Almost two-thirds of local governments in U.S. don't have modern building codes; it could cost them after disasters

"Constructing homes and other structures to meet modern building codes has saved billions of dollars in losses from natural disasters like flooding and hurricanes over the past two decades, according to new estimates. But many local governments are behind getting these standards in place," Bill Lucia reports for Route Fifty. "Research that the Federal Emergency Management Agency released late last month looked at a database of about 18 million buildings constructed between 2000 and 2016 and found that cities and counties with modern building codes avoided around $27 billion of estimated losses from natural disasters over those years, compared to places that didn’t have updated codes.

The FEMA research found that 65% of counties, cities and towns don't have modern building codes, and that 30% of new construction is happening in places with no building codes or obsolete codes. How does your town or county stack up?