When are people going to wake up?

so how much money does it cost to run beach replenishment on the entire east coast every year? and how much does it cost to buy out all the property within 3 blocks of the beach along the entire coast? and while we're at it and discussing possible solutions, how much does it cost to build jetties and new sea walls?

 

the obvious solution here is this: let people build on the oceanfront after informing them of the risks and there will be no taxpayer bailout. if an insurance company will sell them a policy then good for them'. no need whatsoever to get government involved.

 

No it's not, it all starts with the those who design and build in the areas that were destroyed, i mean, unless you are ok with having the same uneducated people build the place back up in the same way as before. In no way, should that storm have caused so much damage. Around here most of us don't even go to Lowes or Home Depot, or the grocery store to stock up on storms unless it's a Cat 2 or higher. Sure, she was slow mover, but by no means was it anything NEAR a Katrina or Andrew. I feel for everybody affected by it, but you guys make it sound like it was the storm of the century, it wasn't, it's piss poor design and construction.

 

don't forget though that most of the NJ shore is old (pre and immediately post WWII) construction.

 

wrong...the ONLY decision is to subsidize rebuilding of the destroyed home with taxpayer dollars, and that is not that hard.

 

and the cost of buying that property would be 10x that.

 

Right exactly, sooo knowing this fun little fact, you would think these places would need to be brought up to current code standards no? You gotta adapt, we as humans know WAY more today than we did in the post WWI times. The building codes in Florida are constantly being re-written as we learn more with every passing storm. These same lessons can be applied to New York / New Jersey, but it all starts with educating those people who are responsible. It took a hurricane like Andrew to wake people up around here, not to say it couldn't happen again here, because i'm sure one day it will, but you can minimize the damage with smart design and construction.

 

yeah that's what Ive been saying all along. There is NO need for any government led scheme, let people make decisions and then deal with any possible consequences....

 

For rebuilding yes. NO for homes that were not damaged.

 

People who live on the water, or close to it, know the risks and have insurance. This whole thread started because you wanted to rant and rave about how we should all move back off the ocean. If you don't live on the ocean, just stop talking. We're here, we like it, we're staying.

 

So just wait for the home to get completely destroyed before you bring it up to code standard? Why would you want to lose a historic home like that? Makes more sense to me to go ahead and take the initiative and make it more structurally sound for an event like this in the future, that way you don't have to rebuild from scratch, you just might need to do some repairs instead. Sure you might lose some of that "old feel" but at least you'll still have your home for years to come. Actually, if you hire the right guy for the job you can still preserve that older feel while bring it up to code standards, and nobody would know the difference.

 

People who live near the water in flood prone areas get government subsidized flood insurance. If you want to stay, you're welcome to stay, but you should pay for your own insurance. This alone would cause a lot of people to rethink their decision to own a home near the water. I'm not sure what the subsidized rate is, but I imagine it's pennies on the dollar compared to what a private insurance company would charge to insure that risk.

 

It all depends on the area. Every island or ocean front land has hot spots prone to breaching and flooding. These areas should not be built on period. A significant Dune system that has trees will do wonders for the surrounding area. We all ready know all of these hot spots and so does the govt. Its time to use common sense...