Fourth Hurricane To Hit Louisiana This Year-Why Do They Stay?

fmdog44

fmdog44

Well-known Member
Location
Houston, Texas
New Orleans will get hit this afternoon by the fourth hurricane of this season to hit Louisiana which ends (hopefully) next month. One has to wonder why some folks elect to stay no matter what. Some people in California have had their homes destroyed by fire more than once and they too refuse to pack up. Beats me. There are many nice place to live.
 

So if everyone moved from Louisiana where would they go? What would happen with all that land? If everyone moved because of natural disasters where would they all go to get away from them?
 
What amazes me is the lack of strict rebuilding codes.

Seems to me that homes lost in the past would have to be rebuilt out of poured concrete, roofs fashioned out of steel and industrial in strength, and possibly even homes built on concrete pillars.
 

Aunt Marg said:
What amazes me is the lack of strict rebuilding codes.

Seems to me that homes lost in the past would have to be rebuilt out of poured concrete, roofs fashioned out of steel and industrial in strength, and possibly even homes built on concrete pillars.
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Maybe some steel enforcement. I wonder how costly that would be though. You suppose homeowner's insurance would allow for that? I bet they pay a pretty penny for hurricane insurance as it is.
 
RiverM55 said:
Maybe some steel enforcement. I wonder how costly that would be though. You suppose homeowner's insurance would allow for that? I bet they pay a pretty penny for hurricane insurance as it is.
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You're right, River, an additional expense it would be, but figuring in all of the rebuilding that goes on in the area year after year, I see it as a long-term savings in the end, not to mention peace of mind for the homeowners.
 
Coastal regions, all over the globe, are going to become increasingly uninhabitable as a result of rising oceans, and numerous other effects of climate change. The droughts in the western states are likely to continue...as will the fires. NOAA, and other organizations which track our changing planet have all predicted that over the next couple of hundred years, the US will lose about 17% of its total land mass....the Gulf coast, Florida, and much of the eastern seaboard will be under water. Well over 100 million people living in those regions will have little choice but to migrate inland. Life, as we know it, is going to change drastically. All the major cities on/near the east coast, and gulf states will look like Venice...if they manage to survive at all.
 
Don M. said:
Coastal regions, all over the globe, are going to become increasingly uninhabitable as a result of rising oceans, and numerous other effects of climate change. The droughts in the western states are likely to continue...as will the fires. NOAA, and other organizations which track our changing planet have all predicted that over the next couple of hundred years, the US will lose about 17% of its total land mass....the Gulf coast, Florida, and much of the eastern seaboard will be under water. Well over 100 million people living in those regions will have little choice but to migrate inland. Life, as we know it, is going to change drastically. All the major cities on/near the east coast, and gulf states will look like Venice...if they manage to survive at all.
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Has the reduction in land mass begun?
 
Why do they stay or rebuild and stay? Well, people have their home destroyer by tornadoes in OK and some Southern States and they rebuild and stay. Key West was hit by a hurricane, homes destroyed, and the owners rebuilt and stay. Wildfires happen, burn down homes and businesses and they all rebuild and stay.

There are people that absolutely love where they live and, no matter what happens to their home, they rebuild and stay.
 
RiverM55 said:
Has the reduction in land mass begun?
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I suspect so. I remember reading reports about the situation in Bangladesh a year or two ago....that area has lost so much of its land that most of its population has had to migrate to India....causing all sorts of problems over there. Recently, there have been reports of huge amounts of glacier ice on Greenland and Antarctica beginning to break loose at an accelerated pace....which will cause increased rise of the oceans. Scientists are beginning to acknowledge the increase of Methane being released into the atmosphere as the temperatures rise.....and Methane is a far more dangerous greenhouse gas than all the CO2 being released by human activity.

None of us will see the coming effects, but those living at the end of this century will have to start contending with these changes.
 
fmdog44 said:
Check your facts about the number of storms hitting Houston and it never floods in my are and my condo is rated to withstand Cat 4. If a cat 5 should hit the coastline it quickly reduces to less than a 5 over land.
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I don't give a damn about the "number of storms." I've lived in the Houston area most of my life and there have been plenty of horrible floods and storms. Anyone who would not evacuate a Cat 5 needs to have their head examined.
 
