MUNICH (Reuters) -The Gulf Coast of the United States is increasingly vulnerable to hurricanes, a scientist has warned in a new study, 20 years after Katrina devastated New Orleans and hundreds of miles of coastline.

Marc Bove, a meteorologist with the German reinsurer Munich Re, warned in his review, seen by Reuters, that the risk of major hurricanes in the region making landfall is growing with time and the effectiveness of post-Katrina flood defense systems will fade.

In August 2005, Katrina touched Florida and then intensified as it crossed the warm Gulf of Mexico, resulting in nearly 1,400 deaths and an inflation-adjusted $205 billion in damages to become the most destructive hurricane in U.S. history.

“The hurricane hazard is rising, and not only in the Gulf region. Katrina intens

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