What about all the vacation homes on the AL coast? Some of those were in bubble conditions, doubling from last year...
AL was better off than MS and parts of SE LA... those homes are also constructed better. So far, all the images/videos I have seen from the 'harder' hit areas have shown that better constructed buildings held the surge best... this is especially evident with the high rises. Wherever the surge went, it took out houses/apts/most frame buildings.
We still don't have much from the worst hit areas, and at this time frame, that is extremely troubling. That coastal region has a lot of small wood frame houses... so far I'm hearing a lot of people figured if they survived Camille, they would survive this... Combine that with the focus on NO, you probably have a lot of people who didn't leave. Whoever came in contact with the surge... I don't know, they probably didn't make it.
Everyone is still mobalizing, and the real news is slow to trickle out. It's very concerning. FEMA modeling said a cat4/5 near NO could kill 50-60k. I think that's highly unlikely, but I suppose it's the only real reference we have.