Thoughts on Hurricane Sandy

I have a question in to our realtor about the large wash running through the corner at the back of the property.  With the recent drought we've been having in the southwest, the wash hasn't run in years but the owners confirmed that it has run in the past.  The very fact of its existence confirms that large volumes of water - either from excessive rain or snow melt - have run through it at some point or another.  As the house and outbuildings show no evidence of water damage we're not overly concerned about future flooding but we do need to know how the county designates the land:  flood plain, flood fringe, or flood way.

In Arizona, we tend to extremes in many things.  Flooding is one of them.  I remember watching in disbelief in 1997 as my parents' cars bobbed gently down the street in the overflow of the swollen Verde River. (Their house was designated flood fringe.)  You never cross a wash that's running and you certainly don't build a house in a flood way.

Which is why I am having a problem generating much sympathy for the victims of Hurricane Sandy who lost their homes due to flooding.  (Actually, "recipients" is a better term than "victims," which implies suffering due to no fault of their own.)

Don't get me wrong; I do sympathize with their plight.  I can only imagine the horror of being forced out of your home, having all your dearest possessions destroyed, and then having either no home to which to return or one that was irreparably damaged.

But I have to ask:  why did they purchase homes either right on the water or in imminent danger from the water?  Surely it was no secret to them that they lived in an area prone to hurricanes.

Certainly it was their right to purchase homes wherever they pleased.  We all have that right.  But if that is your choice then you must accept the accompanying liabilities and make responsible provisions for them.

Translation:  if you live in a home at risk of flooding you buy flood insurance.

The indignant response heard from advocates of hurricane victims has been, "Well, these are working people!   They just could not afford flood insurance!"

If they could not afford flood insurance then they should be living somewhere else.  Depending on how our property is designated we have, as we see it, just two choices:  buy the property and accept that it might flood and we lose everything, or, 2) buy flood insurance.

Notice that expecting the government to bail us out of having made a bad decision is not one of our options.  Neither should it be for the victims of Hurricane Sandy.  All notions of accepting responsiblity aside, we simply can't afford it.  Our government can't even fund itself.  From where is the $60 billion dollars for a proposed aid package supposed to be found?

I tell my middle school students to own what they do.  Do not blame others for the consequences of your actions.  It's advice grown-ups should heed as well.