Originally posted by Marclar
I have a question if you don’t mind, why do people move into floodplains?
If no one moved into floodplains wouldn’t it save the US billions of dollars? Same story with volcanoes, why do people live at the foot of
volcanoes? Why are we congregating in dangerous areas?
For the most part they don't - or didn't - know they were floodplains.
Especially so those moving in from another area.
Local knowledge doesn't always get passed along.
Nowadays it's a little better with all the legally required disclosures.
And sometimes a non-flood plain area can become flooded if trash in a river closes off waterflow under a bridge.
I found out about that one the hard way.
Four and a half feet of water and 18-24" of mud inside the house when the waters receded.
Aside from the cost of emergency equipment and workers responding, the US doesn't lose money during many of these disasters.
Home-owners and the like will either fall back on insurance or take advantage of gov't offered low interest loans.
Other places, like volcanic areas can be desirable places to live.
Most times folks are living near an inactive volcano so the danger - to my mind - is reasonable.
And volcano's usually give off some warning signs prior to eruption.
How about you?
Do you live on or near an earthquake fault line?
Some of my relatives in the midwest would not move to California due to it's earthquakes.
They're willing to suffer harsh winters and tornado's.
Funny part is, they're sitting near one of the biggest fault lines in the US....
