MUNICH, Aug 22 (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 intensified rapidly over the Gulf of Mexico -

and we see that much more often today than in 2005, probably

because of the higher temperatures in the sea," Bove said in an

interview with Reuters.

Bove said that a repeat of Katrina today would be costlier,

not just because of inflation.

Rising sea levels and sinking land levels means that

upgrades to New Orleans' flood defenses will erode with time.