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Old Posted Sep 22, 2019, 4:08 AM
ThePhun1 ThePhun1 is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Houston/Galveston
Posts: 1,870
Quote:
Originally Posted by SpawnOfVulcan View Post
As a geographer, with a focus in urban and regional planning, I wonder why people choose to remain in large, disaster-prone metro areas. I'm talking about extreme natural disasters that occur nearly every year. These extreme weather events, that are exacerbated by impervious surfaces in urban areas are obviously going to continue to occur!

What gives?

Certainly demographics play into certain populations' abilities to move out of hazardous areas, but (aside from denial of the existance of climate change) why do certain demographic groups choose to remain in such susceptible areas?

I, of course, live in a state that is highly proned to natural disasters. However, I love Alabama, I love Birmingham, and I love the Tennessee Valley. None of us can truly escape all natural disasters, but when you see the catastrophic flooding like we're seeing with Imelda, I wonder what coastal residents think when the rebuild time after time.

Is Houston just an exceptional city?

Is Miami Beach just too beautiful?

Is Charleston too precious to sacrifice?

Is New Orleans too important of a port to allow the Mississippi to run its natural course?
What, God Forbid, could happen in Houston could be tragic. Many of us no longer evacuate for hurricanes and can't afford hotels for too long. We already saw what happened during Rita and Ike as far as jam packed freeways go.

Low lying areas, various bodies of water right on the coast and millions of people within 50 miles of the coast? Whew...

And yet, after a few recent storms,
I feel confident I could ride out a big storm in Galveston. I hope I don't get overconfident.