They need to make building WOOD FRAME buildings illegal ...

[logybogy]

on the coast at least.

All of the concrete block structures on the beach performed really well. The wood frame condos and homes were gutted for the most part.

Make the codes strict. Concrete block only on the beach and damage will go down considerably.

[stormwatcher]

How about just stop building on the beach and let the beach be what it was suppose to be. There is a reason why they call them barrier islands.

[GalvestonDuck]

How about just stop building on the beach and let the beach be what it was suppose to be. There is a reason why they call them barrier islands.

And there's a reason why flood plains are called flood plains. What's your point? And just *what* is the beach supposed to be?

[Guest]

I'll plead the 5th on this one.

[stormwatcher]

I thought I would raise some feathers. I lived and grew up on the beach. Family owned a marina. By the way who says we should live in the flood plains -- isn't it a reason why they are called flood plains?

[Juno Beach]

It IS illegal in FL (at least in my county) to build a wood frame house. Everything must meed "Dade County Code", which is CBS construction (concrete block/stucco).

Those houses that got wrecked were OLD. Some of them 70 or 80 years old. It was bound to happen sometime. I certainly wouldn't want to have to insure them (on either end).

[Ixolib]

How about just stop building on the beach and let the beach be what it was suppose to be. There is a reason why they call them barrier islands.

I'll second this idea!!!!!!!!!

[greeng13]

How about just stop building on the beach and let the beach be what it was suppose to be. There is a reason why they call them barrier islands.

And there's a reason why flood plains are called flood plains. What's your point? And just *what* is the beach supposed to be?

i agree galveston duck!!! what about building in "tornado alley" or along the mississippi (as that area suffered major flooding a few years back)!

i also agree with logyboy in that some other type of building material is necessary....i do remember another post a few days ago about concrete taking a long time to "cure" so a newly built concrete home might not be the way to go but something needs to be done and if you desire a "slice of paradise" i'm sure the insurance companies are gonna make you pay for it after this season!!!

my house is not on the coast (nor is it in a mandatory flood insurance zone) but i do think i'll be looking into flood insurance after this year.

i know when i refinanced last year i was griping about the cost of my homeowners going up with allstate and my loan officer told me not to "fire them" until i was sure i had another policy in hand because most of the insurance companies are trying to get out of the southeast!

[MGC]

So where are us humans going to live? If you let the enviromental kooks have there way we could not cut down trees to make houses, nor could we quary stone to build houses. Live near the beach, no causes too much damage. But could I live near the river? No, causes to much damage to some obscure snail the French might want to eat. So, I can live next to the forest? No, you will damage the forest. I suggest letting the market place rule. You want to build in an area that might get damaged by some act of God than you should assume the risk. Build a house out of sticks on the beach? Sure, but no insurance company in their right mind would sell them a policy. Please pardon my rant.......MGC

[greeng13]

So where are us humans going to live? If you let the enviromental kooks have there way we could not cut down trees to make houses, nor could we quary stone to build houses. Live near the beach, no causes too much damage. But could I live near the river? No, causes to much damage to some obscure snail the French might want to eat. So, I can live next to the forest? No, you will damage the forest. I suggest letting the market place rule. You want to build in an area that might get damaged by some act of God than you should assume the risk. Build a house out of sticks on the beach? Sure, but no insurance company in their right mind would sell them a policy. Please pardon my rant.......MGC

eventually we could live on the moon? any storms there? no we'd probably pi** off some astroenvironmentalist...i was part ranting myself with the last post....but eventually everyone will pay for this and other seasons to come as the insurance companies "pass the buck"

[WeatherEmperor]

I think in Miami-Dade and Broward(where I live), houses are required by building Codes to have a concrete top on your house. After Andrew came by they went like"no way in heck is that destruction going to happen ever again"

<RICKY>

[huricanwatcher]

It really doesnt matter how its built .... where its built and just how UP TO CODE it is...

someday, somewhere, a storm will take it down, may be 100's of year from now... but it will happen....

people will build on the most threating places and try to keep up to code, but there is always going to be something that just takes em all down sooner or later

[frankthetank]

I'll chime in since i grew up and live in the Upper Mississippi Flood Plain...

