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| Mayor Leo 'Chipper' McDermott of Pass Christian, Miss., says homes rebuilt in his town are now required to be elevated at
least 20 feet above sea level. Rob Carr/AP/file |
Ire in Gulf over buyout plan
US proposal may mean parts of the Gulf Coast won't get rebuilt.
from the October 10, 2007 edition
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Yet Congress broached the subject, says Jim Fraser, a professor of human and organizational development at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. In fact, it authorized the corps to study permanent buyouts along the Gulf Coast in 2005. Moreover, he adds, reforms of the federal flood-insurance program in 2004 set the stage for major action after years of catastrophic losses where every dollar paid into the National Flood Insurance Program paid out $3.65 in losses.
A series of federal task forces in the 1990s called for Americans to be moved out of flood plains or for the responsibility to be placed on those communities to stem the moral hazard of people losing their homes in lowlands that flood repeatedly, getting federal insurance money, and then rebuilding in the same place, Professor Fraser says.
The authors of the Mississippi buyout plan acknowledge that it's being proposed at an awkward time, when many people have already begun to rebuild. But they say it's still likely to find a lot of takers. What's more, planners will ask Congress for open-ended policy that would allow future storm victims to apply for a buyout more quickly following a disaster. While some neighborhoods in and around Bay St. Louis, for example, are springing back, others are still weed-choked, rat-infested and debilitated.
"We have to look at all the options and all the factors," says Susan Rees, the MCIP project manager responsible for the buyout plan in Mississippi. "The fact is, it's been two years, and development hasn't occurred in a lot of these areas. Condo projects on the [Gulf] Coast are not selling anymore. At the same time, the perception among many people is that we are threatening a way of life. It's a very emotional issue. The numbers have scared folks."
Given past relocation efforts, there is cause for concern, especially for lower-income neighborhoods, says Fraser. "If it's truly voluntary, people affected should be able to participate in the planning, and that's been lacking in previous mitigation efforts," he says. "All these factors will become real significant if they're trying to do the largest mitigation buyout in the history of the United States. This is a massive project."
Looming large in the Mississippi debate is what Mr. Doyle calls a "stunning" shift in federal policy on global warming, especially new sea-level estimates that show the oceans rising by up to three feet in the next century.
Whether man-made or not, "climate change is real," says Ms. Rees. "In that light, we have to look at the options and all the facts and not just think it's not going to happen again."
Some changes have already taken place. Homes rebuilt in Pass Christian are now required to be elevated at least 20 feet above sea level, says the mayor, Leo "Chipper" McDermott, who doesn't believe most residents want to sell out.
"I can tell you this," he adds. "You're not going to keep people away from water; water attracts more people than runs away from it."
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