Hurricane Ian brings up several questions that won’t be answered or adjustments made. Greed and politics will win out over commonsense and the lives of people.

            Most of the people who died and most of the homes destroyed were mobile homes. In most states mobile homes must be anchored to the pad so it will not blow over. I noticed many of the mobile homes in Fort Meyers were either not anchored strongly enough or not at all. Some rolled over and over while others were blown apart. The first question is, should zoning restrict mobile homes from coastal areas in Florida and other Gulf states? The Fort Meyers homes were older. Some appeared to be decades old. New ones can cost as much as a hundred thousand or more. Closing parks and keeping them off a private lot would be a legal nightmare and probably political suicide.

            Another question is, should FEMA and other agencies continue to pay for storm damage over and over. Barrier Islands are called that for a reason, so why were a few thousands apartments, condos, houses, and hotels allowed to be built on them. New Orleans is a bowl lower than the Mississippi River and sea level. Why should we keep footing the bill every time these areas are hit by a hurricane?

            Global warming is making the Atlantic, Caribbean and the Gulf warmer. This makes hurricanes stronger. Harvey and Ian dumped 20 – 50 inches of rain causing historic floods. Category 4 and 5 winds are said to occur once in a thousand years but those are becoming common because of the warm water. Ian was over 88 degree water when it hit Fort Meyers.

            Another question is, why can’t we spend billions on protection of reduced population coastal communities and not on replacing damaged homes?