If an area has been hit by a hurricane more than once. why do people still continue to live there?

Question

If an area has been hit by a hurricane more than once. why do people still continue to live there?

Answer 1

same reason they keep rebuilding california after quakes and fires, same reason we build communities beside volcanoes, same reason we build cities in a flood plain, we have no common sense, and there is always someone to bail them out when the inevitable happens. (Except Lousiana, they got screwed)Wonder how much better our economy would be if we just let it burn, or float away, then rebuild in a safer area?

Answer 2

They like the area or it's too expensive to move.

Anywhere you live there are going to be natural disasters..

If not hurricanes, they would have to deal with landslides, tornadoes. flooding or earthquakes.

Answer 3

Several reasons.  I'd think mostly because they like the area so much when hurricanes aren't in season.  Maybe they grew up there so there's sentiment...

As so, they are accustomed to hurricane precautions and damage - they also know they have been in say 25 hurricanes and only had to replace a window or maybe a roof or maybe nothing ever happens to their property.  Maybe they even lost awhole house once or twice a neighbor died - but they made it thruogh fine and they know rebuild and can expect similar chance of damage during each storm.  They expect that and they get used to it.  Those folks could move buy even if they can afford to, should they?  Every area has at least one natural disaster that it's prone to: hurricanes, tornades, cyclones, ice storms, avalanches, earthquakes, floods...something.

So say someone moves from hurricane prone Florida and dodges hurricanes forever and gets all settled in Nebraska...now they have to dodge F5 tornadoes and that's a whole new ball game so they quickly move from Nebraska and move to Michigan and now they have to learn to navigate ice storms - & buy a new wardrobe so they can wear 19 layers of clothing to avoid frost bite in the winter and they hate that so they move to California and wake up at 3AM with their house shaking and dishes falling out of the cabinets...& after the fnd out everybody is alright, they go outside to find their car is in a sink hole where they driveway used to be.  They'd eventually just move back to Florida and board up the windows for 4 months out of the year - of the other options, they'd probably decide that they prefer hurricanes over the other options.  Plus, most of the disasters only last for a certain season during each year (hurricanes, ice storms, tornadoes...everything but earthquakes have a rather defined season) .

I've personaly chosen the warm southern climate, clean air - AND tornadoes of Georgia.  You can't run from nature....just decided which end of it you want and learn to deal with it.  So people stay in those hurricane prone areas because - what are the "good" options.  Some one in Alaska might say they'd rather deal with apossible mudslide but I'd say no way.  Personal preference of the disaster of choice.

Answer 4

Hurricanes are usually no big deal.  

The only place where they are a potential threat is within about the first 20 miles from shoreline.  People who live on the beaches should evacuate.

People who live in-land should shudder their windows and stay inside until the hurricane has passed by.

I grew up in Central Florida and have experienced more hurricanes than I can remember.  When I was about four to five years old the eye of one passed right over me during the night.

The day before a hurricane is strange as the air is a dead calm.  The day after it passes the weather tends to be clear and calm again.  In between you keep your garage door closed and locked and your windows and doors shut.  Don't go out.  Have a hurricane lantern for light.  Buy cold cuts for sandwiches for meals the day before in case you lose electricity.  The worst thing about a hurricane is losing your internet connection if cable goes out.  Usually takes a day to get it restored.

As a homeowner, you also have to be aware that home insurance doesn't cover hurricanes in most coastal states.

Answer 5

thought provoking because they consider the area their home

sometimes I've wondered the same thing and newcomers

still move into places things have happened like you're

saying

Answer 6

Because the quality of life in the area hit outweighs the costs of relocating and finding someplace better....think of it this way....why do people who live in an area hit by earthquakes continue to live there?

San Francisco is no doubt loved by the people who live there regardless of the risk of earthquakes - the same can be said for Los Angeles and the surrounding area.

I've personally been through several hurricanes...Frederick in 1979, Elena in the mid 1980s, Ivan, and Katrina....some would say that the Katrina problems in New Orleans were man-made (and I'd agree with them) - but when you throw in quality of life (cost of living, climate, jobs, family in the area) the cost of an occassional hurricane is not high enough to give up all of that.

Answer 7

People just love the beach, I guess. What I don't get is why people who live in hurricane prone areas refuse to evacuate when they are in the path of these storms. I live 250 miles inland and I had damage to my home in Opal,Ivan and Katrina. You can bet if I lived right on the coast I'd be getting the heck out of there in a Hurricane.

Answer 8

Because they like it there.  There are qualities about that place that make it desirable the 99.999% of the time that natural hazards are not happening.

If people moved away from a place due to a natural hazard (such as a hurricane), there would be no place for anyone to live.  Every place on earth has some form of natural hazard.  

Think about this:  Why do you live where you live?  What hazards happen there, and why don't you avoid them?