Moratorium

[Cookiely]

My mama says I'm crazy and to quit being concerned about hurricanes. Am I crazy? I see the new construction in downtown Tampa and I go ballistic. Why invest money in an area that can be destroyed in a heartbeat. I think there should be a moratorium on new construction in a storm surge area. Million dollar homes built this year on a spit of land barely above sea level. Condos in downtown Tampa!!! This is insane. Take the money and build the condo in Tampa above the surge line. I just don't understand. We're intelligent people. Can't we learn from the past and make adjustments. What do you think?

[Dr. Jonah Rainwater]

*shrug* Just so long as you know what you're getting into when you make the investment, and you're prepared for the risk.

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

100 percent agree. At least build it to hold up against cat4 winds.

[Cookiely]

If we have several more years similar to the last two years, will there be an insurance company in Florida which will insure someone for hurricane damage?

[Ixolib]

100 percent agree. At least build it to hold up against cat4 winds.

It ain't the winds that's gonna do 'em in.....

[quandary]

The biggest problem is that FEMA and the US government takes over responsibility in part for paying for this stuff after it gets wrecked if it hasn't been insured properly. Also that the insurance company just jack up prices for everyone else when they lose money insuring people in heinously dangerous places. Then it no longer becomes just their problems (and it should be their problem, because they are the decision makers), but everybody's problem.

[Tampa Bay Hurricane]

The biggest problem is that FEMA and the US government takes over responsibility in part for paying for this stuff after it gets wrecked if it hasn't been insured properly. Also that the insurance company just jack up prices for everyone else when they lose money insuring people in heinously dangerous places. Then it no longer becomes just their problems (and it should be their problem, because they are the decision makers), but everybody's problem.

I agree. People who do not live in dangerous places should not
have to pay so much jacked-up insurance prices...

[Tampa Bay Hurricane]

My mama says I'm crazy and to quit being concerned about hurricanes. Am I crazy? I see the new construction in downtown Tampa and I go ballistic. Why invest money in an area that can be destroyed in a heartbeat. I think there should be a moratorium on new construction in a storm surge area. Million dollar homes built this year on a spit of land barely above sea level. Condos in downtown Tampa!!! This is insane. Take the money and build the condo in Tampa above the surge line. I just don't understand. We're intelligent people. Can't we learn from the past and make adjustments. What do you think?

Tampa/St.Pete is a disaster waiting to happen. There are so many
condos and structures in vulnerable areas that would succumb even
to moderate surge.

My family is seriously thinking of moving in the future...perhaps
not out of Florida...but away from my current location which is
just 10 feet above sea level.

You, I, and everyone else living here has to be very alert during
hurricane season.

What your mom is doing is a very dangerous practice of ignoring
these storms...and that practice proved FATAL for dozens of the
1300 people that perished during Katrina.

[Tampa Bay Hurricane]

100 percent agree. At least build it to hold up against cat4 winds.

Even something built to hold cat5 winds would fail completely
in the event of a storm surge...Water in motion has so much
more power than wind, enough to wipe out entire cities, as
was the case during Katrina along the Gulf Coast.

[Zackiedawg]

The biggest problem is that FEMA and the US government takes over responsibility in part for paying for this stuff after it gets wrecked if it hasn't been insured properly.

Well, FEMA and the government take a piece of the share when declared a federal disaster area, but insurance companies still cover the majority. And since the insurance companies in danerous areas have charged significantly higher premiums to those people living in those areas, and exposed them to significantly higher deductibles and exclusionary riders compared to less recent claim areas, the impact to insureds living in other parts of the country is fairly minimal, if at all.

Not to mention the fact that the insurance companies are still turning large profits and their CEOs are bringing in tens of millions of dollars per year. The rate increases we all face from insurance companies is not only attributable to payment of claims related to natural disasters, but also attributable to the high levels of profits and compensation the executives are accustomed to and are willing to protect.

Also that the insurance company just jack up prices for everyone else when they lose money insuring people in heinously dangerous places

I'd agree that the rate should be based on risk...at least partially. But exactly who lives in heinously dangerous places and who lives in safe places? Is it heinously dangerous to live in south Florida, where strict building codes help offset the damage experienced by hurricanes in this storm-prone area...or is it heinously dangerous to be living along a coast which is struck less often, but does not have the same building codes nor a population with experience in dealing with such weather events? Would Katrina have had the same financial impact and death toll had it struck South Florida instead of Mississippi at the same strength? How much of a factor were Mississippi's less stringent building codes, the northern gulf coast's shallow rising coastline ramp-up, or the lack of other landmasses to reduce the impact of an approaching storm surge?

