Real Estate developers Increased Hurricane Ian's Devastation in Florida, according to News Report

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Hurricane Ian tore through Florida and The Carolinas last week, leaving at least 94 people in Florida, and four people in North Carolina, dead. The 150-mile-per-hour winds and extreme storm surges blew buildings apart, flooded houses, and knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of homes.

Even without human intervention (climate change aside), the category four storm would have been devastating. But a new report from the Grist, a non-profit climate journalism organization, points at least some of the blame for the devastation at real estate developers.

For as long as anyone can remember, mangroves and draining swamps protected the Florida coastline from severe storms. But as oceanfront property heated up, so did the demand for clearing out natural protective resources and building dangerously close to water.

The new builds, according to the Grist, placed tens of thousands of homes directly in the path of the Hurricane’s destruction.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/real-estate-developers-increased-hurricane-221000066.html

[TheRealNorth]

1. C'mon now

Add water access/pier to a property, and it doubles in price. Why should the real estate developer care what happens 20 years down the road.

[DinahMoeHum]

2. Here's the Grist article. . .

https://grist.org/extreme-weather/hurricane-ian-real-estate-developers-canals-cape-coral/

[localroger]

3. Same thing happened in New Orleans East in the 1960's-70's

Much of what happened in Katrina can be laid directly at overdevelopment of the protective wetlands which helped a lot when Betsy hit, as bad as Betsy was.