Its all plain and simple... EVERYONE SHOULD LIVE IN CAMPERS(RV's)!!! This way once a Big storm is coming, just hook it up and off you go to safety...

[clueless newbie]

Ideally, in market economy, it should be like this:

1. Your home insurance should reflect the location and the structure of your house.

So, you would pay through your nose to insure wooden frame house on a hurricane prone beach. Concrete block built to proper standards and with premounted shutters should be cheap to insure against wind damage. If it is on a beach/surge/flood prone area, rising water insurance would be expensive even for those. Large trees on your property raise your insurance rates. Flammable home in fire prone area.. you get it.

2. Property taxes also reflect how much burden you are for local authorities. If you have good enough house so you don't need to go to shelter/clobber streets for evacuation, reduce the taxes.

Of course, all this assumes the insurance companies are there to provide sensible insurance, not to suck you dry. Oh well...

[SeaBrz_FL]

Five generations of my family have lived up and down the FL east coast beaches and have NEVER lost a home. However, I do have friends that have lost homes in Oklahoma tornadoes, and a couple coworkers that had houses condemned after the last San Francisco earthquake.

"Life is inherently dangerous."

[Canelaw99]

I think in Miami-Dade and Broward(where I live), houses are required by building Codes to have a concrete top on your house. After Andrew came by they went like"no way in heck is that destruction going to happen ever again"

<RICKY>

Yeah - the codes down here changed drastically after Andrew. I think you'll see some of the codes changing over in the Punta Gorda area, as well as up in the Panhandle, personally. I mean (not saying this to be harsh) when you have to rebuild so much from the ground up, you might as well build it so it can withstand more....

[SootyTern]

So where are us humans going to live? MGC

Live wherever you want, just build and live smart and prepare for the consequences. I spent a lot of time in the '90's in the Gulf Shores area, and saw the effects of Opal and Georges on the area. There was a poster around in the stores titled "Gulf Shores 1940's" or something- an aerial shot showing that the beach was a mile wide and a few small houses were tucked here and there back behind the dune line. 60 years later the hotels etc of Gulf Shores go right to within a few hundred yards of the ocean with nothing to protect them. I remember after Georges a small article buried in the back pages of the Mobile paper about how homes set behind the dunes had little or no damage while others very close to the water or where the dunes were taken out were damaged. The dune line is so important to absorb the energy of a surge event like this. People should build with nature rather than against it, in my opinion. I imagine this makes me an eco-freak, but whatever. There's worse things to be.

My sympathies go out to the individual people caught up in this mess; it's mostly the decisions of developers that irk me. Build it, and they will come. Build it bad, and they will come and suffer.

[Sanibel]

Ah, by the way, just exactly how many humans and at what expense to the planet, biosphere, species, sustainability, and open space?


Sorry, but my usual sense of anyone who mutters "environmental kooks" is that they are probably people who deal with all matters environment simply by repeating "environmental kooks"...

[hesperhys]

Ah, by the way, just exactly how many humans and at what expense to the planet, biosphere, species, sustainability, and open space?


Sorry, but my usual sense of anyone who mutters "environmental kooks" is that they are probably people who deal with all matters environment simply by repeating "environmental kooks"...

Sanibel, you are correct, but once the high-traffic posting restrictions are lifted, you will see that many frequent posters here have obnoxious political posters as their signature lines, even their avatars.... Enjoy the illusion of community while it lasts.

[GalvestonDuck]

So where are us humans going to live? If you let the enviromental kooks have there way we could not cut down trees to make houses, nor could we quary stone to build houses. Live near the beach, no causes too much damage. But could I live near the river? No, causes to much damage to some obscure snail the French might want to eat. So, I can live next to the forest? No, you will damage the forest. I suggest letting the market place rule. You want to build in an area that might get damaged by some act of God than you should assume the risk. Build a house out of sticks on the beach? Sure, but no insurance company in their right mind would sell them a policy. Please pardon my rant.......MGC

eventually we could live on the moon? any storms there? no we'd probably pi** off some astroenvironmentalist...i was part ranting myself with the last post....but eventually everyone will pay for this and other seasons to come as the insurance companies "pass the buck"

to both of you...and just about everyone else in the thread.