Saturday, September 20, 2008
Rebuilding After The Big One
I had to add my $.02 worth after the latest hurricanes of the current season. I was intrigued by the Lone House Still Standing in Gilchrist. It was in all the news media. You can find it with a few seconds of googling, if you don't already know about it. The owners' house was destroyed after Hurricane Rita, and then they rebuilt with an engineering firm supervising the builder. The photos circulating around the Internet show a scene of total destruction - no trace of any houses on the island, except for this one house, which looks completely unscathed, except for some railings and decking that were blown away. Eventually they found the owners. It turns out there is major interior damage to the house, and it may have to come down. All that money, all that extra-tough material, will all end up in a landfill somewhere. Yet we still hear about coastal communities where building codes are being toughened so houses will be able to withstand the worst storms.
It probably makes sense to mandate that buildings in hurricane-prone states be built to withstand the most powerful hurricanes. And it probably makes sense to prohibit any construction right next to the water. But that isn't likely to happen. People will insist that they are entitled to their dream of a house right next to the ocean. And the potential for all that property tax money will be too great for the towns to resist. But we have seen what happens when houses next to the ocean are built to even to most demanding specs. The owners of that lone house would have been better off if their house had been swept out to sea. Now they have to deal with the expense of having it torn down, or even worse, having it repaired, when it will never be quite the same.
Here's a different approach. We'll allow building right next to the water, but the building codes will require that houses be built of the flimsiest material, which must be biodegradable and environmentally friendly. We'll assume that any hurricane with full hurricane-force winds will completely sweep these houses away. Our goal is to ensure that the wreckage of the house does the minimum of environmental damage. We also ensure that the house will be relatively cheap. This will help hold down the insurance payouts. Some owners might choose to go without any insurance. Beachside communities will go back to being what they were in the early days of the twentieth century - just simple cabins where a family could go for an occasional weekend or maybe a full week during the summer, to relax near the water. Some resourceful people might figure out how to make a collapsible house that they can take down and load into the back of a truck when they need to leave quickly. It would be nice to provide no electrical service for these houses but this probably would not be practical. Some people would use generators; the rest would protest loudly. Instead, I propose that electrical hookups be restricted to a relatively small number of amps - just enough for a refrigerator and a few lights.
Oh yes - another thing - no stilts. Again, we are trying to make the message clear that you will NOT ride out the next Big One. We're not trying to fight Nature. We're assuming Nature will win. We just want to cut our losses. The beach also becomes a refuge from the class system. There will be no McMansions to declare who is the wealthiest person in town.
How about it, Galveston? You're starting almost from scratch. Now is the best time.
It probably makes sense to mandate that buildings in hurricane-prone states be built to withstand the most powerful hurricanes. And it probably makes sense to prohibit any construction right next to the water. But that isn't likely to happen. People will insist that they are entitled to their dream of a house right next to the ocean. And the potential for all that property tax money will be too great for the towns to resist. But we have seen what happens when houses next to the ocean are built to even to most demanding specs. The owners of that lone house would have been better off if their house had been swept out to sea. Now they have to deal with the expense of having it torn down, or even worse, having it repaired, when it will never be quite the same.
Here's a different approach. We'll allow building right next to the water, but the building codes will require that houses be built of the flimsiest material, which must be biodegradable and environmentally friendly. We'll assume that any hurricane with full hurricane-force winds will completely sweep these houses away. Our goal is to ensure that the wreckage of the house does the minimum of environmental damage. We also ensure that the house will be relatively cheap. This will help hold down the insurance payouts. Some owners might choose to go without any insurance. Beachside communities will go back to being what they were in the early days of the twentieth century - just simple cabins where a family could go for an occasional weekend or maybe a full week during the summer, to relax near the water. Some resourceful people might figure out how to make a collapsible house that they can take down and load into the back of a truck when they need to leave quickly. It would be nice to provide no electrical service for these houses but this probably would not be practical. Some people would use generators; the rest would protest loudly. Instead, I propose that electrical hookups be restricted to a relatively small number of amps - just enough for a refrigerator and a few lights.
Oh yes - another thing - no stilts. Again, we are trying to make the message clear that you will NOT ride out the next Big One. We're not trying to fight Nature. We're assuming Nature will win. We just want to cut our losses. The beach also becomes a refuge from the class system. There will be no McMansions to declare who is the wealthiest person in town.
How about it, Galveston? You're starting almost from scratch. Now is the best time.
# posted by Ray @ 15:48 
