Apparently Irma was a nothing burger

[MurrayM]

Originally Posted by john61ct

It would be unAmerican to forgo economic activity just to protect the citizens from their ignorance.

Anti-social crime is built into the DNA of our political-economic system since long before the country was founded, and we stick to our robber-baron roots much more tenaciously than the rest of the developed world.

You must have tough skin

[smitty477]

Irma ...

Violence Erupts on Desperate Caribbean Islands: ‘All the Food Is Gone’

[FF]

"Why should anything change as long as you can build in the flood plain and get U.S. government subsidized insurance."

Which flood plain the 5 year, 10 year, 20 year, 50 year or the 100 year or 500 year?

[kthoennes]

Well now this is amusing. The media fills multiple news cycles with end-of-the-world reporting on Irma, and now I'm flipping through multiple news stories on whether they overreacted. Have to fill those news cycles with something, anything, one way or another, even news about news. My parents didn't know how good they had it with Walter Cronkite for - a half hour? hour? once per day.

[hmason]

I was watching TV today and they showed a reporter reporting from a kayak in flood waters. In the background a person walked by and the water was ankle deep. Ha ha--fake news.

[sbu22]

Saw that, hmason - almost peed my pants laughing. Only exceeded by the knothead knocked on his butt holding a hand held anemometer into an 80 k gust. Up there with (as I recall, Dan Rather (Andrew, maybe) holding onto the stop sign like he was a signal flag in a gale while a parade of people calmy waded by in the background.

[john61ct]

Yes Walter was on for a half-hour of national news. Avid sailor. . .

[kthoennes]

Originally Posted by john61ct

Yes Walter was on for a half-hour of national news. Avid sailor. . .

And from my home state of Connecticut as I recall, or at least lived and sailed around there.

[john61ct]

the Vineyard and around the Sound summers, winters in the Caribbean

http://www.gettyimages.fi/event/by-2...ure-id52781192

[menzies]

Originally Posted by sunchaser

So, in hindsight were the mass evacuations necessary? Second question - will the FL and outer Island insurers change their business models as populations increase in these high risk weather areas?

BTW, why are Floridians permitted to build in flood plains and get insurance to do so? Follow the money maybe?

Floridians?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floods...2%80%93present

[Wxx3]

Originally Posted by FF

"Why should anything change as long as you can build in the flood plain and get U.S. government subsidized insurance."

Which flood plain the 5 year, 10 year, 20 year, 50 year or the 100 year or 500 year?

Doesn't really matter if the market was allowed at assess the risk.
then the home owner could decide if it's worth it.

As you long our tax dollars go to subsidize the risk, that won't happen.

[seasalt007]

Originally Posted by what_barnacles

The MSM dropped all coverage of the hurricane at 7 pm. Gotta appease the cash cow programs you know. Now I have to surf the web to see if the surge actually materializes.

Loved all the trailers being used as devastation props.

What are you smoking dude?

[what_barnacles]

LOL

Nothing Burgers of course.

[Wxx3]

An except about rebuilding in Houston from today's WSJ:

"Instead, he believes the city needs to build its way out of its flooding problem by investing in a better system to more quickly and efficiently move rainwater out of town and into the bayous during heavy rains.

The second man with a large say in this argument is Russell Poppe, executive director of the Harris County Flood Control District.

He hopes to leverage a Federal Emergency Management Agency program to buy hundreds, if not thousands, of homes in vulnerable areas.

For that to come to pass, it needs to happen soon, he said. “We would prefer to buy these homes out now before they start making improvements,” Mr. Poppe said.

“We’re interested in homes we consider hopelessly deep in the floodplain.”

Many Houston residents would appear eager for such a plan. Mr. Poppe says his phone has rung consistently in the wake of Harvey with dozens of people asking for the city to buy their homes.

Federal officials and scientists like Mr. Blackburn have long urged Houston, one of the nation’s fastest-growing cities, to preserve more of its prairie and regulate development to mitigate the flooding that has plagued residents for decades.

They haven’t had the ear of the area’s politicians who, by and large, have championed development to push economic growth."

[boathealer]

Originally Posted by sbu22

Saw that, hmason - almost peed my pants laughing. Only exceeded by the knothead knocked on his butt holding a hand held anemometer into an 80 k gust. Up there with (as I recall, Dan Rather (Andrew, maybe) holding onto the stop sign like he was a signal flag in a gale while a parade of people calmy waded by in the background.

Loved the ABC guy holding onto a 1/2" piece of polypro line tied to the balcony railing while on the BACK side of the hotel surrounded by 3 concrete walls. Made darn sure he held that line up to the camera in EVERY shot - LOL!

[sbu22]

Originally Posted by sunchaser

So, in hindsight were the mass evacuations necessary? Second question - will the FL and outer Island insurers change their business models as populations increase in these high risk weather areas?

BTW, why are Floridians permitted to build in flood plains and get insurance to do so? Follow the money maybe?

Maybe for the same reasons Californians are allowed to build on the San Andreas fault?

[Seevee]

Originally Posted by hmason

I was watching TV today and they showed a reporter reporting from a kayak in flood waters. In the background a person walked by and the water was ankle deep. Ha ha--fake news.

Gotta love the news... so dramatic....

We all love Jim Cantore (weather channel), and seen him at times in a heavy jacket and hood and life jacket while kids played with beach balls right behind him. Just funny.

[Wxx3]

Originally Posted by sbu22

Maybe for the same reasons Californians are allowed to build on the San Andreas fault?

But it's ok for the taxpayer to keep throwing away money??

This is an excerpt from today's WSJ:

"U.S.
One House, 22 Floods: Repeated Claims Drain Federal Insurance Program

As they tally up hurricane losses, government officials are looking for ways to step up purchases of frequently flooded houses, which have become a huge drain on the federal flood insurance program.

By Ruth Simon | 1387 words

Brian Harmon had just finished spending over $300,000 to fix his home in Kingwood, Texas, when Hurricane Harvey sent floodwaters “completely over the roof.”

The six-bedroom house, which has an indoor swimming pool, sits along the San Jacinto River. It has flooded 22 times since 1979, making it one of the most flood-damaged properties in the country. Between 1979 and 2015, government records show the federal flood insurance program paid out more than $1.8 million to rebuild the house—a property that Mr. Harmon figured was worth $600,000 to $800,000 before Harvey hit late last month.

“It’s my investment,” the 49-year-old said this summer, before the hurricane.

“I can’t just throw it away.”In years past, he had considered a buyout from local officials seeking to purchase often-flooded properties. Now, he finally wants to get out. “I never want to go through this again,” said Mr. Harmon, who bought the house in 1995.

..."

[sbu22]

There's a pretty good reason people live in coastal areas - that's where the jobs are. 35% of the BTUs in this country originate between Brownsville and Mobile. You going to fly the oil field, refinery, and support workers in from Topeka every day?

Further, NFIP actively prevents insurers who sell NFIP policies from offering private flood insurance. So, State Farm can't offer you a private product, by statute.

Due to federal and state insurance regs, I have been unable to buy private insurance until now. Finally, in January, I'll be able to buy a flood policy on my property - better coverage (RCP vice ACV) at about 50% of NFIP rates.

Last, one simple move could eliminate a large part of the NFIP problem - insure only primary residences and serious businesses. Want to build a McMansion or a Surfstyle store on a coastal sand dune? Assume the actual cost of insuring it. That would help a lot.

[sbu22]

And, there is now, finally, a 3 strike NFIP requirement that will prevent the lunacy of the case Wx cited.