Do you know what Storm Surge is? I assume so?
Of course I know what a storm surge is. :roll:
Considering that is usually some of the most damaging portions of a hurricane, it needs to be dealt with. Proper drainage. Homes and buildings along coastal regions taking that into account. There is a WORLD of things that can be done to deal with storm surge. Sea Walls. Storm surge barriers. They build this stuff in Europe. The problem to get past is price tags here. Of course....when tallied next to loss of life and damage costs WITHOUT protection...I think it becomes less of an issue.
Okay, Rhode Island just happens to have a hurricane barrier, but are you kidding? Okay, proper drainage and perhaps changing the way any new homes and/or businesses on the coast are built, but the rest of your stuff is just a pipe dream. Let's be realistic here.
Clearly nothing was learned from Katrina. PREPERATION is advancing your cities infrastructure to deal with potential threats. Or having a proper evacuation plan that gets people out. Or incrasing technical knowledge for workers so that they can better respond to an incident like this.
We did have evacuation plans and shelters as well.
I am fully aware of what exists on the east coast in historic terms. Do you want to price "historic sites and communties" and include loss of life on that tag? I am a history major and a history nut. I love going to historic sites. I won't put the importance of a site over someone's life though.
It doesn't matter what you think. That is never going to happen and is just kind of ridiculous when you think about it. How about we wrap houses in bubble wrap too?
This storm wasn't really a surprise. It was simply a matter of time. The history channel has been predicting this thing for YEARS with all the disaster shows. It will happen again. The question is...did the North East learn a lesson? I know that may seem heartless, but that is coming from someone who lives in an area in Florida that hasn't. It has been lucky recently, but didn't pay attention when Katrina edged the area. Mobile homes were destroyed, entire tracts of land decimated. It was terrible. There wasn't enough to learn. An island I frequent took 2 direct hits from hurricanes and finally stopped building large asphault roads that get washed away. They also backed a major highway up from the coast after it lost several miles of road.
The point of the matter is that no matter how prepared you are, that is NO guarantee for anything at all.