This also illustrates a remarkable perversity of US government disaster relief. From Senator Ron Johnson’s letter to the Corps of Army Engineers:
In 1995, Granite City and the surrounding county were declared a disaster area by the federal government because of severe flooding. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provided the county with more than $3.5 million in disaster relief. Mr. Lathrop’s neighborhood, however, was spared because the floodwaters drained into his lake.
There was millions available to people who did nothing, but only bureaucratic punishments for one who tried to avoid disaster. I have a friend in the sand bag business. He says that that there’s no money out there for counties in flood prone areas to stockpile sand bags or other disaster relief supplies. But there’s plenty of money afterward. So you end up with the bizarre situation where money strapped counties can’t afford a few thousand dollars for sand bags now, but will receive millions of dollars down the road for flood damage.
I believe this is also why flood damage has gone up so much in recent years rather than the more trendy reasons for blame (such as “extreme weather” from global warming). It pays quite well to incur flood damage. It’s a vast moral hazard.
This also illustrates a remarkable perversity of US government disaster relief. From Senator Ron Johnson’s letter to the Corps of Army Engineers:
There was millions available to people who did nothing, but only bureaucratic punishments for one who tried to avoid disaster. I have a friend in the sand bag business. He says that that there’s no money out there for counties in flood prone areas to stockpile sand bags or other disaster relief supplies. But there’s plenty of money afterward. So you end up with the bizarre situation where money strapped counties can’t afford a few thousand dollars for sand bags now, but will receive millions of dollars down the road for flood damage.
I believe this is also why flood damage has gone up so much in recent years rather than the more trendy reasons for blame (such as “extreme weather” from global warming). It pays quite well to incur flood damage. It’s a vast moral hazard.