This whole thread got me to thinkin' about blame for crap like this.
Down here, Daniel Island is the latest and greatest in luxury waterfront living. It's convenient to downtown and has a whole bunch of 'Charleston style' houses and the latest shopping centers, schools etc. The real estate agents nearly orgasm talking about it, and it's the upscale 'must have' ZIP code for those who move in from out of state.
Daniel Island has a total of six points which are 20 feet above sea level. The rest of it is between 5 and 15 feet elevation. The majority of the island's soil has the consistency of toothpaste, one company doing drainage surveys lost 2 backhoes when they just plain sank through the muck.
This does not sound too bad until you realize that Hurricane Hugo had a storm surge of 18 to 25 feet at that point. There was a real good reason no one built there until now. The state Ports Authority wanted to put a terminal there to unload ships, the local ecofreaks got all wound up about the environmental desecration of the proposed terminal and the SPA finally said 'screw it' and sold it to developers. Haven't heard a peep from the greenie weenies about THAT, though. Hmmm. Wonder what that cost and how was it hidden? What sorry assed excuse will they give when the whole harbor is jammed with floating wreckage and contaminated with raw sewage, gasoline, household chemicals, paint, all the other crap which gets spread around by storm surge? At least if there was a shipping terminal, the containers and all could be moved inland, etc to try to minimize impact.
When (not if) another big Cat 3, 4 or 5 storm hits that whole area will be under water and many, many millions of dollars of real estate will be damaged or destroyed. Whoever is unlucky enough to be Prez and/or Governor at that time will take a slow flyover to assess the damage and will be hailed as a hero for showing they care(Dem) or excorciated as out of touch for not landing and cleaning the mess up singlehanded (Repub) by the news media.
Of course, either way I will, as a taxpayer, be expected to help bail these idiots out and 'protect their investment'. :rolleyes: Same way we taxpayers paid millions for beach renourishment at Wild Dunes to keep some condos from falling into the ocean, only to discover that it's a private beach and 'public access' is allowed only if you are a guest of a Wild Dunes resident.
Screw 'em, says I. Like my daddy says: once you make your bed, you lie in it. If you choose to live below sea level, don't be surprised when the ocean comes to claim its own again. Don't expect me to bail you out, either.