[Ti Rider]

Eight months after Katrina there have been some strange after effects on the Mississippi coast -

1. Housing prices have skyrocketed. You'd think that since the area lost a significant number of residents who will never return that housing would be cheaper. You'd be wrong. Prices have skyrocketed, from rent to home prices. My neighbor, who is now terrified of hurricanes, sold his house for $58K more than he bought it for one year ago. It's crazy, my house would be far out out of my price range if I were trying to buy it today.

2. Bugs. The storm triggered an insect population explosion. I've lived here for nearly my entire life. I've always considered the gnats and mosquitos a crude kind way to keep the area from getting too crowded. Some people just can't take them....but now they are like something out of a bad SciFi channel movie. If you go out without bug spray you'll be covered with them in minutes.

3. Every business is shorthanded. Lots of evacuees left never to return. Then the federal govt. extended unemployment benefits to people who lost they jobs due to the storm (mainly casino workers). As a consequence now people make more money not working or working for cash. Businesses like resturants and even Walmart close early due to not having enough employees.

Things have become "normal". Passing semi after semi loaded with storm debris no longer seems strange. I have a hard time remembering what was on all the now empty land near water. My wife has gotten used to her 30 minute commute to work. It used to take her less than 10 minutes but the bridge she took is gone (the contract was just awarded for a new bridge which will take two years to build). Two of my coworkers whose homes were gutted are close to moving back into their rebuilt houses. So we continue to survive and adapt......

 

[Ti Rider]

All this begs a question:
Why don't you sell your house and leave? Am I just daft? I don't understand it. Another Cat. 5 hurricane is going to hit eventually. Confused

Mark, this is where I grew up. I was born in Tacoma, Washington but moved here as a kid. It just seems wrong to pick up and move when things get rough. I'm also roughly eight years away from having enough time in to retire from my job (I'll be in my 40's). My family is here (parents, brother, sisters) and my wife's family is here. We average a direct hit from a hurricane about once a every seven years. I can live with that. It had been 35 years between Katrina and Camille so the next Cat 5 (I know Katrina didn't have Cat 5 winds but still had the Cat 5 storm surge) is probably a long way off...

The perfect reason to sell. Unless you are really attached to the area or the house.

I refuse to let this storm to scare me away....

Sell. Leave. Come to North Texas!
Our women are better looking and have all their teeth.

Charles, nice. You'll be glad to hear that my beautiful wife has all her teeth....

 

[Ti Rider]

For those in hurricane areas, they seem to get used to it.

Charles, thankfully Katrina was an exception and not the norm. Most hurricanes I've been through (three majors) are just lots of wind and rain. Downed trees and powerlines. It ends up being little more than a half a week or so back in stone age without power or phones. It really makes you realize what you take for granted. Katrina was a whole different beast. Now if Cat 5's become the norm and not the exception then I might just have to put my house and boat up for sale to look for higher ground......