Posted on 08/29/2017 1:34:29 PM PDT by DFG
Hurricane Harvey wasn’t man-made, obviously, but the scale of the destruction was, in large part, an unintended consequence of government policy. Michael Grunwald reports at Politico: “How Washington Made Harvey Worse.”
Nearly two decades before the storm’s historic assault on homes and businesses along the Gulf Coast of Texas this week, the National Wildlife Federation released a groundbreaking report about the United States government’s dysfunctional flood insurance program, demonstrating how it was making catastrophes worse by encouraging Americans to build and rebuild in flood-prone areas. The report, titled “Higher Ground,” crunched federal data to show that just 2 percent of the program’s insured properties were receiving 40 percent of its damage claims. The most egregious example was a home that had flooded 16 times in 18 years, netting its owners more than $800,000 even though it was valued at less than $115,000.
(Excerpt) Read more at powerlineblog.com ...
I’m not addressing places that are vulnerable to 50 inches. Every place is vulnerable to that. The circumstances came together just so, and 50 inches pour out on the area. Amazing.
I’m addressing places where it’s reasoned to give a second thought to building there.
If you guys want to extrapolate them to be everywhere along every coast, that’s on you, not me.
800-1000 year flood.
I have lived in Pasadena Tx, in this house since 1988. I’ve lived in the Pasadena/Deer Park area since 1972. There is always rain and some flooding and rarely trudging through water to get where I need to be.
This house has NEVER flooded. In Allison, it was approaching the garage. This time it was with in inches. As of 3:00 PM today we got 42.6 inches of rain since Thursday. That has never happened. Not Even Close
I am so tired, I hope I make sense.
“I’m addressing places where it’s reasoned to give a second thought to building there.”
You are correct.
In September,2005 I made a similar comment on DU regarding NOLA and Katrina-——and they banned me. I guess it didn’t fit into their “blame Bush” agenda.
What the answer is,I don’t know,but to keep putting structures in flood prone areas makes no sense.
People get sensitive to these sorts of comments, but they seem reasoned to me.
I guess you can invest anywhere you like. It’s your life. Just accept a total write off every decade or two. Start over.
Just leave the rest of us out of it. Forget the insurance. You can do as you please.
Mears, I’m all for people making their own decisions. Sadly, when they make some of them they’re making them for me too. I don’t choose to pay one more dollar per month for my insurance, so others can push the limits beyond reason.
IMO < that problem in New Orleans was waiting to happen, sooner or later.
You have a complicated intricate water causeway system there. If any of it fails, there’s hell to pay.
Why would I want to build below sea level to live in a place, when there are other places above sea level.
Isn’t that a no brainer. That’s rhetorical, because I’m sure you get it.
I don’t know what the answer is either, but there must be a way to avoid these situations “for the most part”. You can’t plan for everything. I know there will be losses. The goal is to minimize them.
Seems like a good idea to me.
Thanks for the note.
Still has to be anchored to something underneath, and that can get expensive depending how far down you have to go. Scouring can undermine the foundation under the posts in severe currents/waves.
Yes, doable if you have $$$, but not at the price point of hundreds of thousands of ordinary houses such as in Houston which are much more cheaply built.
Yep.
Thousands of arguments exactly like this after Katrina.
We simply must use better judgment in where we build. Not sustainable to rebuild some areas time and time again.
Standard for the 6” x 6” pilings varies from five to eight feet down depending upon proximity to oceanfront in NC. Some put concrete pads beneath for usable parking, storage, ground level screened porch, tiled game room/bar and half bath with indoor/outdoor type wall finishes so it won’t be wrecked if water gets in there, as it inevitably will. It’s an additional cost but there are new coastal homes on the less expensive barrier islands here in NC built in this manner, fairly nice, 1600 sf or so, Hardiplank siding, impact-resistant windows, high wind resistant roofing and all that, for less than $400K oceanview across the street from the beach, and in the low $200’s back in the live oak maritime forest several blocks away from the beach. So, it’s not a gigantic cost, low $200s is not that far above the same house on a standard foundation inland off the island.
One goal of one world order is that nobody believes anything the news tells them. Chaos is their friend.
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