Three Ways to Build Back Smarter After Hurricane Ian

Scientists say the United States can expect more severe storms like the one that hit Ian as the planet warms up. The risks of increasingly wild weather make it all the more urgent for cities and states to protect people and property.

Lessons can be learned to rebuild wisely after storms. It may not make sense to replace homes on low-lying land over and over again in areas that are vulnerable to storm surge.

Auroop R. Ganguly is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northeastern University. He said that there is a tendency for people to look in the mirror and think that what they built before is still usable.

It is more important than ever to think about the future climate risks that communities may face and to then rebuild or not. In the era of global warming, there are ways to protect people and property.

Even as Hurricane Ian ravaged parts of southwestern Florida, aerial photos taken on Sept. 29 revealed that some homes had survived.

In 2004, the area was hit by a storm. In response to Hurricane Andrew, which destroyed tens of thousands of buildings in south Miami-Dade County in 1992, stringent statewide building codes were adopted.

Modernized building codes can help prevent collapses. They often require structures to be built to resist strong winds, with windows that can stand up to flying debris and roofs that are secured tightly to prevent them from being torn off.

To ensure that electrical systems and generators are protected from the elements, codes can be used to require that new or renovated homes be elevated higher off the ground.

There is a tendency for building codes to be too strict. Building codes should be performance based, so that architects and builders have the flexibility to choose from a variety of pathways to achieve storm safety goals.

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Local leaders and city planners will need to find a balance between investing in gray infrastructure like dams, levees, flood gates and sea walls and green defense like wetlands, oyster reefs and mangrove forests.

The city of New Orleans spent $14.5 billion to upgrade levees and build a system of flood gates in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The flood protections seem to have worked when Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana in 2021. The water from the storm didn't get past the flood barriers.

A combination of both hard and soft shoreline defenses is likely to be required for future resilience.

Hard structures can be bad for resilience in the long term. Sea walls play a role in coastal erosion.

Nature-based solutions allow them to respond to extreme weather events in a way that artificial structures can't. Restoring coastal habitats can help buffer shorelines and reduce the effects of flooding by absorbing and slowing the flow of water.

The expansive climate, health-care and tax bill signed into law by President Biden earlier this year will include a $2.6 billion investment into coastal communities over the next five years to help them prepare and respond to climate disasters.

Some communities have been forced to make a painful calculation about not just how to rebuild, but where and whether to rebuild at all. In a controversial process known as managed retreat officials are moving communities away from vulnerable areas.

It can be difficult to ask families and entire neighborhoods to move inland. It is difficult for families that have lived in these areas for a long time to accept the word "retreat". A way of life for Native communities may be threatened by retreating from land.

Low-income and minority homeowners who already have less financial protection to brace against climate risks are more likely to be affected by managed retreat. More assistance to wealthier counties was given by federal programs to help Americans relocate away from disaster prone areas.

If we know that an area is going to experience a high frequency and a high intensity of extreme weather events in the future, it's wise to relocate communities and critical infrastructure, like health care facilities, away from that area.

She said that the cost of human suffering and the loss of life in high risk areas should be taken into account by communities.