Michael lessons-learned?

[Gums]

Salute!

Being relatively close to ground zero, and listening to local radio and TV, I can see/hear more than most folks that post here. And one thing stands out that was discussed as this group recounted damage and war stories and such.

Building codes and common sense make a difference.

Lives lost and property damage are the key measures of merit. And so I highly recomment folks make a drive thru of the damage pictures one of the U.S. agencies have published ( they did it for Katrina, but not as soon). The difference between homes built 50 and 60 years ago compared to ones built after hurricane Andrew and the Panhandle storms Eloise and Kate is stark!!

Having rented a cottage at Mexico Beach in the 60's, and then driving thru there in the 90's, post Andrew, I could see several differences in construction as well as location. But I was still leery, and I would not have built where some did regardless of construction. And then I looked at the pictures yesterday and today, especially of Cape San Blas. Back in the 60's, there were none there and the AIr Force and state owned most of the property. It was unspoiled, beautiful beach. I would have bet a thousand bucks that most of those nice beach homes I saw back in the mid-90's would have been gone. But NO!!! Take a look, and compare to Mexico Beach. A few current places in MB came thru well, with all homes around them gone.

So use this link, and the "before after" feature for a few places is especially relevant. Scroll down to the Michael picture albums.

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/

Gums sends...