The US is not ready for this upcomming hurricane season

This was an excellent editorial on a Storm2K forum

I'm ready.

'Course I live about 300 miles inland...

I can house my sister and her family and / or my dad and his girlfriend if there is a disaster.

Every Keys resident I spoke with said really 2 things. They estimate only 15% (at most) of the residents evacuated for Wilma, and there have been too man false alarms in the last few years.

There aren't any false alarms. People are provided the best up to date information possible and make an informed decision. Unfortunately even if they know a Cat 4 is headed right at them, there are some people too stubborn to evacuate.

"At the same time, be a model of preparation. Get your shutters or plywood now. Get your supplies ready before June 1st. Know where you are going to go if you have to leave. Don't try to ride it out on your own...etc"

Great advice. The best planning assumption is that the Government will not be there to bail you out.

This may be the most dangerous thing of all, and many, including Max Mayfield, believe that this type of belief system may have caused Camille to kill more people in 2005 than Katrina did.

This sentence makes absolutely no sense. As does most of this article. We're not ready for tornadoes, earthquakes or a meteor strike either.

I'm not ready yet (11 miles inland at Va Beach). But I am building up some supplies... water, canned soups and veggies, spare peopane tank, and I'll be purchasing a handgun with a thousand rounds or so...

The governments only plan is to dump planeloads of $10s and $20s into hurricanes in the hopes that the paper will soak up moisture from the storm and decrease the power of the hurricane.

I think this article borders on hysteria. In this day and age, there is plenty of meterological information available to people, and warnings posted well in advance. It is up to PEOPLE to take the appropriate actions. If they fail to do so, it is nobody's fault but their own.

Some people are too stubborn to evacuate, it isn't because they didn't understand the situation. I have no sympathy for people who do not take the warnings seriously each and every time.

Sigh. That time again. NO was an exception. Most of us stayed prepared (as best we can anyway)

When all is said and done, you can never be really ready for hurricane season. As long as people live in the Keys and other areas susceptible to hurricanes, there will be death and destruction. Are we ready for earthquakes?

...residents down there have been allowed to build their own home....

Damn. /s

I wrote his after Andrew, whose path was eerily similar to that of Katrina. That should tell ANY sane person that THIS WILL HAPPEN AGAIN AND PROBABLY IN LESS THAN 12 YEARS GIVEN THE MORE AGGRESSIVE HURRICANES IN THIS CYCLE. And this cycle is predicted to last another 15 years!!

Simply change some of the names.

If they rebuild NOLA on the present site – and DON’T get folks OFF THOSE BEACHES ALONG THE ENTIRE HURRICANE-PRONE U.S. COAST -- keep this for the NEXT catastrophe. Insanity is defined as doing the same things over and over while expecting a different result. Whom God would destroy, He first makes insane. Has this nation lost its mind? Look to NOLA – BUILT 8 FEET BELOW THE SURROUNDING WATERWAYS – for the answer for that. If NOLA is rebuilt, those low-lying areas ought to be allowed to revert to their original state as wetlands and swamps. The folks necessary to operate that vital port and petro/chemical infrastructure need to live in reinforced dwellings ABOVE future anticipated flood levels.

And now that Rita is here, it is time to consider turning a 10 to 15 mile strip of our hurricane prone coastal areas into RV parks or campgrounds with MINIMAL SEMI-PERMANENT – and I stress “SEMI” -- STRUCTURES. Anyone building a structure in that strip is ON HIS OWN RE. SHOULDERING THE FINANCIAL LIABILITY FOR ITS LOSS!!!

WHAT GEORGE SHOULD HAVE SAID
by Dick Bachert

On the evening of September 1st, 1992, President George Bush went on national TV to announce that the already empty federal coffers would pour forth uncounted billions of dollars to totally rebuild the Florida and Louisiana communities destroyed by Hurricane Andrew. A vast majority of Americans seem to agree with this action, providing yet more evidence (as if more were needed) that we have come very, very far from the philosophy of self-reliance articulated by one Colonel Davey Crockett. (See "Not Yours to Give" available from FEE at www.fee.org)

Instead of attempting to purchase his reelection with plundered resources, this is what George Bush should have said.

"My fellow Americans:

As you all know, a devastating hurricane has struck the southern tip of Florida and Louisiana. Our hearts and prayers go out to all who have lost so much.

“There is now a great cry for the federal government to "do something".

“And we shall.

“I have dispatched otherwise idle military resources -- men and women involved in our national defense who will profit from what will amount to a real-life field exercise -- to the area to render whatever aid the local authorities deem appropriate to restore basic communications and public safety infrastructure. But, beyond that, we can do little else. Before you brand me a heartless monster, allow me to explain:

"The area involved has been regularly struck by many such storms since long before we have inhabited this continent. There is reason to believe that this pattern will continue. All who have vacationed or visited there will agree that it is a beautiful area and by driving a short distance, residents there can avail themselves of the ocean waters and sandy beaches of that coastal setting. I, too, understand the attraction. That's why I spend as much time as possible
in Kennebunkport. That's the upside of living in such an area.

"The downside is that the area is regularly struck by these terrible storms. Which is why responsible and intelligent residents of the area insure their property against the inevitable resultant damage.

"That the largest private insurers have determined that certain of these areas are so likely to be struck by storms such as Andrew as to make them "actuarially unsound" risks is a matter for the insurers and the property owners. Government will only, through the lawfully established court system, do its best to see to it that any contracts between these private parties are honored.

