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  1. #1
    Senior Member flowerseverywhere's Avatar
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    Is it always smart to rebuild storm areas?

    In the news you see people and even the president vowing "we will rebuild and be stronger than ever."

    Whether or not you you believe in Global Warming, it seems like that might not always be the best case. Many areas of the Keys have no electricity, water or sewer a week later, and in future hurricanes, no matter how strong they build the houses they will likely suffer much devastation after a hurricane. Houston has revealed many problems with building houses on prior drainage basins. Here in Florida, they are warning some rivers continue to rise a week after Irma passed and those on the banks are being evacuated as our normal PM thundershowers routine continues to dump rain. The outer banks of the Carolinas, Malibu Coast, areas hit by Hurricane Sandy. So many places that are subject to severe flooding, beach erosion and structure destruction perhaps it is time to rethink the structure of our vulnerable cities.

    Sea ear levels are higher than what they were. Miami always has raised some streets.

    http://www.bbc.com/future/story/2017...sea-level-rise

    if Irma had a direct hit there as predicted can you even imagine? St Augustine, which largely has been out of,the news has had problems from Irma as well as Jacksonville and other cities including Charlestown
    http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer...hurricane.html

    what is the solution? People live here, work here and uprooting is very difficult. St Augustine is the nations oldest city and families have lived there for generations.

  2. #2
    Senior Member bae's Avatar
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    St. Augustine. Our oldest city. That's so cute...

  3. #3
    Senior Member flowerseverywhere's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bae View Post
    St. Augustine. Our oldest city. That's so cute...
    smithsonian is wrong? Not sure what you mean

    http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel...ida-180956434/

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    Senior Member bae's Avatar
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    Ever been to Acoma? I've spent months up at Sky City....

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    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    I love St. Augustine. And it is the oldest city by the Culture that matters, dominant Europeans. So there.

    And now I will pick apart another item in OP's post (poor OP!) and it is that most climatologists have not made correlation between hurricanes and global warming. This is surprising to me, but something I learned from the editorial below from the ultra liberal St. Louis Post Dispatch editorial board in which they skewer Rish Limbaugh. This fact is not their main point, but it was containted in the editorial.

    http://www.stltoday.com/opinion/edit...604c3c54b.html


    which says



    "...In fact, most serious climate scientists acknowledge little linkage between climate change and hurricanes in the past century. The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, in dry, technical language and numbers — science — concludes that correlation with today’s weather is difficult. NOAA scientists do say that global warming will contribute to greater weather extremes and that future hurricanes are likely “to be more intense globally and have higher rainfall rates than present-day hurricanes.”

    I repeat, i was very surprised to learn this, assuming the Post Dispatch is correct.

    Of course, that doesnt negate rising sea levels as a problem, as OP points out.

    But no, it isn't "smart" to rebuild storm areas, always and everywhere.
    Last edited by iris lilies; 9-16-17 at 10:20am.

  6. #6
    Senior Member flowerseverywhere's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by iris lilies View Post
    I love St. Augustine. And it is the oldest city by the Culture that matters, dominant Europeans. So there.

    And now I will pick apart another item in OP's post (poor OP!) and it is that most climatologists have not made correlation between hurricanes and global warming. This is surprising to me, but something I learned from the editorial below from the ultra liberal St. Louis Post Dispatch editorial board in which they skewer Rish Limbaugh. This fact is not their main point, but it was containted in the editorial.

    http://www.stltoday.com/opinion/edit...604c3c54b.html


    which says



    "...In fact, most serious climate scientists acknowledge little linkage between climate change and hurricanes in the past century. The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, in dry, technical language and numbers — science — concludes that correlation with today’s weather is difficult. NOAA scientists do say that global warming will contribute to greater weather extremes and that future hurricanes are likely “to be more intense globally and have higher rainfall rates than present-day hurricanes.”

    I repeat, i was very surprised to learn this, assuming the Post Dispatch is correct.

    Of course, that doesnt negate rising sea levels as a problem, as OP points out.

    But no, it isn't "smart" to rebuild storm areas, always and everywhere.
    i don't mind if you disagree. There may not be a correlation between global warming and hurricanes, who really knows, but sea levels have risen and it does make for more flooding.

