help clients strengthen structures against wind, surge, and flooding; retrofit aging infrastructure; and apply lessons learned from past disasters to future design.

Our engineers work with clients to enhance wind resistance, elevate critical systems above flood risk, and reduce water infiltration. We design and evaluate storm shelters and elevated buildings built well above flood levels.

By flood mapping and identifying flood vulnerabilities, engineering solutions can be developed to design resilient infrastructure.  Engineering solutions include flood barriers, levees, and stormwater management systems. 

And across Latin America and the Caribbean, where dense coastal cities face recurring hurricanes, our experts are helping communities adapt through structural solutions, mitigation planning, and recovery strategies.

In many parts of the region, rapid urbanization, aging infrastructure, and climate change–driven sea level rise are increasing vulnerability. These risks are compounded by building codes that often lack adequate flood and hurricane-wind design provisions. Storms like Hurricane Maria (2017) and Hurricane Helene have underscored the challenges—devastating buildings, disrupting essential services, and displacing entire communities.

Even the best preparation cannot eliminate all risk. That’s why Walter P Moore’s Forensic Engineering team stands ready 24/7 to deploy worldwide—investigating failures, stabilizing structures, and mitigating further damage.

From hurricanes and floods to earthquakes, tornadoes, and fires, our engineers bring technical expertise and rapid mobilization when it’s needed most. With 27 U.S. offices and eight international locations, we combine global reach with local knowledge to support recovery at scale.

“During past hurricanes, our teams have deployed within days to impacted cities. We’ve performed rapid building assessments for weeks, identified structural damage, designed repairs, and played a critical role in returning buildings to safe occupancy,” Barbuto.

Storm anniversaries are reminders not only of what has been lost, but of what can be done better. The engineering community has an obligation to keep advancing resilience—ensuring that structures are not only repaired after disasters but built to endure them.

When catastrophe strikes, every minute counts. Walter P Moore partners with clients to protect lives, safeguard investments, and accelerate recovery—because resilience is not a choice; it’s a responsibility.

Preparedness also strengthens the financial side of resilience. Insurance providers increasingly look at how facilities are designed, maintained, and adapted to climate risk. Structures with resilient design, robust flood protection, and documented response plans may not only recover faster but also demonstrate reduced long-term risk. For owners and operators, resilience planning protects people, property, and even insurability.

Now is the time to act. Invest in preparedness. Strengthen your structures. Align with experts who can support you before, during, and after the storm.