If you are not heartbroken watching the videos coming in from the Virgin Islands & Puerto Rico, then this blog is not for you. We are in the worst hurricane season since the back to back active seasons of 2004-05. The destruction has been phenomenal. Call it fate, but today I received an invitation to the National Disaster Resilience Conference in Atlanta Oct. 25-27. The purpose of the conference is to…” spotlight topics that will focus on the latest in science, policy & practice to create more resilient buildings & disaster-resilient communities…” If we don’t learn anything from disasters, then we are doomed to repeat them. Several blogs back, I took some heat for suggesting local government (thru their building codes)ban mobile homes/trailers in hurricane prone locations. I suggested local governments, with some help from the Feds., create(build) hurricane resistant apartments for lower income folks/workers who want to live in areas where hurricanes are part of life. The lesson from Irma in the Keys & Maria is simple…we MUST rebuild stronger. We just can’t allow trailers back on the Keys or contractors to rebuild homes that don’t meet strict construction standards. Is it more expensive? Absolutely. But do we keep reimbursing residents over & over again at the expense of all taxpayers? I often wondered why don’t insurance companies offer incentives (much lower premiums) to those who build stronger? I spent thousands for stronger windows & functional shutters on my home to keep the wind out. Did my insurance company lower my rates? Nope. Seems we have the situation backwards. We have the technical knowledge & building materials that will allow homes to withstand the wind forces of a major hurricane. What we lack is the will to change.
Maria is quickly regaining her previous structure lost in the journey over Puerto Rico. She is likely to be back at Cat. 3 before daybreak. The real question is, will she impact the U.S. East Coast? Maybe, but remember, as she moves farther to the north she’ll encounter cooler water temps plus increasing upper wind shear. Both guarantee Maria will not be a major storm IF her path veers back westward closer to the Carolinas. Most models turn her out to sea to keep any major impacts offshore. So we look ahead and find that no model develops a storm in the Gulf in the 7-10 time frame. That’ll take us into October and you know what that means. With cold fronts coming, our chances for a big storm diminish to near zero. But this is a strange season and I suggest we keep alert until those fronts start arriving. The “Fat Lady” still has not left her house. Stay tuned!
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