Household Property-Level Adaptive Response to Coastal Flooding in Hampton, Virginia (USA): The Role of Perceived Vulnerability and Coping Capacity

Compound flooding challenges households' coping and adaptive capacities to deal with flood impacts in many coastal locations. Responses to this growing challenge are unevenly distributed across communities, reflecting different abilities of households to adapt. This article explores the relationship between flood vulnerability and property-level adaptation responses at the household level using data from a survey of households in the coastal city of Hampton, Virginia (USA). Four property-level adaptive responses are analyzed: elevating the home; elevating the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning; installing flood vents; and moving vehicles away from flooded areas. Sensitivity to flooding and coping capacity are compared across three categories of households: those who implemented the adaptation, those who would like to implement, and those who have not pursued the strategy. Results show sensitivity differs for simpler, behavioral responses (moving vehicles to safer locations) but less so as adaptive responses become costlier, structural, more complicated, or less obvious as ways to protect against flood losses. Coping capacity does not differ across the categories of households. Findings suggest the need for better risk communication and inform planning and policy development.