Before the storm, before the sad pictures of people in the rubble that was their homes, before the cries of "we will rebuild" let me say that you are a fool to build a permanent home or business on a barrier island or in front of the tree line on a beach.
As a native Floridian I wish that all land from three hundred feet behind the tree line to the water line on the main land and all barrier islands had been declared state lands or at least been restricted to seasonal cabins. God, gods, nature or whatever - never intended any mammal to set up year round house keeping on those shifting sands.
In the past I always said that they should carry the weight of the insurance burden for their foolish decision - we pay through higher insurance rates and taxes for these people to live their unsustainable lives. Today with global warming, we need to have legislation that forbids new construction on these lands and that will not allow the rebuilding of homes or businesses. This is just money and resources that we can ill afford thrown away so that the few can live an unrealistic fantasy.
Yes, when I see the smashed homes and sad people I feel some sympathy, but I shouldn't and neither should you. The vast majority of these people have plenty of money and can live well on land that will not shift out from under them when a storm comes along.