Less than 10 days after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida, the state is bracing for another potentially devastating blow from a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, this one a potential Category 3 storm.
Saw an article yesterday interviewing a couple who says they’ll now have to rebuild their beachfront house for the third time, and that their second rebuild wasn’t even finished when Helene sent their house surfing down the street. That their insurance won’t cover it.
I’m flabbergasted that anyone would even consider rebuilding there. You’re lucky to even have insurance – most insurance companies have been fleeing the state.
Here’s a radical idea: don’t rebuild there. This is only going to get worse.
Huston is one of the most populated cities in the US and it’s built on a swamp. Everyone acts super surprised when it floods semi-annually, like it’s some kind of tragedy as opposed to basic physics.
Next thing you know Arizona will start complaining that they’ve run out of water. I mean, yes? You’re in the desert. Your choices were to fix the climate, move, or die. Instead you’ve built a gigantic parking lot of a city.
There should be no aid whatsoever for natural disasters that strike predictably on a regular basis. Human beings aren’t dumb animals. We can communicate. Also Florida, Louisiana, and Texas literally voted for global warming. They got what they voted for so what is the issue?
Actions have consequences. We failed to act for a century. That’s how long we’ve known with absolute certainty that the climate was fucked. We put people on the moon, and we went to war with Iraq, but heaven forbid people stop eating meat, driving their precious cars, or taking pleasure cruises. Zero. Pity.
Little community refused to connect to the public utility grid. Wanted to live the libertarian, no government, get eaten by bears ideal. Local government they were mooching off for water said “Hey, we actually need this for our community. No more mooching.” They could fix the problem by incorporating, but instead they went to the news media.
Worse is the Supreme Court not honoring centuries old treaties in water rights cases for native tribes. These people were promised the land and now the government wants to say the right to water was not part of it.
There are probably some cases where it’s true it was irresponsible to build somewhere. For most people though, they may have been born there; they may have had to move there for work. Denying pity to people who have suffered a tragedy without ever knowing their circumstances is heartless. The world you want to live in would step over you in a minute the moment you fucked up.
Global warming is not a tragedy. It’s a highly predictable FAFO moment. We decided, as a civilization, to do this to ourselves. It’s not an anomaly. We voted for it. People were asked “do you want hurricanes to wash away your houses?” and they said, “yes, please!”
Of course, that’s not true for children and animals, and I have so much sadness for them. But the adults? No. I watched them choose this.
… no I want you to have empathy for people who just lost their homes. It’s OK though. I have no problem letting you go off in your hate filled tizzy. I know nothing I do or say can get through to you. We will see you on the otherside, though. When the, “it could never happen to me” turns into “why doesn’t anyone care?”
You’re right about empathy, and I have plenty of it for the people who didn’t actively choose this. But for those who are talking about rebuilding their home for the third time in a zone most prone to these disasters and simultaneously denying climate change (likely voting for reps who shoot down mitigating measures)? No, they can get fucked. They’re hurting all of us through their wilful ignorance.
Well, no… It’s not hate. It’s apathy. I expended a lot of psychic energy caring over the years and dreading this exact outcome. I stopped eating meat. I didn’t own a car. Then these folks elected Donald Trump. Idk man. Maybe we aren’t meant to help these creatures. Maybe it’s just FAFO.
I was just driving around the beaches of Pinellas County (Tampa Bay area) today. Entire neighborhoods are destroyed. Beach front condos, restaurants and stores, also destroyed. In many areas, anything ground level got flooded/wrecked by storm surge. I saw several boats in places there are not supposed to be boats.
If Tampa Bay takes a direct hit right now it’s going to be really fuckin bad for a lot of people.
What’s also scary is that right now everyone has been piling up debris, ruined appliances and all manor of belongings outside for disposal. Piles ten feet high along every street. All this shit is about to be flying around in hurricane force winds and storm surge. Is a recipe for disaster.
Or more to the point. If you have the money to build a beachfront house, why are you not building it to be virtually indestructible? Like one of those indestructible monolithic dome homes.
