Ian Aftermath....

[PhatOrange]

I don't disagree at all. If someone wants to live on the Gulf Coast and assume the risk, that's entirely their choice. It's a gorgeous part of the country. All I'm saying is the government (i.e. FEMA) shouldn't be subsidizing the risk.

That's ridiculous. There is a lot of things my tax money shouldn't be subsidizing but I have no choice. What was said above, providing aid does not have to mean making people whole who chose not to insure. FEMA can and should provide temporary shelter, food, power, sanitation etc.

 

[Eric15]

FEMA can and should provide temporary shelter, food, power, sanitation etc.

Of course they should. What FEMA shouldn’t be doing is funding the rebuilding of homes in highly vulnerable flood areas.

 

[orange79]

We dropped off some homemade chicken wings and dessert stuff for the lineman working their asses off trying to get power back on to everyone in Florida. Pictures below are of the encampment that sprung up overnight at the Venice airport. Amazing!

Interior of one of two mess tents with AC, TVs and cell service.

Sleeping trailers.

 

[orange79]

A couple more pics.

 

[FrancoPizza]

Should everybody move to Syracuse ??

YES

 

[EnviroSciGuy]

Does anyone have a copy of The Daily Worker I can borrow

Sorry, I refuse to name names.

 

[newmexicuse]

YES

And u think traffic is bad now !!! ‍

 

[OrangeDW]

Does anyone have a copy of The Daily Worker I can borrow

 

[Shenexon]

Of course they should. What FEMA shouldn’t be doing is funding the rebuilding of homes in highly vulnerable flood areas.

When I first started working with FEMA, the maximum award for Individual Assistance disaster assistance was $5000. If you owned your home and it could be made safe, sanitary, and secure for up to $5000, that was your award. If not, you received up to $5000 for rental assistance. The maximum for owners and renters was kind of the same. When I left, the maximum award for owners generally was $25,000 ($10k for real property, $15k for personal property) with no requirement that the award be sufficient to make your home liveable. Awards were the government contribution for uninsured losses. The mission changed.

In general, I think the real mission was and is to pump enough money into disaster areas that the impact of the disasters isn't permanent. There are complex rules & processes in place to determine eligibility for individual awards, with flood insurance requirements added for awards made for damages in certain flood zones. The contracts for inspection contracting firms was in the many hundreds of millions of dollars 20 years ago. I suspect it's more now. I still think the most efficient way to provide assistance would be to dump pallets of cash from C-130s. It's incredibly expensive to administer disaster assistance programs.

Much of the money spent on disaster assistance is given to states and localities for repairs to roads & other infrastructure. Assistance to individuals gets widely publicized, but public assistance is probably more helpful to regions in limiting the long term impact on their economic health. Florida will need all they can get.

 

[capeorange]

I am tired of the government bailing out irresponsible people with tax dollars. Only 20 percent of those who chose to live in the affected area had flood insurance. Why should the rest of America bail out the irresponsible 80 percent. Likewise with forgiving student loan debt. I know countless students and parents who worked their butts off and sacrificed in order to minimize and/or repay student loans. Why should they now be paying for loan scofflaws? What has happened to the idea of taking responsibility for one's choices?

As someone who has been paying for flood insurance for many years, I wholeheartedly agree.
I've complained about the price every year but now I am sooo glad that I have it.
I have damaged sheet rock throughout and my home will be undergoing mold remediation. Maybe I've paid more into it than I will receive in claims and maybe not. I'm just glad that I'm insured and I don't expect a handout.

 

[Shenexon]

As someone who has been paying for flood insurance for many years, I wholeheartedly agree.
I've complained about the price every year but now I am sooo glad that I have it.
I have damaged sheet rock throughout and my home will be undergoing mold remediation. Maybe I've paid more into it than I will receive in claims and maybe not. I'm just glad that I'm insured and I don't expect a handout.

I think one result will be another rewrite of flood zone maps in damaged areas. It takes events to define the areas that are really at risk from flooding, and the dwellings that should be covered by flood insurance. Maps only get updated as things happen. Disaster awards in specific zones included the first year of flood insurance but many folks didn't really get that the requirement to maintain flood insurance was permanent. It stays with the property. One part of FEMA, Mitigation, would help pay to elevate homes subject to repeated storm surge. They'd also pay to elevate furnaces & water heaters if they were flooded. Though Hurricane storm surge is dramatic, flooding is widespread throughout the US at irregular intervals.

 

[Ghost]

As someone who has been paying for flood insurance for many years, I wholeheartedly agree.
I've complained about the price every year but now I am sooo glad that I have it.
I have damaged sheet rock throughout and my home will be undergoing mold remediation. Maybe I've paid more into it than I will receive in claims and maybe not. I'm just glad that I'm insured and I don't expect a handout.

Good on you! It's quite amazing to see so many people without insurance just hoping for a handout now. It's about owning your decisions, and accepting the consequences no matter what the issue!

 

[capeorange]

I think one result will be another rewrite of flood zone maps in damaged areas. It takes events to define the areas that are really at risk from flooding, and the dwellings that should be covered by flood insurance. Maps only get updated as things happen. Disaster awards in specific zones included the first year of flood insurance but many folks didn't really get that the requirement to maintain flood insurance was permanent. It stays with the property. One part of FEMA, Mitigation, would help pay to elevate homes subject to repeated storm surge. They'd also pay to elevate furnaces & water heaters if they were flooded. Though Hurricane storm surge is dramatic, flooding is widespread throughout the US at irregular intervals.

Good point on elevating furnaces and water heaters. My neighbor paid 18k for a whole house generator that got flooded and useless. Our power just came on tonight and his generator was finally repaired just before the power came on. Elevation requirements have increased over the years in Cape Coral and many of the new homes are built above the minimum requirements.