Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for June 18, 2024

How quickly they forget

Yup, Katrina was nearly nineteen years ago. (August of ’05.)

That cycle has become faster, due to increasingly hot ocean surfaces which upgrades the hurricanes due to more energy provided.

You may ignore it or even call it a hoax. But insurance premiums will tell you otherwise.

Move further inland

We have had a number of major hurricanes in my lifetime. First one was Donna in 1960. Most of my toys were stored in the basement and had to be thrown out. After that everything was stored raised up and we went through a few more hurricanes there.

Latest one was Hurricane Ida where we live now (further inland on the Island and east of where I lived as a child). We had a partially flooded basement and we are not near the shore and it seemed to be flood through a broken window will cover and its window.

Since then every time we get rain he sends me to the basement to check if that same window is leaking. (It isn’t – we replaced the window well cover, threw out the bookcase that got ruined (able to save most of the books in it – they are his professional books), and luckily the people before us put in carpeting down there which can get wet – though we had to use a wet-dry vacuum to get as much water out of it as we could.

We lived 24 years on Oahu and no hurricanes touching the islands. Once again, we were blessed.

Has anyone considered that insurance has gone up because rebuilding costs have gone up?

I’ve been through two hurricanes and a tornado in my 65 years. I’ll take a hurricane over any of them (tornadoes, earthquakes). At least with a hurricane, you get three days or more to prepare and plan what you’re going to do (board up, sandbags, pack & leave). Tornadoes give you 15 minutes? And earthquakes just surprise you!

I’ll take the snow, the Nor’easters and sub-freezing temperatures of northernmost Maine over hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and wild fires any day. Having lived in NC for 35 years I’ve had my share of tornadoes and oppressive heat. Life at a slower pace is just right for me.

Sticker shock won’t be the price of the home, but the price of homeowner’s insurance.

This may be a turning point for our Arlo.

Lived thru Agnes in 72. That was quite enough for me, with NO desire to move into the path of ANY hurricane!!

I moved to Anchorage in 1982. The bus going downtown crossed over this ravine called Earthquake Park, a scar from the 1964 earthquake that destroyed a lot of the city. They were starting to develop the real estate in the ravine back then.

How true. How many real estate geniuses has the Gulf Coast destroyed.

Are Arlo and Gus supposed to be around the same age?

I thought the guest house was part of the package; why are they looking?

Rebuilt my mothers home due to Harvey. I live closer to the coast. Last one to really effect me was Alicia. I’m not looking forward to this year. Got one sitting out there now just brewing.

Wait until after the next, and you’ll get some great deals. May need a little fixing.

I don’t want to live where there are “Evacuation Route” signs everywhere. Seems like that should be a red flag or something. They have those near nuclear power stations as well.

My part of Florida had 2004 for Ivan, 2005 for Dennis and Katrina, fairly mild since then. Something stirring up in the Gulf of Mexico right now.

Yup, Jimmy knows his cycles.

The weather channel is predicting 1st named storm to form soon

Words of comfort???

When we had decided to leave California, I was looking at Florida as one of the possibilities. However, after considering: hurricanes; storm surge; the highest point in the state was about 4 ft elevation; humidity; alligators; lots of lizards;and lots of bugs for the lizards, I decided maybe someplace else would be a little bit better.

I lived there. the coat of lots, even waterfront, soared After Katrina.

The Gulf Coast, including Florida, is flat for a reason. Every so often a Cat 4 or 5 Hurricane comes along and blows it all away. With rising ocean levels and subsidence from pumping out the aquifers, one of these years Florida is going to see a Major Hurricane storm surge that goes from coast to coast.

been thru hurricanes, typhons, monsoons, tornadoes, earthquakes ( 3 7 or higher) 1 lightning strike, saw the results of mt st helen in spokane wa ( all the ash). The worst wasthe 1975 earthquake 7.6 shemya island alaska.

I just don’t see the connection between today’s and yesterday’s strip. How is the hurricane thing going to help Arlo?

It only took one hurricane for me. Then I bugged out permanently.

Makes you really want to move there doesn’t it.

Every time FL gets hit by a big hurricane I think, Oh, this will stop people from moving here. But it never does.

Don’t move there unless the house has reinforced concrete pilings, is above the 500 year flood level, and the floors, walls and roof are reinforced concrete. Windows and doors are allowed. :o)

ROFLOL

Just before moving inland from the Texas coast we had 3 close calls from hurricanes after nearly 25 years without anything worse than bad tropical weather (flooding rains, 60 mph winds). I found that at 68 in a 2 story house fronting the bay, it was a very rigorous 12 hour effort to seal up the house, and that’s with a full set of metal bahama shutters, which are easier than cut plywood. And besides the three near misses (one took a boat barn full of our antique furniture and a good boat up to heaven for Elijah’s personal use I guess) there were two not so near misses that I buttoned up for. These things track like a drunk walking…left then right then straight….very hard to really forecast landfall. And they speed up, a Cat 1 can make landfall as a Cat 3 in a very short six hour span…so we are far inland for our old age, a block from the grandkids. Sigh, still miss the coast. But someday a cat 2 will mae a drect hit on Corpus as a Cat 5. A city of 400,000 where at most 35,000 actually leave town to flee bad weather…with several thousand caught on the clogged highway to San Antonio. Scary thought.

Didn’t Gene already have a plot of land already scoped out for his parents? Maybe, they should built a new house to their specs on that.

If you don’t live there,or the area you did live in there wasn’t affected, you wouldn’t remember until the weather people started to remind you a week or so early of the hurricane anniversary.

I watch the weather news just so I can say;”I’m glad I don’t Iive THERE!” But we’re under threat of severe earthquake in Oregon. It’s aways something.

Periodically wipe it all clean and start over. Seems kind of Biblical.

Looks like a change in Decisions in on the horizon…

I think Gus is talking about the real estate “bubble bursting”

From what I’m hearing everything in Hurricane alley is crashing because insurance and tax costs are soaring into the stratosphere, and that unsold inventory is piling up.