BeanoNYC
Active member
I'm not sure about the majority of responses here. What about people who live in tornado or earthquake zones. Should they be entitled to better relief than those living near the beach?
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Ike.....rebuild or not?
- Thread starter deadheadskier
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dmc
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It's not very probable that your house will be knocked down by a tornado or earth quakes... And there's no warning when they hit..
Hurricanes hit the Texas coast all the time usually in September... It's highly likely that your house will get knocked down... Of trashed...
Geoff
Well-known member
I don't think the government should be in the oceanfront flood insurance business. The insurance creates irrational behavior. It's nonsense to encourage people to construct expensive waterfront housing in hurricane alley. Unfortunately, it's already happened and I think it's unlikely that we'll ever see people paying true market price for flood insurance. Florida is a swing state. It would be political suicide.
Certainly a valid point, but with those homes, it's not like you can move them a mile inland or 30 feet above sea level and the risk of massive damage is reduced exponentially. Much more difficult to predict the exact point of where an earthquake or tornado will hit as well and nearly impossible to forecast.
Living near the beach, no big deal. Living ON the beach, you deserve what you get and should be responsible for paying for any damage to your property.
I look at my parents place in Florida. They're 2 miles inland...10 minute drive to the beach whenever they want it. Their home would sustain some damage in a hurricane, considerable if in the direct path...BUT....damage resultant from storm surge would be impossible. Those storm surge zones are the areas that I don't think we should be building and continously re-building every time a storm hits.
Now the one part of my belief that has holes in it is that cities like Boston and Manhattan could sustain major damage with a 26 foot surge like Ike had.
BeanoNYC
Active member
Well, that's part of my point. I live on a barrier beach that's part of NYC (12 miles from downtown Manhattan.) If we get hit you guys don't think that we're not entitled to the same relief as other "disaster" areas?
dmc
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Historically - Hurricanes don't slam into Queens that often...
Houses at the jersey shore get trashed during 'noreasters.. LI doesn't seem to get that....
It just seems safer...
How's your house rated? Do you have flood insurance?
Well, I can relate here. My parents have a place on North Beach in Chatham, MA, it is on stilts and is now on an island. We did lose the original house in the "perfect storm". We did rebuild w/ the insurance money that was received. We can't get flood insurance again, and have taken on the risks as individuals. It is all a crap shoot, who knows how much longer the house we rebuilt in 93 will last. We have about 4+ or - acres, if we lose the house again, will we rebuild, NO. It is a risk that is willing to be taken and we can walk away with the memories that we have had out there. The cost, envior b.s., etc... is not worth it with the island issue we have now. Our beach broke for the mainland in April 06, before that we had vehicle access, now we do not, boat only. So for this reason we would lick our wounds and walk away.
BeanoNYC
Active member
In in an AE flood zone. (High Risk) I'm renting at the moment but purchasing either here or Long Beach.
We've taken our licks in the past. in the 1890's the Peninsula completely disappeared. An island that housed summer homes for most of Tammany Hall, including Boss Tweed was wiped off the map a few years later. A hurricane with hit an East Facing Jersey Shore beach different than a South Facing Long Island Beach...luck of the draw...won't always be in our favor. The sea met the bay here not too many years ago...
ComeBackMudPuddles
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But, there's "tornado alley" in the midwest and all of the west coast is earthquake-prone....I think it's tough to draw the lines, especially when you're talking about public money helping people.
BeanoNYC
Active member
Ding ding ding ding...we have a winner.
I don't believe in relief, if you live in a flood prone area, get flood insurance, add earthquake to your homeowners, etc... If you can't afford it or obtain it due to previous claims, etc.. you are on your own. These are all costs that come with homeownership. For example, on my homeowners here on the Cape, I have a 2% wind/hail deductible on my policy, anything wind/hail related the deductible is 2% of the dwelling value. I know of this responsibility and will take care of it if need be. Just like all of these people in Louisaina w/ no flood insurance, the government made the insurance companies pay for flood from the homeowners policy even though it was excluded. If you live below sea level, buy flood insurance, if you can't afford it, sell your house. Insurance companies have smartened up, if you live in a flood zone, standard insurance companies won't even provide a policy for homeowners (even though the flood is excluded) because of this, they don't want the finger pointed at them later.
People need to take responsibility for themselves. We all go to work everyday, pay our bills and bust our butts. I think I would be better off not pay my mortgage all winter, take 10 trips to BC with the money I save and when I come back in the spring, see if there is a relief plan for me.
People need to take responsibility for themselves. We all go to work everyday, pay our bills and bust our butts. I think I would be better off not pay my mortgage all winter, take 10 trips to BC with the money I save and when I come back in the spring, see if there is a relief plan for me.
ComeBackMudPuddles
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Kind of tough to compare hail damage to having your house and belongings completely wiped out by a freak storm....
Anyway, I think one of the big problems with Katrina was that insurance companies were systematically screwing their customers, attempting to characterize hurricane-related damage as wind-related when people only had flood insurance and flood-related when people didn't have flood insurance.
More generally, I think society has an obligation to take care of others in extraordinary times. We're not all hermits looking out just for ourselves, IMO. Most people that were helped were honest people that needed a helping hand.
riverc0il
New member
Without getting political, I am very much of a social assistance mind set. However, mass scale bail outs for people who have done the wrong thing sends the wrong message to the people who have done the right thing. I am very much about helping people who at least try to help themselves. Just like with the housing crisis, if people know there are government bail outs if they make bad decisions, they will make bad decisions again. Worse yet, people who did the right thing will be more likely to tempt fate next because, hey, why not?
Regarding other natural disasters... I think there is a BIG difference between million dollar homes along the coast versus single wide trailers in tornado alley. There were a lot of people that were devastated with Katrina yet they try to rebuild New Orleans. I hope insurance costs an arm and a leg. And I hope if it happens again, no one begs for help if they didn't have insurance. I think the insurance system is rather crummy as there are not enough financial rewards for people who never make claims (health insurance being the absolute worst of the bunch). But it is the best system we got.
