Bold and creative solutions are needed in the Panhandle after Hurricane Michael
Opinion piece by Craig Fugate.

Devastation Endures in Panhandle After Hurricane Michael. A drive through Mexico Beach tells visitors all they need to know about what happened in the small coastal town: large empty slabs of land, no gas stations, no sit-down restaurants and lots of food trailers set up.

Hurricane Michael recovery efforts point to the power of local generosity after overlooked disasters.

The aftermath of other big storms like Sandy and Katrina have made it clear that the recovery process takes years to complete, with the burden falling on local nonprofits once the sense of urgency outside the immediate area dissipates.

In the largely rural Florida counties where Hurricane Michael hit hard, a few nonprofits are leading the way with rebuilding efforts that bring local religious congregations, businesses, governments and independent organizations together. These new networks are coordinating efforts by national, regional and local organizations that bring their own expertise and resources.

From Govtech.com, this article titled Hurricane Michael’s Recovery Lessons for a Panama City Manager. Among the lessons learned in Panama City as a result of the storm is the inadequacy of the widely accepted guidance that people need to have water, food and other resources to sustain themselves for three days after a hurricane.

In the article there is mention of the principles of New Urbanism. The Diva had to look it up. See this account of New Urbanism from the Michigan Land Use Institute.

Sept. 18: One more article on the slow and painful recovery ongoing in the FL Panhandle.

Hurricane Michael Cost This Military Base About $5 Billion, Just One of 2018’s Weather Disasters. Major hurricanes, devastating wildfires, a drought and a series of extreme storms ran up the count of billion-dollar U.S. climate and weather disasters.

Hurricane Michael Cost This Military Base About $5 Billion, Just One of 2018’s Weather Disasters. Major hurricanes, devastating wildfires, a drought and a series of extreme storms ran up the count of billion-dollar U.S. climate and weather disasters.

Hurricane Michael showed how woefully unprepared the military is for extreme weather,   The military says climate change is a “threat multiplier.”

From BloombergNews: Devastating Storms May Spur Action on Disaster Preparation

•   Tougher building codes, buyouts could reduce harm next time
•   Scolding from FEMA head brings resilience debate into the open”Hurricane Michael’s devastation could spur policymakers to better prepare vulnerable communities for the effects of climate change.”

From the Insurance Journal: Latest Storms May Finally Shift Focus to Disaster Mitigation by Local Communities

Why is Florida risking future hurricane misery?

Hurricane Michael Reminds Us It’s Past Time to Get Smarter About Where We Build.  Since 1970, the state has added nearly 15 million residents, most of them flowing into storm-prone counties that border the Gulf or the Atlantic.

After Hurricane Michael, Floridians must demand stronger building codes — everywhere

Why was there so much damage from Hurricane Michael? The easy answer: Michael was a spectacularly strong hurricane. Near the top of the scale.
The rest of the answer is, however, that important people decided that homes and businesses and Air Force bases housing billions of dollars in airplanes should be built to a lower standard than Mother Nature’s reality dictated. They bet that a superstrong storm wasn’t going to come along. They lost the bet.