The same question was raised with New Orleans. I think it depends on the geography. The high risk areas should be looked at very closely before there is any financial support for the rebuild from the federal government. I think if the people have the money from insurance or otherwise and want to rebuild, go ahead. If they want the government to do it, I say no.

 

This is exactly like the video they aired continuously at every newscast during Florence. If you are stupid enough not to evacuate and risk your life and emergency personnel lives then shame on you. Our friends in Southport North Carolina got lucky during Florence. I hope their good luck and our prayers get them through Michael. Be safe everyone.

 

 

Since Katrina, we have only been able to get wind and hail coverage through the state "Wind Pool" program but our premiums reflect our risk. We are "over the tracks" and it would take a 50' storm surge to reach our house, but my escrow payment is more than the P&I on our house and the bulk of that is insurance. We also have flood insurance although we are not in a flood zone. Just in case.

It seems reasonable to me for insurers to cover property rebuilt after a storm, as long as the premiums reflect the risk and home owners are willing to accept those premiums. It is NOT fair to jack premiums up on recently hit areas while other high risk regions pay less than what would be justified by the risk inherent in their location. The idea behind insurance is to spread the cost of claims over a large cohort of policy holders with similar risk.

 

When is it not risk but a known problem?
risk infers an element of the unknown as to likelihood.
whereas a problem asserts that an event is going to happen.
So if you are in a very high probability area, is it a risk or a problem?

 

In my view, Katrina and New Orleans was a known problem. In 1984 Joe Canizaro, a prominent New Orleans real estate developer invited my company to joint venture an industrial park to be built on an Exxon/Mobile site he had purchased. I sent my lead project manager and our civil engineering consultant down to meet with the Corps of Engineers and an environmental consultant. The state of the levies, surge management and the likelihood of future improvements was so negative that our civil engineering consultant flatly told me that we ought to pass on the deal. So, the inability of the systems to handle a large storm were really known twenty years before it happened.

Before I had time to gently tell Joe that we were going to pass on the deal, the environmental study came back with lots of problems that had not been disclosed to Joe prior to his purchase. Luckily, he was able to sue and then negotiate a wind up and full refund plus some damages.

 

On Katrina, The weather channel had the special program about hazards to big cities including New Orleans, in the can and ready to go when She hit.