This dissertation addresses the relationship between temporality—being bounded in time—and population vulnerability to hazards. Researchers and program managers typically integrate temporality in vulnerability assessments by analyzing either historical change in the level of population vulnerability or the historical (root) causes for disasters. The thesis of this dissertation is that the influence of temporality on population vulnerability is further determined by human relationships to time. In the modern context of fast changing hazardscapes and a diminishing sense of place in a globalizing world, how do temporal reference making practices such as landscape monitoring, memorialization, and meaning attribution influence population-level emergency preparedness? Based on historical ecological fieldwork in four United States floodplains—New Orleans (LA), Savannah (GA), Kinston (NC), and Felton (CA)—the results of this study illustrate how temporal vulnerability, defined as the condition of population surprise, decreases population resilience in the contexts of hazard mitigation, historical preservation, early warning, and disaster evacuation. A dwelling model is constructed that can be used to guide temporal vulnerability assessments, adaptive management, and interventions aimed at increasing hazard resilience.