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Hurricane Ian damages in Southeast estimated at $100B to $120B

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Re: Hurricane Ian damages in Southeast estimated at $100B to $120B

#42
post #4

I can only assume it will go higher. We need to push FEMA to have a 2 and done rule. After that the property must be returned back to dunes/parks/public spaces.

Hurricanes are a fact of life in the gulf and southeastern atlantic coasts. There is no area that has not have been hit twice already in the past century. So all this coastline should be dunes and park spaces?

> So all this coastline should be dunes and park spaces?

If they cannot be safely built upon, sure. Same reason no one builds houses on the edge of Kilauea's active craters. Hurricane-resistant construction is possible, it's just more expensive. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/14/us/hurricane-michael-flor...

Re: Hurricane Ian damages in Southeast estimated at $100B to $120B

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hurricanes are a fact of life in the gulf and southeastern atlantic coasts. There is no area that has not have been hit twice already in the past century. So all this coastline should be dunes and park spaces?

Calgary did this after the 2013 Bow river flood. They bailed out the homeowners. But if they choose to rebuild on those lots, next time they get zero. They are on their own. If catastrophic hurricanes are really going to happen every 10 years, should the federal government be subsidizing the coastal lifestyle and building you a new house each time? Consider: 100B/100M taxpayers = $1000 per person. Can you really say…

Is the federal government paying out $100B for Ian damages from taxes? Or is most of that being paid by private insurance (or even if paid by federal flood insurance, you have to credit back the flood insurance premiums paid rather than assume it’s all coming from taxes).

Re: Hurricane Ian damages in Southeast estimated at $100B to $120B

#44
post #20

As someone who has lived in the pacific north my entire life I have no experience with things like this. Does the southeast build their structures differently knowing they are going to get hammered by hurricanes? Japan builds knowing they need to be resistant against earthquakes for example.

It depends on local jurisdiction. In Cape Cod (Massachusetts), for example, any permitted renovations to old structures or construction of new structures requires significant structural updates to comply with a thorough building code meant to help their structures remain inhabitable through and recoverable from storm surge.

Locals complain about it because it's expensive, and because the resulting coastal house on concrete stilts isn't aesthetically pleasing. But it's the only rational thing to do in 2022 if you want sustainable coastal development.

In Florida, where things are more "laissez faire", things may be bit different.

Re: Hurricane Ian damages in Southeast estimated at $100B to $120B

#45
post #4

I can only assume it will go higher. We need to push FEMA to have a 2 and done rule. After that the property must be returned back to dunes/parks/public spaces.

Hurricanes are a fact of life in the gulf and southeastern atlantic coasts. There is no area that has not have been hit twice already in the past century. So all this coastline should be dunes and park spaces?

Human brains are funny. Obviously the absurd part of all of this is people (literally) building their houses on the edge of the ocean and expecting this to not happen.

However because it's all we know, it seems that the real absurdity would be the government designating these sites as 'no-build' zones-- or at least FEMA washing their hands of any damage that should happen to these sites.

This should be a wakeup call that many aspects of our current way of life are unsustainable, not that it's just standard operating procedure to rebuild from the ground up every 20 years only for everything to be washed away again.

Re: Hurricane Ian damages in Southeast estimated at $100B to $120B

#46
post #4

I can only assume it will go higher. We need to push FEMA to have a 2 and done rule. After that the property must be returned back to dunes/parks/public spaces.

Hurricanes are a fact of life in the gulf and southeastern atlantic coasts. There is no area that has not have been hit twice already in the past century. So all this coastline should be dunes and park spaces?

Exactly. That's the idea.

They should be allowed to live there as long as they want to fund it.

Re: Hurricane Ian damages in Southeast estimated at $100B to $120B

#47

Hopefully insurance costs will not be extracted throughout the entire country. The insurance rates must reflect the true cost of residing in hurricane alley.

Not a chance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Flood_Insurance_Progr... >As of August 2017, the program insured about 5 million homes (down from about 5.5 million homes in April 2010), the majority of which are in Texas and Florida.[3][4] The cost of the insurance program was fully covered by its premiums until the end of 2004, but it has had to steadily borrow funds since, primarily due to Hurricane Katrina an…

Is the conclusion that housing should not be built where Sandy’s damages occurred? That seems...unreasonable.

Re: Hurricane Ian damages in Southeast estimated at $100B to $120B

#48
post #20

As someone who has lived in the pacific north my entire life I have no experience with things like this. Does the southeast build their structures differently knowing they are going to get hammered by hurricanes? Japan builds knowing they need to be resistant against earthquakes for example.

Florida has strict building codes for places that are within the wind zone (so basically the bottom half of the peninsula). Miami Dade has even stricter rules. However, this only applies to newer houses. Ft Meyers (the worst hit area0 had lots of houses that were built pre-Andrew, which was the event that drove the increase in building codes.

Re: Hurricane Ian damages in Southeast estimated at $100B to $120B

#49
post #4

I can only assume it will go higher. We need to push FEMA to have a 2 and done rule. After that the property must be returned back to dunes/parks/public spaces.

Yes, 1000x this.

It is frustrating to be sending piles of money to these states every year, which they then waste on political stunts like flying legal immigrants to other states, instead of taking care of their citizens, or maybe investing in climate hardening.

And then they're completely unprepared for cold weather, hot weather, wet weather, dry weather, ... and say things like "Nobody knew ___ could be so complicated."

I really don't mind my tax dollars going to these states, but I don't want my tax dollars to be wasted, or worse yet, spent to hurt people on purpose.

Re: Hurricane Ian damages in Southeast estimated at $100B to $120B

#50
post #4

I can only assume it will go higher. We need to push FEMA to have a 2 and done rule. After that the property must be returned back to dunes/parks/public spaces.

Hurricanes are a fact of life in the gulf and southeastern atlantic coasts. There is no area that has not have been hit twice already in the past century. So all this coastline should be dunes and park spaces?

People who live on Cape Coral are going to have to internalize the fact that they fell for a real estate swindle, they are partly or mostly at fault, and their own personal financial situation will be impacted.

People in the Pacific states and the northeast are going to need to internalize that it isn't OK to use the Sun Belt as a relieve valve for their NIMBY policies, and the federal government might even need to take measures to disincentivize those states from exporting their populations to Gulf Coast swamps.

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