Took a drive the other day down the beach about fifteen minutes from where our house is. I had hoped that time had erased the damages from the hurricanes of a couple of years ago. It hadn't.
The public beach was fenced off with wire and there were signs that said "Stay on Walkways for Safety." The landscape was changed. Vegetation was attempting a recovery - trees and brush were black.
One of the most significant changes to the landscape was the amount of building that was going on. Condo after condo was going up. One would ask themselves, "Why would people want to live on the edge of a danger zone, especially after the awesome and horrible display of nature's power to destroy?
Well, I'm sure the builders all have enough money to sustain a loss. But what about us homeowners whose insurance has shot up 4,000 to 6,000 dollars more per year? What about our property taxes which are going up to provide amenities and infrastructure to the wealthy who build these highrises that bar our view of the beach and water? Now, instead of enjoying a view for free, we get to spend (and not easily affordable) around $3,000 a week to be 20 stories up with a pool below so we don't have to get that sticky sugar white sand on our bodies.
Already I am longing for the old days of gathering up baskets, towels, lotions, a good boom box and heading to the beach to loll in the sun, play in the water or snorkle, and enjoy family and friends, then head home for showers and laying around recovering from the hot sun, then pulling out the barbecue to make hamburgers. We will have to hunt for these places now.
Here is an excerpt from a study done on one of the storms that lashed through here at 140 mph and 85 mph.
A number of changes were seen on the Key when comparing the before and after pictures. The coastline was straightened in places and massive overwash fans were present at a number of locations. Large scale movement of sand was apparent across the entire study area. Man-made structures were severely damaged during hurricane Ivan; property damage can be seen in almost all the photographs. Wide-spread burial of features such as parking lots, roads, and tennis courts took place. Some buildings were flattened by wind and/or storm surges while other buildings were badly damaged, including missing roofs and/or missing sections of the building. Several boathouses and their associated piers were also damaged.
Now some of the folks from the Wyoming area might say, "What is the big deal, we've had 100 miles per hour breezes a good deal of the winter!" Well, the scientists say it is the pressure phenomena that arrives with these winds that generate over the water (for us, from along the coast of Africa usually) and that build as they get to warmer waters. The wind that was generated by Ivan caused 40 foot waves of water according to the report I read.
The weather can terrify, but the trauma stems also from watching your friends roam a pile of rubble that once was their home, looking for any trinket to hold on to. The trauma is from suddenly realizing that the community you live in is YOUR community, and its wounds are YOUR wounds. Trauma is when you walk out and find your car on its side, a tree through your window, half your roof gone, and you feel lucky. Trauma is standing in line an hour waiting for clean water. Trauma is not being able to reach your family to say, "Mother, we're ok." Trauma is eating army rations because the stores can't get food because of damaged roads. Trauma is when the nurses have to pump the ventilators by hand. Trauma is not knowing if your child made it through the storm alive where they were staying.
Why do we stay? I don't know - maybe Southerners are incredibly tougher than we think. Maybe the love of the coast and the water is worth it all. Maybe it is denial. Maybe where we are is just "home." I dunno. Maybe its the birds that begin their chatter and twirping early in the morning until late in the evening. Maybe it's the dragonflys on a hot still day that hover the garden with the sun glistening off shimmery wings. Maybe its the sounds of blues or jazz wafting from the restaurant you just walked by. Maybe its the festivals, the art shows, the concerts enjoyed from a blanket in the park under the 100 year old oaks. Maybe it is huge waxy magnolias, fragrant gardenias. Maybe it is soft southern accents. Why do we stay?
6 comments:
Well, I know once you have a taste for life by the water...especially the ocean...it is hard to give that up. I found this post fascinating...a lot to think about. Trees and beach grasses need to be encouraged and less people actually plowing down these plants at beach areas...but I also believe that home owners are able to pr=ovide those kinds of protections and do the research to protect the beach areas...I hope so.
Keep us posted on how this plays out, I am very interested. I love Florida..a.nd i have loved Florida literature..w.as a big fan of John D. Mac Donald(Mister Anchovy has read much of his stuff too) and he always had his stories and novels involved in the ecology and environemental issues particular to Florida.
They did pve paradise...but hopefully home owners will protect the paradise and return it to it's natural sure weather dangerous, but beach strong state.
The same thing is happening here. The rich are artificially inflating the price of recreational property in our area. Those of us who struggle to live here, can't afford the price anymore. :(
Our city wants to build condos on the ONLY public beach we have on our HUGE lake! Where do us "poor folks" go to have fun?
Candy minx is right. I spent a year and a half living by the ocean, and I still long fro it every day, 20 years later. There is NOTHINg in this world like the ocean.
I am nowhere near the ocean now, we live soo far inland. We do have park lands and forests that are being torn down to make room for more condos. I will never be able to afford them and I would never want to live in them.
keep us posted. I have never been to Florida, but I would to visit someday.
Great post, Gardenia. Same thing happens here where I am: out of towners buy up all the available land but it's the locals who bear the financial brunt with inflated taxes. Then the pristine wilderness you thought you would retire to is all of a sudden no longer a pristine wilderness: it's a huge development and the woods keep getting farther and farther away the more housing is put up. We wind up destroying what we came for in the first place.
I spent a weekend in Destin a few years ago. I couldn't believe the evident affluence. Who can afford those places?
We're tiny specks in the bigger picture, and nature turned nasty demonstrates that over and over and over. It is a shame to see condo sprawl anywhere - we saw it in Portugal in the fall around former fishing villages like Peniche and Nazare. The condos go on and on. I think Candy is right about encouraging trees and other plants around beaches...the plants help the area withstand storms.
I have always stayed on the coast (or near) because in spite of it's perils, the ocean has a calming effect on me.
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