The Bleeding Ledes

[MaxPC]

This is the current drought map for the US as of this week




This is the path of Hurricane Beryl

Our friends in AR are grateful for the rain relief. Our Indiana and OH friends hope for some of that relief as well.

[Josh]

I'm not sure if I count as one of your friends, but speaking as someone in OH, we're a bit worried here about intense rainstorms damaging crops.

[MaxPC]

Which leads to another set of queries:
-Historically human civilisations would relocate away from areas with cyclical weather related crises. Why permit developers to continue to build within 100 year flood zones?
-Within that general query is one more specific: Why do the planning departments of New Orleans and other areas which are below sea level allow developers to rebuild?
-Why do insurance companies continue their coverage of these areas?

[Valerie]

Does it "seem" like we are experiencing judgement in a way?

Many are blaming climate change.
If climate change then we are suffering consequences.
Consequences from progression and perhaps greed

Could it be God trying to get out attention?

Myself, I don't rule out God is involved in allowing all this as consequences- either by way of judgement or climate change and they may not be exclusive of one another

As a Christian we can consider that we know the end of "this" world before Christ's Second advent, and the final judgement, and the New Earth & New Jerusalem brought down from heaven. So we know by Scripture how God will end this present earth & we don't fear it will be by way of climate change. That should however not make us irresponsible to be good stewards of His Creation.

Maybe signs of the "very last" of the Last Days which God gave us to know the beginning of birth pangs- also Scripture states the world will wax old. Old age wears down. Breaks down.

Others say we are just in a weather pattern that has happened before but the world is so populated now it has much greater affects.

God is Sovereign

[Josh]

Which leads to another set of queries:
-Historically human civilisations would relocate away from areas with cyclical weather related crises. Why permit developers to continue to build within 100 year flood zones?

Historically, human civilisations have been built near ports, which is why New Orleans and Galveston exist where they do.

-Within that general query is one more specific: Why do the planning departments of New Orleans and other areas which are below sea level allow developers to rebuild?

They didn't. A lot of New Orleans' population relocated to Houston. New development there now is expensive because it has to be flood-proofed and hurricane-proofed, but some experts think the impact of that was to make housing a lot more expensive and forced people out of their homes.

-Why do insurance companies continue their coverage of these areas?

Because their loss to premium ratios make it possible to do so. Currently, a lot of insurers are leaving Florida because it is too expensive to insure. Texas and Louisiana don't seem to be much of a problem, probably because the kind of disasters like Katrina don't happen very often.

Hurricane Byron will be expensive, but is nothing close to the scale of destruction that visits Florida on a regular basis.

[Soloist]

Besides, New Orleans was built above sea water when the French built it. Americans diverted the river and built in the shallows.

There’s a reason the French Quarter was high and dry when Katrina came through…

[Ken]

Which leads to another set of queries:
-Historically human civilisations would relocate away from areas with cyclical weather related crises. Why permit developers to continue to build within 100 year flood zones?

Historically, human civilisations have been built near ports, which is why New Orleans and Galveston exist where they do.

-Within that general query is one more specific: Why do the planning departments of New Orleans and other areas which are below sea level allow developers to rebuild?

They didn't. A lot of New Orleans' population relocated to Houston. New development there now is expensive because it has to be flood-proofed and hurricane-proofed, but some experts think the impact of that was to make housing a lot more expensive and forced people out of their homes.

-Why do insurance companies continue their coverage of these areas?

Because their loss to premium ratios make it possible to do so. Currently, a lot of insurers are leaving Florida because it is too expensive to insure. Texas and Louisiana don't seem to be much of a problem, probably because the kind of disasters like Katrina don't happen very often.

Hurricane Byron will be expensive, but is nothing close to the scale of destruction that visits Florida on a regular basis.

Mostly it is kicking the can down the road. Something that Americans are pros at.

The Gulf Coast and most of Florida is not sustainable long-term. The only real question is what will be the tipping point and when will it happen. And whether it will be a long slow multi-generational retreat from the coastline, or something that happens suddenly. Because it isn't just hurricanes or flooding or sea level rise or land subsidence or coastal erosion or extreme heat waves or saltwater intrusion. It is all of the above at once. I tend to think it will be a combination of both long term and short term factors. Conditions will slowly erode and people will hang on until suddenly one year a combination of enormous and devastating storms hitting major urban areas will make doing so impossible or impractical and people will just leave in mass. New Orleans and Katrina was just a harbinger. It won't do any good for the wealthy to build themselves climate fortresses on high ground if all the ordinary people who do the actual work and keep the economy moving decide to pack up and leave.

[Josh]

I mean, people have been living in coastal areas for thousands of years. I don’t think that’s going to stop anytime soon.

[Ken]

I mean, people have been living in coastal areas for thousands of years. I don’t think that’s going to stop anytime soon.

People haven't actually been living in hot swampy low-lying coastal areas like the Gulf Coast and Florida for thousands of years. Not in large numbers until the invention of air conditioning and massive industrial engineering projects to drain the landscape and hold diseases like malaria at bay.

Even the Seminoles weren't native to south Florida. They were forced there after a series of long and deadly wars.

[ken_sylvania]

I mean, people have been living in coastal areas for thousands of years. I don’t think that’s going to stop anytime soon.

People haven't actually been living in hot swampy low-lying coastal areas like the Gulf Coast and Florida for thousands of years. Not in large numbers until the invention of air conditioning and massive industrial engineering projects to drain the landscape and hold diseases like malaria at bay.

Even the Seminoles weren't native to south Florida. They were forced there after a series of long and deadly wars.

Turns out people haven't actually been living in the entire world in large numbers until the invention of air conditioning.