And since hurricanes aren't the only heinous danger in the United States...what of the enormous population living in fault zone areas exposed to huge earthquake risks? Most of California, including the two biggest cities, as well as Oregon & Washington, sit on faults capable of potential major earthquakes. The New Madrid fault zone in Missouri/Arkansas/Tennessee has produced the largest earthquakes measured in continental U.S. history and may do so at any time again. Charleston SC was leveled by earthquakes in the 1800s. What of their heinous dangers? How much should they pay for insurance? How about tornado alley? How about those living in the flood plains of major river systems, such as the highly flood-prone Mississippi, which just a few years ago caused billions of dollars in damages in 8 states? Or those living in highly fire-prone mountain regions out west, where forest fires both natural and man-made rampage annually through million-dollar homes and neighborhoods? Are they not in heinously dangerous areas? What about the ice storms and noreasters of the NE US...with ice-laden branches and trees crashing down on houses, knocking out power for weeks, and causing millions of dollars in damages?

All of these natural disasters received federal aid too...and cost insurance companies millions or billions of dollars. There aren't very many places in the U.S. safe from danger. So who gets to determine which areas are more dangerous than others? And will anyone look into the amount of claims paid out to certain areas following disasters versus the extra premiums paid in from residents in these areas for years before and after the disasters to determine if the claims paid are actually offset by the increased premiums?

Consider too that people can live in dangerous areas and not make claims nor receive any federal aid. I never made a FEMA claim despite the loss of my rental home in California in 1994 from an earthquake...nor did I make an insurance claim. I took losses, but handled them myself. Since living in Florida the past 10 years, I haven't made a single insurance claim, nor received any federal or FEMA aid. This despite thousands of dollars in assessments from cleanup after Frances and Jeanne last year, 15-20% rate hikes on insurance, and now thousands of dollars in cleanup after Wilma and facing another enormous rate increase. Despite living in a supposedly dangerous area, I haven't cost anyone in the nation a penny so far...and I have to deal with the hugely high costs to live here and insure myself.

I, and most other Floridians, are more than paying their share of the risk...and we choose to live here despite this. It isn't free. We pay 200%, 300%, even 400% more than most of the rest of the nation for insurance coverage, we have enormous deductibles, and a majority of us have paid more towards insurance than we have received in claims since living here...in other words, even those who have received claims recently are still generating a profit overall for the insurance companies when their total premiums paid are compared to their total claims made.

Anyway...I just don't think there is a way to fairly determine whether one area is more or less dangerous than another, considering the many varieties of natural disasters which can affect virtually every square inch of our country to some effect.

[MGC]

As long as cheap government flood insurance is available then the construction will continue. The government needs to get out of the insurance business. Until then, construction will continue......MGC

[Blown Away]

It doesn't have to be that complicated! After direct hits from Frances, Jeanne, and Wilma, 0 insurance claims made! Why, because: Poured concrete walls, doubled the truss hurricane straps, plywood clips on roof, and metal shutters. Additional cost: $2000. and I get about a 20% savings on my insurance.
If I were in a high surge area, stilt home. I have not spent much time along the N Gulf coast, but from what I've seen on tv there are few homes on stilts. The FL Keys figured it out. The older structures need to carry the higher insurance and more insurance breaks need to be given to those who built to withstand hurricanes.

[Aslkahuna]

Hey people build on earthquake faults and in high fire risk zones in CA too. Greed and gullibility make for a lethal and expensive proposition.

Steve

[Stormcenter]

My mama says I'm crazy and to quit being concerned about hurricanes. Am I crazy? I see the new construction in downtown Tampa and I go ballistic. Why invest money in an area that can be destroyed in a heartbeat. I think there should be a moratorium on new construction in a storm surge area. Million dollar homes built this year on a spit of land barely above sea level. Condos in downtown Tampa!!! This is insane. Take the money and build the condo in Tampa above the surge line. I just don't understand. We're intelligent people. Can't we learn from the past and make adjustments. What do you think?

