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A line in the sand is being drawn. Do as I say not as I do...........
"Some of Hollywood’s wealthiest stars are battling environmentalists over a $20million plan to save their houses on Malibu’s badly named Broad Beach. Steven Spielberg, Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman, Goldie Hawn and Pierce Brosnan are among 108 homeowners along the 1.2-mile beach, where houses sell for up to $30million. When most of them were built in the 1970s, the owners had to walk 140 feet in the sand to reach the surf. Now, at high tide, the waves crash against an 8-foot-high emergency rock barrier. Though the stars want to spend their own money to rebuild the beach with sand dredged from the ocean floor, regulators have blocked the plan. Environmentalists prefer a “managed retreat” from the waves so the shore can revert to its natural state. Nancy Hastings of the Surfrider organization is sure the stars are committed to the environment, “But when your home is threatened, it puts things in a whole new perspective,” she told The Post’s Richard Johnson. Another eco-activist said, “They drive Priuses and have the right bumper stickers, but they care more about their houses.”
Some residents in Norfolk, Va. are facing the same problem. Sea levels in the Chesapeake are rising, and homeowners whose homes were once far away from the many small bays, inlets, and creeks are now having their lawns and some homes regularly flooded every time there is an unusually high tide. Entire neighborhoods flood all the time, and the ground is always saturated with salt water.
There is the same controversy going on in New Jersey beach communities. Some of the locals whose homes were destroyed want to re-build, and the state is questioning whether or not it's a good idea after some places have been wiped away once or twice before.
What is 'natural' is up to nature, and our environment continually changes. One thing is for certain; Mother Nature Always Wins In The End. We humans can hold an ocean at bay for a little while, but never for forever.
Broad beach won't remain broad forever. If I was a resident, I would sell out and find some other beach to live by ASAP. Or forget about beach living altogether. A 3" rise in the oceans would flood most of all the coastal cities all over the world, including the capital cities of most developed nations.
The problem, as we saw from hurricane Sandy and New Orleans, is not just the incoming water- it's also getting that water back out to sea again. When all drainage systems are permanently under water, they become part of the problem.
I don't see anything political about this. It doesn't matter a lick what a person believes or not politically. What will happen will happen, and the best we can do is very limited against the forces of nature.
Thanks to the federal flood insurance program, however, joe blow in flyover country will get to pay to rebuild the homes of these rich liberal hollywood stars if the ocean does reclaim them. I'm sure joe won't mind working some extra overtime in the salt mines in order to keep Spielberg, Hawn, et al in their accustomed level of comfort.
Is that what Pres. Obama meant by "spread the wealth?"
Thanks to the federal flood insurance program, however, joe blow in flyover country will get to pay to rebuild the homes of these rich liberal hollywood stars if the ocean does reclaim them. I'm sure joe won't mind working some extra overtime in the salt mines in order to keep Spielberg, Hawn, et al in their accustomed level of comfort.
thanks to the stupidity of this program, my inlaws are having the devil of a time getting a loan to remodle their home.
they have a generator attached to their home for when the electricity goes out. (the live in a rural area and this happens when big storms come thru.) That generator sits on a cement pad. That pad is one half of one inch below what the "inspector" said it should be for flood purposes.... although this area has NEVER flooded... Now the house is 2 feet higher as it is a peer and beam home so the house itself is well above the noted flood zone and not subject to flood insurance, but this pad that the generator sits on is by a half inch. It should be noted that the cement pad is 3 inches tall above the ground level, so the actual generator is 2.5 inches outside of the flood zone.
None the less, they cannot get a loan until they remedy this silly issue. its pure crazy.
Thanks to the federal flood insurance program, however, joe blow in flyover country will get to pay to rebuild the homes of these rich liberal hollywood stars if the ocean does reclaim them. I'm sure joe won't mind working some extra overtime in the salt mines in order to keep Spielberg, Hawn, et al in their accustomed level of comfort.
Is that what Pres. Obama meant by "spread the wealth?"
I'm fairly certain that gradual erosion like this is NOT covered. The limits are also capped to 250k.
Now if a huge storm blew in and sea levels surged high and erode the cliffs then that would be covered....but not this.
Just trying to keep the facts straight.
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