Road Map to Disaster – Forbes 9-7-2005 by Matthew Swibel

For those of you who have lived in costal locations or next to a major river, Matthew Swibel of Forbes has an interesting piece this week about how Flood Insurance or the lack of it may affect those who were victims of Katrina. Many of the maps used in insurance flood plain assessment were out of date and may not have reflected evolving Real Estate development or how it may have impacted wetlands and other areas, and perhaps even obscured what are now the real 100-year flood plain levels.

Many of the property owners impacted by Katrina may not have flood insurance or have been told they didn’t need it, as referenced by outdated maps. If their house and the land it was built on is gone, or is highly contaminated and are they not insured, this can be an economic blow very difficult to recover from. We all live with risk, but those that are known should not be ignored or worse, not be identified by old or bad data.

At the same time, as charming as New Orleans is, one has to think about the known risks in a city that is several feel below both the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi river. You also have to wonder about the technology needed to rebuild that city and what can actually be done to protect it.

This entry was contributed by Hal Reid