Hurricanes and long term planning
Cost in dollars and lives
Total fatalities in Katrina? 1833 (FEMA). Total cost of Katrina? About $41.1 Bilion.
Hurricane Irma
Though we don't know the final death toll, the cost will be unbelievably enormnous and the hurricane season isn't even over.
Solutions
We can keep building and re-building and 'hurricane-proofing' but as one can tell, in the long run it doesn't save anywhere near as much in costs as is practical. It surely has saved lives.
We must dialogue about moving cities inland
Whether it's climate change or cyclical hurricane activity, moving cities and populations away from repetitively dangerous locations needs immediate discussion and action.
The Science community has overall pretty good predictive models
Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and the Caribbean area all on the table for long term planning discussions.
Doing nothing or patching infrastructure is dangerous
The dangers are in human lives and budgets we can't keep funding.