"Duane Bozarth" wrote
Precisely my point...to do what HMFIC wants in general is a very
difficult and expensive task. You can be prepared for ordinary events
pretty well and make things a lot easier on yourself, but in a
catastrophic situation things are likely to get out of hand for almost
everybody in the affected area.

I design large scale custom homes on the barrier islands off the coast of SW
Florida.
These homes are inherently expensive for several reasons, not just because
of the so called *personal greed* of the owners.
I've heard that upwards of 60% of the residents of NOLA were at the poverty
level or lower.
The buildings that housed these people probably won't be rebuilt.
I've also heard that most of those folks in that 60% have already been
relocated, some have jobs and are moving on with their lives, probably
aren't concerned with moving back to NOLA.
So what's left?
The infrastructure, businesses and residences.

Here, in the 130mph wind zone we address the issue 2 ways.
Either the land under the structure must place the finished floor at 10.0'
above sea level, which is what is done here on the mainland.
Or the home has got to be elevated on driven of jetted pilings so the the
finished floor is at least 10.0' above sea level.
My own home, built 3 years ago on the mainland, required more than 60 truck
loads of fill dirt to get the concrete slab up to the requirement, it also
required an additional 15 loads to do the finish grading at the end.
Each year the height requirement seems to increase, the new home across the
street from me is at least 1-1/2' higher than mine.
Its never ending around here.
In 20 years the only thing that will be allowed to be built around here will
be poured in place solid concrete domes anchored to the mantle itself with
precast 80' pilings 4' on center both ways. ;-(