"If a prospective property owner is unable to secure private insurance against these calamitous eventualities, he or she had better reevaluate his or her position. If a prospective owner cannot bear the financial loss which would flow from the destruction of an uninsured home in one of these high risk areas, he or she is well advised to purchase in an area where such insurance is available. It is not, nor can it ever be, the government's place to levy a compulsory tax on citizens who do not live in these high risk beach areas to subsidize the folly of those who choose to do so! It would be criminal to force citizens who themselves already pay hundreds of dollars each year to protect their homes from
normal hazards such as fire and the occasional tornado to also pay for the beach front lifestyle of others! To increase their taxes so that some of their less responsible fellows may enjoy the benefits of living in these normally
beautiful -- but statistically periodically dangerous -- surroundings is unconscionable.

"As much as our hearts go out to those who have lost so much, I must remind them that just as it has happened in the past, it will happen again. If you chose to remain there, you do so at your peril. This is an election year and the temptation is great for me to obligate the already strapped taxpayers of the entire nation to pay for the rebuilding of these damaged areas.

"Though it may cost me another term as President, I must, because of the dangerous precedent it would set, resist it. To do otherwise would be the grossest unfairness to, say, a citizen in Kansas whose roof might be blown off during a tornado. Would that citizen not have the right to ask the federal government to do the same for him? Multiply that by the numbers of isolated, individual-but equally calamitous disasters each year and you will come to see that the treasury of even the richest nation on earth (which, thanks to decades of such nonsense, we no longer are) would soon collapse under the load.

"On a technical level, I would also remind you that expert analysis of the destruction of these homes quickly disclosed that it was government and the building codes -- rather the false security of their enforcement -- which led to the loss of nearly 85,000 dwellings. You who now look to government to solve your problem ought to consider that it was the failure of the government mandated building code enforcement that reduced your home to a pile of rubble. Your reliance upon government enforcement of these codes and their assiduous observance has proven to be an error.

"In that connection, I would point out that engineers who surveyed the damage discovered a number of structures which survived. It was found that these buildings had been built under an older, ostensibly less stringent code and/or were constructed using a number of proven, but more costly, techniques designed to improve survival.

"If you do plan to rebuild in one of these uninsurable sections, please, in order to minimize the destruction the next time another killer storm comes ashore, employ these construction techniques.

"Let me now turn to what we must now do to help those in such desperate need at this moment.

"I submit that we should continue and intensify what we've been doing thus far: The volunteer activities many of you have undertaken as individuals, small businesses and large corporations are doing exactly what I envisioned when I
launched my "Thousand Points of Light" campaign. What we need now are millions of such points. And, if the response continues to swell as in the past few days, we'll get there.

"Let me also remind you that the first folks into the area with meaningful relief were not government people. As we have seen, these huge bureaucracies possess equally huge levels of static inertia. They lack the flexibility and
sensitivity to function efficiently. People helping people is the highest embodiment of the faith our forefathers brought to these shores over 300 years ago.

"America was -- and, I fervently believe, still is – a nation of people who understand this basic concept. It is time we remembered that government's role is to only do for citizens those few constitutionally limited things we cannot
individually do for ourselves. I'd remind you what George Washington said about government: "Government is not reason. It is not eloquence. It is force! And like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."

"It is also time for us all to remember that we must take individual responsibility for ourselves. We must remember, for example, that we cannot construct our homes in places where the forces of nature periodically rage against us without adequate preparation for those periodic rampages.

"To be more specific, if we must build in those areas, we must take personal responsibility for the soundness of construction and/or insure against the certain eventuality that these natural assaults will occur. The days when
individuals can look to a government to force the rest of us to underwrite the folly of the few are gone! I urge those of you now digging out from the destruction in Florida and Louisiana to remember that as you consider your future. I pledge that if you grant me another term in office, I shall devote my next 4 years to bringing government back under the United States Constitution in order to ensure that it does only those few things we cannot do for ourselves and does them as efficiently and effectively as possible.

"Let me again urge us to continue the enormous volunteer efforts we have already begun until this tragedy is behind us.

"Thank you and good night!"

I think most folks in Miss and Alabama were ready too, but they still had to swim 2 miles to the railroad tracks. People need to leave if they are near the shore period.

There is an implicit thesis that it is possible to mediate a disaster by planning. That planning can somehow eliminate the threat.

That is simply not true. Planning can have some impact, but nothing can be done to prevent the massive damage that can occur from a direct hit by a massive storm.

The hue and cry for deliverance from the threat is counterproductive.

I live in west palm beach, florida, 37 years, and don't ever recall hurricanes being the Presidents responsibility. It seems as though this is a new phenomenon specifically carved out for Bush. I have never heard of any FEMA type organization being deployed to hurricane areas. It was always the Red Cross, Florida National Guard, local relief agencies etc. This will be a media driven hit piece on Bush the entire hurricane season. Get used to it.

As the season looms, it's becomming more and more apparent that the US is not ready for this upcomming season.

Errr... Is that the upcoming "spellling" season? LOL

The US has never been ready for a significant hurricane season. I see this article as little more than panic-bait for the masses.

Amazing, that is so dead on.

lol

True but there are obstacles that could be removed to encourage this. Right or wrong some will not leave their pets to go to shelters. People don't want to leave if they know that won't be allowed back in.

You're right. Why would anybody in their right mind put a major city in a swamp? And why is anybody surprised when it floods during a hurricane?