We can build concrete structures that will laugh at hurricanes. We can build them with their living areas raised well above the ground so water can simply flow underneath and around them. Sure, it’s more expensive to build this way, but it can be done. And really, I would argue that if you can’t afford to build such a home, you simply cannot afford to live right on the beach.
I used to live in Charleston SC and my boss owned a beach home on Folly Beach - one of two houses there that survived Hurricane Hugo in 1989. It survived because it was elevated on massive concrete pilings that extended 60’ down to bedrock. When it was built in the 1970s it was two streets back from the beach; after Hugo it was beachfront property.
My dumbass boss (a Rush Limbaugh fan, no surprise) had it torn down despite its being in perfect condition because it was too small (it was “just” a two-bedroom, two-bathroom, one-story layout). He built a much larger, conventional foundation house on the lot, which was apparently badly damaged by Hurricane Matthew in 2016, although it apparently survived and has been repaired. Just a matter of time …
I don’t know if this is the case for that couple, but a lot of insurance requires that you rebuild on the same location. We need to change laws so that this isn’t the case anymore. It is a massive problem.
The best way to prepare yourself psychologically for the next fifty years of ecological catastrophe is to cling to this fact and save your pity for people who matter.
Yeah, I don’t get it, except the couple I saw (maybe you saw the same interview, there seem to be several of these) acted like this is just a bad year for weather and they ‘don’t want to think’ about climate change. They at least seem the type who don’t think it’s real.
I feel for rescue units who can’t leave, and who will likely be rescuing these stubborn cunts when the next massive storm of the year hits them.
I mean, you can probably build a house that can reliably survive the conditions there. It’s just gonna be really expensive and may not look all that pretty.
It’s gonna have to handle water up to a certain height and wind-blown debris smashing into it.
Like, think of a lighthouse or flak tower or something.
Sometimes a lighthouse needs to be constructed in the water itself. Wave-washed lighthouses are masonry structures constructed to withstand water impact, such as Eddystone Lighthouse in Britain and the St. George Reef Light of California. In shallower bays, Screw-pile lighthouse ironwork structures are screwed into the seabed and a low wooden structure is placed above the open framework, such as Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse. As screw piles can be disrupted by ice, steel caisson lighthouses such as Orient Point Light are used in cold climates. Orient Long Beach Bar Light (Bug Light) is a blend of a screw pile light that was converted to a caisson light because of the threat of ice damage. Skeletal iron towers with screw-pile foundations were built on the Florida Reef along the Florida Keys, beginning with the Carysfort Reef Light in 1852.
With concrete walls up to 3.5 m (11 ft) thick, their designers considered the towers to be invulnerable to attack by the standard ordnance carried by RAF heavy bombers at the time of their construction.
The Soviets, in their assault on Berlin, found it difficult to inflict significant damage on the flak towers, even with some of the largest Soviet guns, such as the 203 mm M1931 howitzers.
After the war, the demolition of the towers was often considered not feasible and many remain to this day, with some having been converted for alternative use.
I mean a flak tower could be pretty badass to live in. If shit ever hit the fan you’d already be fortified. It would probably look good to an insurer too.
So listen, those flak guns don’t aim below the horizon, so you’re going to need to modify those. Don’t want you going in blind. Like as blind as you would quickly be shooting flak at close range.
I know some people from Clearwater and I think they’d just say “this is our community and our home”. It doesn’t make logical sense, but I’d say a lot about the town a person decides to live in is emotional over practical (unless you move somewhere for a job).
At least don’t fucking rebuild it the same way, with the same materials, as the last half dozen times.
Sink some footings down deep, cast the walls out of concrete (you can still put fancy shit up on the concrete to make it look nice, but the concrete will be a fuckton stronger against wind/water/etc)
Saw an article yesterday interviewing a couple who says they’ll now have to rebuild their beachfront house for the third time, and that their second rebuild wasn’t even finished when Helene sent their house surfing down the street. That their insurance won’t cover it.
I’m flabbergasted that anyone would even consider rebuilding there. You’re lucky to even have insurance – most insurance companies have been fleeing the state.
Here’s a radical idea: don’t rebuild there. This is only going to get worse.
I built it all the same! Just to show em!
It sank into the swamp…
So, I built a second one! That sank into the swamp…
So I built a third one! That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp!
