Town destroyed by tornado not allowed to rebuild with life-saving basements.

[Dave]

Okay, so there was this tornado in the small town of Pilger, Nebraska a couple weeks ago that took out 3/4 of the town. Now they want to rebuild...and can't. Well, they CAN, but FEMA has classified the area as a flood plain due to a flood a couple decades ago. Basically the rule says that any area that can be flooded in a "100 year flood event" needs to be considered a flood plain. Most of the houses there had already been built so they were exempt from any regulation, but now that they are gone and needing to be rebuilt they have to adhere to FEMA rules. Which rules? Specifically, their houses can't have basements.

Now, only a couple people died in this tornado, but a whole bunch were injured and only survived because they had basements. In one case, the house was taken and the three individuals huddled in the basement survived by hanging on to each other. The dog that was with them was sucked up into the tornado. The only reason none of them were was because they hung on to each other, even though they said that they were being lifted into the air. But who cares about that? It might cost an insurance company some money to cover any flood costs, even though the town has only had one flood incident since it was founded.

The only real effect this will have will to make it so that people leave the community. It's entirely possible that this rule will kill the town.

Story can be seen here.

 

[drawn_inward]

They can't even have those garage in the floor flat safes? There's always safe rooms.

 

[Eriol]

Overland flooding is almost NEVER covered by insurance. But FEMA has something that basements aren't allowed in flood plains? That's weird. No such thing in Canada.

That being said, people are (well, WERE) talking about restricting building on flood plains, since why should "society" (whichever level) bail people out when we KNOW there will be crap happening to them sooner or later? It's a place that will get devastated in a flood, well, don't allow people to build there! Just like we try and restrict people from building on cliffs that will collapse in a mudslide or rockslide, we shouldn't allow residences in areas where they WILL be flooded.

Harsh, and yes a town may "die" from it, but that's better than people dying, or continually paying for people who live in stupid places. The Ur-example for me is the town of High River, Alberta. Yes that's the name of the town. Guess what happened in the flood last year? 1 guess. And yes I know people who live there. I still think they're dumb for doing so.

 

[GasBandit]

I've got two thoughts about this. First is, naturally, GOVERNMENT. Second, I thought it was dumb to pay for people to rebuild in the same places when the big flood hit the central US in the 1993. Wasn't there a sunday school song about this? Where wise men and foolish build their houses, and the consequences thereof?

 

[Covar]

Second, I thought it was dumb to pay for people to rebuild in the same places when the big flood hit the central US in the 1993. Wasn't there a sunday school song about this? Where wise men and foolish build their houses, and the consequences thereof?

sort of...

 

[strawman]

From the article: "Neiman said Pilger residents can build safe rooms inside or outside their homes in case there is bad weather."

A safe room is cheaper than a basement, and can be as safe or safer than a basement. There are lots of places in the country where you can't have a basement, but you are subject to significant destructive weather - consider most of Florida, for instance.

Further, some safe rooms are allowed to be built below ground level. FEMA doesn't allow dwellings to be below ground level, but a storm shelter that's properly designed to withstand both hazardous weather and flooding can be below ground.

I suppose one has to look at the frequency of tornado touchdowns in the area vs floods to make a determination as to what's best for their family.

 

[sixpackshaker]

If they had 3 inches of rain with that tornado...

 

[strawman]

Basements are safer, but not the safest option.

http://nypost.com/2013/05/21/severa...chool-as-officials-continue-recovery-efforts/

 

[Necronic]

If the entire town is in the 100 year floodplain they have a much more serious issue than tornados. At least where I live (Houston), 100 year flood plain is a big deal.

 

[Sparhawk]

If the entire town is in the 100 year floodplain they have a much more serious issue than tornados. At least where I live (Houston), 100 year flood plain is a big deal.

Huh, less of Houston is in a 100-year floodplain that I thought. I swear, on the news, that every little rain shower brings reports of flooding down there. I remember when the San Jac river flooded pretty much all of Humble.

 

[sixpackshaker]

But it takes a slow hurricane or tropical storm to flood Houston. 10 inch rains are not unheard of. Most of those "normal" floods happen on poorly designed highways and service roads.