Living On The Coast...Dangerously

"Scientists and environmentalists have cautioned for years that the nation's coastline is dangerously overbuilt. But with Americans migrating in increasing numbers to coastal counties, construction only accelerated, and local officials increasingly relied on technology and luck to forestall catastrophe.

The development pressure comes from one immutable fact: Americans love waterfront property. And the federal government has fueled that love through flood insurance that minimizes its risks and by paying for infrastructure such as bridges and roads that makes it more accessible...

For much of the 20th century, the coastal areas were dominated by the poor and working class. Wealthy and middle-class Americans did not start moving there until the long lull after Hurricane Camille in 1969, when there was a demographic explosion...

The federal government also paid prodigious sums in flood insurance claims to property owners who had insisted on building in harm's way...

Scientists suggest that Gulf Coast officials should ban new building on barrier islands, require setbacks for all coastal development, and perhaps refuse to reconstruct a bridge or two. But they doubt that will happen."