81–90 of 128 posts
Looks like a variant of the trolley problem, with the water playing the part of the trolley. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolley_problem
The other issue I see is that for some reason Houston didn't require all of these people to have flood insurance. I feel like if you live in an area that gets hit with Hurricanes flood insurance should be a requirement period. This would all be a moot point if these people were adequately covered by insurance
Something like this happened a few years ago where I live.[0] Basically, the Army blew the levee to save a town, Cairo, IL, at the expense of (a few) homes and (lots of) farmland on the MO side. Maciej (HN user idlewords) mentioned it in one of his interesting blog posts[1]. The blog post asserts: > The farmers downriver got their fields fertilized with rich river silt and are wealthier and more resentful than ever.…
Fun Midwest fact: The name of Cairo, IL is pronounced differently than the city in Egypt. I've always heard it pronounced more like "Care-O"
Many locals pronounce Johnny Carson's teenage hometown Norfolk, Nebraska as "Norfork."
I don't think it comes from ignorance though (and I'm not saying you're saying it does) but instead just a way of taking local ownership.
It seems to me that flooding the neighbourhood to save the city was a perfectly justifiable decision, but it also seems perfectly reasonable to compensate those whose homes were thereby destroyed.
I'm sorry these people lost their homes, but it does seem pretty straightforward that if you build in a flood plane your home might flood. If there is any failure here it's that they weren't given adequate warning before they flooded the neighborhoods. It sounds like they announced it for the next morning but because of the pace of the water rising they had to blow it over night instead. That's something you start an…
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15472082
According to the article, it sounds pretty bad. The city and county knew where the flood reservoirs were. The developers knew, there were "small notices on the plats" for these properties (which developers fought). Homewoner's never saw these plats and had no idea they were in a flood zone.
"In the end, over significant opposition from developers, the county agreed to put a one-sentence disclosure of possible “controlled inundation” for plots of land in neighborhoods inside Barker. But the sentence was buried in the plat documents, which are not typically shown to homebuyers."
The only real problem is that this was a decision made ad hoc. People whose neighborhoods are likely to be flooded by such a decision should know years in advance that they are designated for it.
>> The only real problem is that this was a decision made ad hoc. >> People whose neighborhoods are likely to be flooded by such a decision should know years in advance that they are designated for it. From the Article: "This land and many of the homes to the north and west of the dams are located in what’s known as the flood pool — the upstream portion of the reservoirs. [...] Many homeowners west of the Barker dam…
Read further:
"[...] many of the lawyers involved in the litigation asked [...] to separate claims from the north and west areas—the upstream ones—from downstream ones, to the south and east. [...] Most lawyers agree that the downstream cases stand the best chance of winning"
So when you say "they were told", you only mean some and not even the primary litigants they were talking with and the lawyer-of-interest was focused on. So it's not a case of "didn't care enough" and saying that confuses an already confusing issue.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Fun Midwest fact: The name of Cairo, IL is pronounced differently than the city in Egypt. I've always heard it pronounced more like "Care-O"
And in Missouri we have New Madrid ("New MAD-rid") and Versailles ("Ver-SAILS") among several other similar re-pronunciations. Many locals pronounce Johnny Carson's teenage hometown Norfolk, Nebraska as "Norfork." I don't think it comes from ignorance though (and I'm not saying you're saying it does) but instead just a way of taking local ownership.
I'm sorry these people lost their homes, but it does seem pretty straightforward that if you build in a flood plane your home might flood. If there is any failure here it's that they weren't given adequate warning before they flooded the neighborhoods. It sounds like they announced it for the next morning but because of the pace of the water rising they had to blow it over night instead. That's something you start an…
They do for 100-year plains, just not 500-year. Are these requirements common elsewhere for 500-year? I am not sure, but I assume so since there is surprise that "for some reason Houston didn't require" it.
Zeeland (and other parts of the Netherlands) now have a similar strategy in place - they've spent billions over the years on sea defences, which are absolutely stunning to behold, but have now done the sums and realised they've entered diminishing returns. It's cheaper to let certain areas flood and compensate than it is to build ever more expensive defences.
http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2017/09/08/nashville-ma...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree, it seems exactly that simple.
That's what flood insurance is for. In a socialist democracy you'd be right, but in case of the USA, it seems more appropriate to require that homeowners get insurance.