Most NJ homes vulnerable to natural disasters, report says

While many sections of New Jersey are still recovering from Sandy, comes a new report detailing the alarming risk most of the state's homes face.

According to RealtyTrac's second annual U.S. Natural Disaster Housing Risk Report, New Jersey has one of the nation's highest rates for overall natural disaster risk.

"New Jersey has the fourth-highest number of homes at-risk in one of these high risk counties for some type of natural disaster," said Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac Vice President. "We're showing 2.3 million total homes in New Jersey, worth an estimated market value of those homes at $720 billion."

In fact, that means 87 percent of the homes in the Garden State fall in the high risk or very high risk category.

The report examined the risk for five natural disasters - hurricanes, wildfires, floods, tornadoes, and earthquakes.

"The primary driver of the risk in New Jersey is the hurricane risk," Blomquist said.

Fourteen of the state's 21 counties face a high hurricane risk.

Some other areas of concern were the risk of wildfires and flooding.

Atlantic, Bergen, and Morris Counties showed the greatest risk of a major wildfire, while Monmouth and Ocean Counties are regarded as high risk areas for flooding.

Just five counties in New Jersey stayed out of the high or very high risk category for the five types of natural disasters - Cape May, Cumberland, Hudson, Warren, Hunterdon.

Blomquist said that the premise behind these type of reports is to raise awareness, so that people can prepare for everything from the proper types of insurance to mapping out contingency plans for their own safety.

"If you do buy a home in one of these high-risk areas, that you are going to be prepared for that."

Check out the full report here.