With more sprawling development in the United States comes more damage from storms:

But a more significant influence on the rising storm damage trend has little to do with the weather: Growth and development patterns mean there are many more homes and businesses in the way of tornadoes, hail and damaging winds than there were decades ago…

The trend is a product of growing populations in regions where severe storm impacts are also increasing, said Adam Smith, a NOAA economist and scientist who tracks the events.

Researchers call it the expanding bull’s eye effect — a larger target for storms and tornadoes makes it easier for them to inflict damage.

For example, in outlying parts of a city like Wichita, a tornado that might have affected 20 homes several decades ago could now damage 2,000 homes in the same footprint, said Walker Ashley, an atmospheric scientist at Northern Illinois University.

The United States has pursued sprawl for decades now. Metropolitan regions have expanded as Americans, for multiple reasons, have loved suburban growth plus the status and profits they can bring.

A hypothetical using a notorious Chicago area storm could illustrate this. In August 1990, an F5 tornado touched down in Plainfield, Illinois. The tornado killed 29, injured hundreds, and destroyed numerous buildings. At the time, Plainfield was a small community of 4,557 residents on the edge of the Chicago region. How much damage might a similar storm following a similar course cause today? The suburb had nearly 45,000 residents in the 2020 Census and development in the region has moved further out past Plainfield. Some local residents said the 1990 tornado helped show the community’s spirit and contributed to later growth.

Given the propensity toward sprawl in the United States, would any developer or local leader or potential suburban resident say no to more sprawl to avoid storm damage?