Storms Be Damned, Florida Keeps Building in High-Risk Areas

[Zorro]

Driving through the mess left behind by the twin hurricanes that slammed Florida, it doesn’t take long to pass a construction site for another batch of new homes. Among them is La Linda Estates, which is being built in a high-risk flood zone on a barrier island near where Milton made landfall.

Florida built 77,000 new properties in high-risk flood areas since 2019, the most in the nation, according to an analysis by climate-modeling firm First Street Foundation for The Wall Street Journal.

The building binge is putting the real-estate industry, and the banks that finance it, on a collision course with insurers.

The new construction is one reason insurance bills for Milton and Helene are expected to be between $40 billion and $75 billion, according to ratings firm Morningstar DBRS. Big payouts from natural disasters are driving insurers to raise raises and pull back on coverage.

https://www.wsj.com/finance/banking/florida-flood-zones-development-0593cdb9?st=gmyEjt&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

[onecaliberal]

1. Fucking the entire insurance industry across the country.

[SWBTATTReg]

2. One day, the right storm, w/ all of its evil components, will hit exactly where in FL it needs to hit, and then, WHAM!

Kind of like hurricane Andrew south of Miami in 1992.

[Deuxcents]

3. This is maddening. Rebuilding on barriers and high risk areas should require owners to be self insured.

The rest of us should not be subsidizing this selfish risk.

[Coexist]

4. You know what, let the MAGA keep moving there, and buying homes in flood zones and

disaster-prone regions. Let them waste their money, and have their homeowners insurance skyrocket year after year. Let them throw their disposable income into generators and MREs.

I lived there for over 30 years, and I got over it a year ago. They can have it. The summers are far worse than when I first moved there, it's getting more and more unlivable. As it turns redder and redder, it gets more and more expensive.

I used to love it there, but the summers are now never-ending and more brutal year by year.

Just because there is no state tax, doesn't mean it's cheaper there. I moved to WNC and my homeowners insurance and car insurance were cut down to what seemed ridiculously low at the time. I now realize, it's just normal rates. Food is cheaper here. The weather is gorgeous.

I hope MAGA goes broke buying new homes in Florida. They deserve it.