Should I Approve My Tax Dollars to do that: Rebuild After a Hurricane

Three weeks later, much of New York and New Jersey is still reeling from Superstorm Sandy. It will be months before normalcy is restored for the many people whose homes and businesses fell victim to storm surges and flooding. Several affected shore communities have already voiced promises to return to their pre-storm state (with millions of federal assistance of course).

As I pointed out in one of my earlier posts, every part of the country is subject to national disasters. Generally speaking, the West Coast gets hit with earthquakes and wildfires, the Northeast combats major snowstorms, the Gulf and Southeast Coast face hurricanes and the Midwest deals with tornados.  Virtually any city or town, hit directly by a major storm, will experience severe damage and need federal assistance. Yet beneath the clamor for volunteers and aid, some grumbling and criticism can be detected, especially when dealing with coastal hurricanes. Why should “checks from Washington” continue to rebuild hurricane-wracked communities that are only to be devastated by another storm and rebuilt several years later? (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/19/science/earth/as-coasts-rebuild-and-us-pays-again-critics-stop-to-ask-why.html?hp)

An Moore, Oklahoma home after a 1999 tornado. 

Photo credit: http://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/f3.htm

Devastation and destruction by Sandy. The two images could have been from the same storm. 

Photo credit: http://darkroom.baltimoresun.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/AFPGetty-155063691.jpg

The Stafford Act is a federal law that holds the US Treasury responsible for 75 percent or more of the cost of repairing infrastructure damage (roads, bridges, etc) caused by a storm. While the Act provides incentives to rebuild, it does not encourage improved or revised storm preparations. As a NY Times article describes, “In many beachfront communities, the federal subsidies have helped people replace small beach shacks with larger, more valuable homes. That is a main reason the nation’s costs of storm recovery are doubling every decade.” (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/19/science/earth/as-coasts-rebuild-and-us-pays-again-critics-stop-to-ask-why.html?hp)

I’m torn. People should have the right to live where they want to live without the government dictating particular areas as “safe zones.” Anywhere can be hit by a devastating storm and require federal assistance. Such assistance must be available to those communities. No one asks for his or her home to be swept, blown or burned away.

Snowstorms will damage homes, bring down power lines and trees, and cripple transportation systems. As a New Englander, I face this reality ever winter. I feel no need to pack up and relocated to another part of the country just because I'm at risk to get a lot of snow. Thus can I understand why people with beachfront properties continue to rebuild their homes despite the risk of damage in a storm. 

Photo credit: http://www.punditmom.com/2010/02/snowpocalypse-part-deux-snowpocalypse-the-squeakuel

Yet I choose to live in a part of the country not typically threatened by coastal storms. Why should I be paying to repair the homes of people who take that risk? Why is it my financial responsibility to rebuild someone else’s beachfront vacation home only to pay again when it is damaged in the next hurricane? I should not have to pay for repeated rebuilds in high-risk areas. You choose to live on the beach then you pay for it when a hurricane hits.  You should pay for more than a ocean view when you build near the coast.

You live this close to the ocean and obviously you will have damage should an oceanfront storm rip through. If you take that risk, why do I my tax dollars have to pay for it? 

Photo credit: http://www.searchforcharlestonrealestate.com/images/a-sullivans%20beachfront%20crop.jpg

That being said, one could argue that because I reside in an area prone to snowstorms, any damage caused is my fiscal responsibility. I do not dispute this. In fact I accept it. But I know better than to assume the cost of storm recovery is solved so easily. I have yet to realize a satisfactory solution that balances individual and federal responsibility.

Should I approve my tax dollars to do that: repeatedly rebuild after a hurricane.