Muncie, Indiana, in 2016. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian As a Rust belt town of 65,000 people in eastern Indiana , Muncie may not be the most exciting place in the world. It doesn’t have beaches, year-round warm weather or much in the way of cosmopolitanism. But for Laura Rivas, a cybersecurity engineer formerly of North Miami Beach, Florida , Muncie is perfect. Before she moved there in 2022, life in Florida had become unbearable. Climate crisis -strengthened hurricanes and flooding meant her homeowner’s insurance was skyrocketing. “The climate has gotten so bad – every hurricane season was worse than the last,” she said recently. The insurance companies “ couldn’t afford [to operate in Florida] any more ”. Miami has been dubbed “ground zero” for climate risk and sea levels along Florida ’s coast have already risen by as much as 8in (20cm) since 1950. Shortly after receiving a notice in the mail in 2022 that her homeowner’s insurance would rise to almost $3,000 monthly, she saw her stepfather interviewed on local TV. His own property in Fort Myers had been destroyed by a tornado. Rivas made her mind up right then – it was time to go. Now, she owns a sizable three-bed home in Muncie, works from home and is excited to go ice fishing this winter. “My mortgage and homeowner’s insurance are $600 a month, total,” she said. “Five times less than my homeowners’ insurance for a home half the size in Florida.” Rivas isn’t alone. Thousands of Puerto Ricans have fled devastating hurricanes on the island in 2017 and 2022 for new lives in Buffalo, New York, where a thriving community is adding to the former Rust belt city’s human tapestry. Californians fleeing wildfires are moving to Duluth, Minnesota , a city on the shores of […]