But the fourth one stayed up!
Same mentality…
Huston is one of the most populated cities in the US and it’s built on a swamp. Everyone acts super surprised when it floods semi-annually, like it’s some kind of tragedy as opposed to basic physics.
Next thing you know Arizona will start complaining that they’ve run out of water. I mean, yes? You’re in the desert. Your choices were to fix the climate, move, or die. Instead you’ve built a gigantic parking lot of a city.
There should be no aid whatsoever for natural disasters that strike predictably on a regular basis. Human beings aren’t dumb animals. We can communicate. Also Florida, Louisiana, and Texas literally voted for global warming. They got what they voted for so what is the issue?
Actions have consequences. We failed to act for a century. That’s how long we’ve known with absolute certainty that the climate was fucked. We put people on the moon, and we went to war with Iraq, but heaven forbid people stop eating meat, driving their precious cars, or taking pleasure cruises. Zero. Pity.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/27/arizona-scottsdale-water-cut-off-rio-verde-foothills-drought
Little community refused to connect to the public utility grid. Wanted to live the libertarian, no government, get eaten by bears ideal. Local government they were mooching off for water said “Hey, we actually need this for our community. No more mooching.” They could fix the problem by incorporating, but instead they went to the news media.
Worse is the Supreme Court not honoring centuries old treaties in water rights cases for native tribes. These people were promised the land and now the government wants to say the right to water was not part of it.
There are probably some cases where it’s true it was irresponsible to build somewhere. For most people though, they may have been born there; they may have had to move there for work. Denying pity to people who have suffered a tragedy without ever knowing their circumstances is heartless. The world you want to live in would step over you in a minute the moment you fucked up.
Global warming is not a tragedy. It’s a highly predictable FAFO moment. We decided, as a civilization, to do this to ourselves. It’s not an anomaly. We voted for it. People were asked “do you want hurricanes to wash away your houses?” and they said, “yes, please!”
Of course, that’s not true for children and animals, and I have so much sadness for them. But the adults? No. I watched them choose this.
Global warming is a tragedy. The greatest tragedy of our time.
My point is our culture needs more empathy. Outrage and anger, there’s enough of that. Empathy, even for those who made a mistake.
Uhh, you want me to have empathy for the people who are actively attempting to end all sentient life on this planet? I’m good.
… no I want you to have empathy for people who just lost their homes. It’s OK though. I have no problem letting you go off in your hate filled tizzy. I know nothing I do or say can get through to you. We will see you on the otherside, though. When the, “it could never happen to me” turns into “why doesn’t anyone care?”
You’re right about empathy, and I have plenty of it for the people who didn’t actively choose this. But for those who are talking about rebuilding their home for the third time in a zone most prone to these disasters and simultaneously denying climate change (likely voting for reps who shoot down mitigating measures)? No, they can get fucked. They’re hurting all of us through their wilful ignorance.
Well, no… It’s not hate. It’s apathy. I expended a lot of psychic energy caring over the years and dreading this exact outcome. I stopped eating meat. I didn’t own a car. Then these folks elected Donald Trump. Idk man. Maybe we aren’t meant to help these creatures. Maybe it’s just FAFO.
I was just driving around the beaches of Pinellas County (Tampa Bay area) today. Entire neighborhoods are destroyed. Beach front condos, restaurants and stores, also destroyed. In many areas, anything ground level got flooded/wrecked by storm surge. I saw several boats in places there are not supposed to be boats.
If Tampa Bay takes a direct hit right now it’s going to be really fuckin bad for a lot of people.
What’s also scary is that right now everyone has been piling up debris, ruined appliances and all manor of belongings outside for disposal. Piles ten feet high along every street. All this shit is about to be flying around in hurricane force winds and storm surge. Is a recipe for disaster.
That’s terrifying… I hope you and your family are able to get somewhere safe for the time being
Or more to the point. If you have the money to build a beachfront house, why are you not building it to be virtually indestructible? Like one of those indestructible monolithic dome homes.
