AS THE NATION enters hurricane season, Massachusetts is one of a handful of states on the East Coast facing the greatest financial risk because of the heavy concentration of business activity in hurricane flood zones.
According to a report released Wednesday by Moody’s Investor Service, total wages in Massachusetts flood zone areas during the third quarter of 2018 were $12 billion, the third highest amount among the 18 states along the East and Gulf coasts. Only New York and Florida were higher.
The Massachusetts economy would be extremely vulnerable to flooding disruptions. Wages within flood zones in Massachusetts represented a fifth of the entire state’s wages, according to Moody’s. Wages within flood zones in Suffolk County, where Boston is located, totaled $7.5 million, or about 12.4 percent of the state’s overall wages.
Only Louisiana was at greater risk. In that state, 32 percent of the state’s wages were earned within hurricane flood zones.