Aunt Marg said:
What amazes me is the lack of strict rebuilding codes.

Seems to me that homes lost in the past would have to be rebuilt out of poured concrete, roofs fashioned out of steel and industrial in strength, and possibly even homes built on concrete pillars.
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There are plenty of building codes with new construction. @fmdog44 has stated that his condo is rated for a Cat 5 storm (the biggest.) Many older homes and buildings were built long before hurricane straps were required on rafters. Also with each storm, homes are flooded where it never happened before.
 
C'est Moi said:
There are plenty of building codes with new construction. @fmdog44 has stated that his condo is rated for a Cat 5 storm (the biggest.) Many older homes and buildings were built long before hurricane straps were required on rafters. Also with each storm, homes are flooded where it never happened before.
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It's too bad homes aren't being rebuilt on concrete or steel pillars to get them up and out of the way of flood waters.

Would be so nice to see additional measures implemented not only to keep homeowners safe, but to mitigate the rebuilding process after a severe storm passes through.
 
Maybe all homes in those areas should be built as arks instead of traditional houses. The government could call it the "Noah (NOAA) Project".

Just kidding!!! I agree that it does seem somewhat insane from the outside looking in, but I do have to go with those who cite that where they live is home. Also, I don't know that they are doing the same thing, expecting a different result. Yes, they are doing the same thing (i.e. continuing to live where their home is), but they don't seem to be waiting for things to change from one year to the next, so they "know the drill" and prepare as best they can each year, just as we do preparing for winter in Minnesota every year. Those who don't live here wonder why we stay when it gets so cold and snowy. Well, it is home. Bad weather is like a drum solo. You know it is coming, but there isn't a darn thing you can do to stop it. o_O

So is that insanity or just that these folks love their home as many of us typically do, wherever we live? Anyway, when I have traveled in the south, that is more of the impression that I get from folks I know there. They don't seem any more insane than the rest of us. :sneaky:

Tony
 
There is probably no totally "safe" place to live. Hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, forest fires, floods, etc., have, and always will occur. All a person can do is try to assess the risks in their given area, and try to prepare ahead of time.

IMO, the most "risky" city in the US would have to be New Orleans. Parts of that city are already below sea level, and as the oceans continue to rise, it will take massive infrastructure projects to keep that city safe. Eventually, ocean front property will probably be available in Baton Rouge.
 
In PA., there's a house that was built on a stream. No, it was not "next" to, but "ON": a stream. One of the basement walls was basement on one side, and flowing water on the other. Every spring, the house flooded out. On TV, they showed a house almost swept away with broken widows, and smashed rooms. The owner was on TV, saying he was going to rebuild. Then his kids were on TV, saying they were going to rebuild. I don't know why anybody would build a home on a stream, and then spend the rest of his life repairing flood damage, but they do.
 
After 30 years, my retired brother and wife picked up and moved from Panama City, FL to the Tennessee mountains. They were hit by a nasty hurricane a couple of years ago and said, "Never again". They did evacuate the storm and their house only sustained minor damage. The whole thing gave my sister in law a deep phobia of storms. When she was a child, their home burned down with everything they owned in it.
Their family made it out alive, but it worked on her mentally.

When my brother and his wife returned to their community after the storm, it was in ruins. Even though their home could be lived in, they chose to rent another place in a town that was spared from the disaster. They later chose Tennessee because of the weather, the lack of hurricanes, and low incidents of tornadoes. They bought a house and moved in, but have been unable to sell their Florida house.

A lot of people are leaving California and moving to Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado. The property values in these state have gone way up because of this exodus of new comers.
 
Aunt Marg said:
It's too bad homes aren't being rebuilt on concrete or steel pillars to get them up and out of the way of flood waters.

Would be so nice to see additional measures implemented not only to keep homeowners safe, but to mitigate the rebuilding process after a severe storm passes through.
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Many homes on the coast are built on pillars. Most of the damage in Louisiana was farther inland.
 

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