We can build concrete structures that will laugh at hurricanes. We can build them with their living areas raised well above the ground so water can simply flow underneath and around them. Sure, it’s more expensive to build this way, but it can be done. And really, I would argue that if you can’t afford to build such a home, you simply cannot afford to live right on the beach.
I used to live in Charleston SC and my boss owned a beach home on Folly Beach - one of two houses there that survived Hurricane Hugo in 1989. It survived because it was elevated on massive concrete pilings that extended 60’ down to bedrock. When it was built in the 1970s it was two streets back from the beach; after Hugo it was beachfront property.
My dumbass boss (a Rush Limbaugh fan, no surprise) had it torn down despite its being in perfect condition because it was too small (it was “just” a two-bedroom, two-bathroom, one-story layout). He built a much larger, conventional foundation house on the lot, which was apparently badly damaged by Hurricane Matthew in 2016, although it apparently survived and has been repaired. Just a matter of time …
Even in UK, houses are made of brick and concrete which have the ability to withstand flood and hurricane at a certain level
Good job y’all don’t have earthquakes.
That’s why earthquake was not mentioned ^… And no Ivan earthquake seems to hate the place so they don’t bother
I don’t know if this is the case for that couple, but a lot of insurance requires that you rebuild on the same location. We need to change laws so that this isn’t the case anymore. It is a massive problem.
literal sunk cost fallacy
Sunk Coast Fallacy
We’ve been using the sunk cost fallacy for too long to give up on it now.
Slow clap
They also had sunk all their savings into that rebuild. How do you think about trying a third time when you have nothing to even work with?
this might be a shock, but: in florida there are a lot of stupid people with a lot of money but don’t know what the fuck they’re doing with money
these people likely also bought spray painted gold sneakers not too long ago
The best way to prepare yourself psychologically for the next fifty years of ecological catastrophe is to cling to this fact and save your pity for people who matter.
Yeah, I don’t get it, except the couple I saw (maybe you saw the same interview, there seem to be several of these) acted like this is just a bad year for weather and they ‘don’t want to think’ about climate change. They at least seem the type who don’t think it’s real.
I feel for rescue units who can’t leave, and who will likely be rescuing these stubborn cunts when the next massive storm of the year hits them.
Honestly this is great news because then I don’t have to feel bad about them. Kinda uplifting actually.
Get more people to donate to your GoFundMe campaign, I guess?
They are morons and refuse to do the smart thing no matter how much it costs the government and insurance company.
I mean, you can probably build a house that can reliably survive the conditions there. It’s just gonna be really expensive and may not look all that pretty.
It’s gonna have to handle water up to a certain height and wind-blown debris smashing into it.
Like, think of a lighthouse or flak tower or something.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lighthouse
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flak_tower
I mean a flak tower could be pretty badass to live in. If shit ever hit the fan you’d already be fortified. It would probably look good to an insurer too.
I would love to be a fly on the wall when an insurer has to come up with a policy for a veritable fortress with 11ft thick reinforced concrete walls.
I would love to be the local concrete supplier because it would be north of $5.8m in just concrete.
Buy me a flak tower in Berlin daddy. Rescue me… and my wife and cats.
only if it comes with the original flak guns and a good supply of ammo.
Need something to keep those damn kids off my grass.
So listen, those flak guns don’t aim below the horizon, so you’re going to need to modify those. Don’t want you going in blind. Like as blind as you would quickly be shooting flak at close range.
Its not about being effective.
its about sending a message.
I think I had seen this on lemmy first, that they turned one of the flak towers into a hotel.
Living in a lighthouse sounds great. If you open windows at the top it’ll pull air up through the whole structure for cooling.
It would be cool, but you would also have to contend with the rest of Florinda.
You mean a house that looks like a cybertruck?
I know some people from Clearwater and I think they’d just say “this is our community and our home”. It doesn’t make logical sense, but I’d say a lot about the town a person decides to live in is emotional over practical (unless you move somewhere for a job).
Well it might be where you live but there ain’t gonna be any home or community there much longer
At least don’t fucking rebuild it the same way, with the same materials, as the last half dozen times.
Sink some footings down deep, cast the walls out of concrete (you can still put fancy shit up on the concrete to make it look nice, but the concrete will be a fuckton stronger against wind/water/etc)