You can't and shouldn't live your life in fear. What will happen will happen. There is not one thing we can do about it to stop it. On the West Coast they have earthquakes,in the Midwest tornadoes and the Gulf/Eastern coastlines hurricanes. I won't even get into the floods,forrest fires, blizzards and droughts.

[brunota2003]

It doesn't have to be that complicated! After direct hits from Frances, Jeanne, and Wilma, 0 insurance claims made! Why, because: Poured concrete walls, doubled the truss hurricane straps, plywood clips on roof, and metal shutters. Additional cost: $2000. and I get about a 20% savings on my insurance.
If I were in a high surge area, stilt home. I have not spent much time along the N Gulf coast, but from what I've seen on tv there are few homes on stilts. The FL Keys figured it out. The older structures need to carry the higher insurance and more insurance breaks need to be given to those who built to withstand hurricanes.

Ummm...homes on stilts wouldnt do any good against a 30+ foot surge, even if it was above 30+ feet, what happens when the surge takes the sand away from the concrete??? TIMBER!!! thats what happens...

[Cookiely]

My mama says I'm crazy and to quit being concerned about hurricanes. Am I crazy? I see the new construction in downtown Tampa and I go ballistic. Why invest money in an area that can be destroyed in a heartbeat. I think there should be a moratorium on new construction in a storm surge area. Million dollar homes built this year on a spit of land barely above sea level. Condos in downtown Tampa!!! This is insane. Take the money and build the condo in Tampa above the surge line. I just don't understand. We're intelligent people. Can't we learn from the past and make adjustments. What do you think?

You can't and shouldn't live your life in fear. What will happen will happen. There is not one thing we can do about it to stop it. On the West Coast they have earthquakes,in the Midwest tornadoes and the Gulf/Eastern coastlines hurricanes. I won't even get into the floods,forrest fires, blizzards and droughts.

First of all its not my living my life in fear. I'm concerned about the waste of money building in a storm surge area. It just doesn't make sense to me.

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

I agree Cookiely...Its time to pull our troops out of the Gulf coast(People)...J/k

[vbhoutex]

It doesn't have to be that complicated! After direct hits from Frances, Jeanne, and Wilma, 0 insurance claims made! Why, because: Poured concrete walls, doubled the truss hurricane straps, plywood clips on roof, and metal shutters. Additional cost: $2000. and I get about a 20% savings on my insurance.
If I were in a high surge area, stilt home. I have not spent much time along the N Gulf coast, but from what I've seen on tv there are few homes on stilts. The FL Keys figured it out. The older structures need to carry the higher insurance and more insurance breaks need to be given to those who built to withstand hurricanes.

Ummm...homes on stilts wouldnt do any good against a 30+ foot surge, even if it was above 30+ feet, what happens when the surge takes the sand away from the concrete??? TIMBER!!! thats what happens...

If the pilings are driven deep enough to support the home properly(at least 30') it is very unlikely that the this would happen. In fact about the only way it could is if there were a scouring action that built a deep channel.

[Recurve]

It doesn't have to be that complicated! After direct hits from Frances, Jeanne, and Wilma, 0 insurance claims made! Why, because: Poured concrete walls, doubled the truss hurricane straps, plywood clips on roof, and metal shutters. Additional cost: $2000. and I get about a 20% savings on my insurance.
If I were in a high surge area, stilt home. I have not spent much time along the N Gulf coast, but from what I've seen on tv there are few homes on stilts. The FL Keys figured it out. The older structures need to carry the higher insurance and more insurance breaks need to be given to those who built to withstand hurricanes.

Ummm...homes on stilts wouldnt do any good against a 30+ foot surge, even if it was above 30+ feet, what happens when the surge takes the sand away from the concrete??? TIMBER!!! thats what happens...

If the pilings are driven deep enough to support the home properly(at least 30') it is very unlikely that the this would happen. In fact about the only way it could is if there were a scouring action that built a deep channel.

Sand? What sand? Ain't no sand here.
The screw-pile lighthouses built in the mid-19th Century off the Keys, in open water on the reef, have withstood everything -- Donna, Betsy, Andrew, etc. Check out the Alligator Reef, Carysfort Reef, and Sombrero Key lights.
Surge washes away walls, but it can flow around pilings and stilts. A train might get washed away while palm trees don't (see Labor Day '35).