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    Quote Originally Posted by bae View Post
    Ever been to Acoma? I've spent months up at Sky City....
    Archaeology Bae?
    Ever been to a settlement that shows how many times man has lived on the edge of water and as water levels rise (as they have over time), evidence of man living there gets covered up?

    Of course build stronger can be done:
    http://domeofahome.com/dome-information/hurricane/ (rethink the structure)
    And in places like New Orleans, they changed the height homes had to be built at. (but so many people expected FEMA to be the checkbook)
    They don't have to build up the roads, they only do so because of how car crazy we are.
    In parts of Florida, I expect paddle boats are common, while in other parts of the world:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice

    As to infrastructure, man has been living on the water for centuries and existing on this planet through disasters. At what point do you say you can't fix what others think (personal responsibility) and realize this culling of a population wouldn't be a drop of much in world population?

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    Quote Originally Posted by flowerseverywhere View Post
    what is the solution? People live here, work here and uprooting is very difficult.

    My husband and I were having the same conversation. Many, many people that I know do not have the resources or wherewithal to move. Money, job, leaving family and social networks, the will to move, leaving generational communities, etc. I used us as an example. We could afford to move but could my husband find another job at 57 years of age, not easy. We do not want to establish ourselves in a new community. Our families are here. Facts and common sense may say move but many other factors come into play and say stay and put up with whatever comes our way. Many things outweigh the smart solution.

  9. #9
    Senior Member SteveinMN's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by goldensmom View Post
    We could afford to move but could my husband find another job at 57 years of age, not easy. We do not want to establish ourselves in a new community. Our families are here.
    But does that require (re)building in place? Granted, hurricanes cause more widespread damage than tornadoes or floods. But most Americans are not threatened by hurricanes; they deal with tornadoes or floods and wildfires. Even moving to the other side of town/an urban area can reduce the threat of devastation in many kinds of natural disasters. For people who cannot/don't want to consider relocating, that's not that far away from jobs, family and friends, etc.

    But I'm fine with people who get flooded out every year and who choose to rebuild in place -- so long as they're not doing it on my dime. There are numbers of properties in Minnesota and the border states perilously close to rivers which flood during every spring thaw; insurers finally are getting smart and refusing to insure them, which means lenders won't issue mortgages on them either. I understand not wanting to leave where one has roots and I understand the economic issues it presents to sell property that is worth less without an occupyable structure on it. But at some point nature and economics have to -- umm, trump -- where we live.

    IMHO the crowd that insists drug tests for welfare recipients is a good thing would do well to apply similar standards to other forms of public subsidy, like why all of us pay to protect homes along coastlines/riverbanks which routinely flood or which are perched in the middle of forests or in areas prone to sinkholes, earthquakes, etc. It's all welfare; the only difference is which socioeconomic class the recipient is in.
    Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington

  10. #10
    Senior Member Cypress's Avatar
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    But I'm fine with people who get flooded out every year and who choose to rebuild in place -- so long as they're not doing it on my dime. There are numbers of properties in Minnesota and the border states perilously close to rivers which flood during every spring thaw; insurers finally are getting smart and refusing to insure them, which means lenders won't issue mortgages on them either. I understand not wanting to leave where one has roots and I understand the economic issues it presents to sell property that is worth less without an occupyable structure on it. But at some point nature and economics have to -- umm, trump -- where we live.

    There was a This Old House series focused on New Jersey and rebuilding after Super Storm Sandy. I watched it carefully and thought I learned a lot about the storm and how it affected residents. One homeowner got selected to demonstrate what happens when a resident does decide to stay and rebuild. This was somewhere in coastal NJ and the house went up, up about one story above the ground. Sort of on stilts. It was well designed and other residents had done similar builds or rebuilds in the same area. The program was fascinating, but I wondered about their choice. I believe the program staff did discuss moving out but I forget why they stayed in the same place. Unless costs were not a factor, I would have cashed out and moved inland 10 miles. This Old House used to include dollars and cents in the programming. They stopped giving real numbers a few years ago. It would have been interesting to hear about all the costs, paperwork and red tape they went through to claim the loss and rebuild.
    Here is a link to my blog page http://francesannwy.wordpress.com/

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