"Mark S. Holden" wrote in message
...
Diverd4777 wrote:

Quite sad to realize thounsands are homeless, scores dead or injured
and millions without Power;
Not pretty..
I forget at what speed Sheet metal starts flying around..
;
Possibly, over time - turning the " 100 year" Storm surge areas into
Public
land
might forstall future disasters, or looking at what other Storm / Flood
prone
areas
( Midwest & New Jersey ) have done to alleviate loss of life may help
in the
future..

Very Few structures can withstand the force of a Hurricane..
snip

Hi

A problem with the idea of having the government buy land subject to storm
surges is it's often the most desirable land in a community because it has a
great view.

The two beach front communities I'm familiar with are Stone Harbor NJ, and
Naples Fl. In either town, a beach front lot is worth several million
dollars. It would put a tremendous strain on tax payers because they'd need
to come up with barrels of money
while removing the most valuable land from the tax base. Most owners are
not apt to sell voluntarily.

Most communities where flooding is a problem have updated building codes
so new construction is less at risk.

New construction that weathered the storm well doesn't make great news
coverage.

Regards,

Mark

Right Mark, and as the analysis comes in, it is evident that the winds
outside the eyewall were a lot less than 140+ mph as earlier suspected. The
destruction of a mobile home park is a poor example of wind force - they
start to completely unravel at winds +75mph. A brand new subdivision of
single family homes is just across the canal (a couple hundred yards) from
one of the destroyed mobile home parks - and not one single home suffered
any damage at all. All fixed residential construction in Florida has been
150mph certified for years, and homes on waterfront must be built on
survivable concrete pilings. As the older homes are eventially replaced,
there will be less and less damage from hurricanes - except for those mobile
trailer-homes, which are fragile even when upgraded.

Connected to Sanbel Is by causeway, is Captiva Is, where the eyewall
crossed. The resort community of South Seas Plantation (visited there twice
by boat) was almost completely destroyed. There is a 20min NBC-2 video
series that surveyed the place Saturday and I hardly recognize any of the
original buildings. So it's fair to say that the winds were in excess of
140mph there, since the 150mph roofs are notably missing. But every person,
and every boat, was evacuated.

Jack