Ryan Novak
Economics A1
Mr. Reuter
Hurricane Michael
On October 10th, Hurricane Michael touched down on “Florida’s Panhandle”. This hurricane is a category 4 with wind speeds up to 155 mph. This hurricane has killed at least 8 in Florida and another 9 in other states like North Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia. This hurricane also completely massacred Mexico Beach, hitting it the hardest. People did not think the hurricane would be that devastating, the governor had required a mandatory evacuation and yet some did not leave. They definitely took a hit too from the pictures and information behind it saying how the houses had been completely ripped apart. Then the Staff Sgt. Andrew Pliscofsky said, “It was like a monster came through and kicked it all down. This all just shocked us.”. This was his fourth rescue mission and had never seen anything like it.
This photo is from Mexico Beach
Now, looking at the economics side of this, this hurricane had cost an estimated $25 billion. Around $3 million will be placed on the federal flood insurance program and then for the private insurances, they will be hit with around $9-10 billion. Money is not the only thing that was lost here, but also the power is obviously gone, no fuel, and sewage lines are also down. People have lost the homes that they have had for their entire life possible and if it is not gone, it is damaged severely.
Then, you must think about, “Where do these people go now or live?”. Well, there are many other states but they already have a lot of people and don’t another few thousand coming in all at once. If they go back to Florida, how are they supposed to live with no food, water, and home? The only way they’ll live is being on the side of the road or help from everybody or moving to a different state and getting a new job. But what about those with large families? As you can see there are many unanswered questions. First, flood insurance will help families get a couple thousand dollars to get back up. Secondly, helping shelters will have water for them most likely and not all of Florida was completely destroyed so they still have some food places/stores. Thirdly, the city hall is accepting people to live there and people have been living in there cars. Luckily this really only hit Mexico beach which is just a little community, so not many were affected.
After reading through many people’s stories from The New York Times. The average cost for evacuating was around $700 after like 3 days from out of pocket/credit card. Then they’ll have to go back and hope they still have a home and most likely be living off a generator if there is one. Then there is also a shortage in gas majorly. Florida took a devastating hit and will need all the help they can get to start living again and rebuilding. The estimated time to rebuild is around 1-2 years, so this will be awhile until they get better. Many of the people affected by this have never had anything like this, if you’ve seen on the TV how they ask for only $10, that goes a long way to giving food and water to those who need it and running generators for hospitals and living shelters. Just donate $10 and that’s all that’s asked of you.
Works Cited
Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-11/hurricane-michael-s-price-tag-could-reach-25-billion.
“'It's All Gone': Tiny Florida Beach Town Nearly Swept Away by Hurricane Michael.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 12 Oct. 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/national/its-all-gone-tiny-florida-beach-town-nearly-swept-away-by-hurricane-michael/2018/10/12/f1a110c0-ce56-11e8-a3e6-44daa3d35ede_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.37294a922736.
Associated Press. “Hurricane Michael: Breaking down the Devastation Left in Florida, Elsewhere.” OrlandoSentinel.com, 12 Oct. 2018, www.orlandosentinel.com/weather/hurricane/os-ne-hurricane-michael-devastation-by-numbers-1012-story.html.
Chavez, Nicole. “Michael's Death Toll Rises to 17, Including 8 in Florida.” CNN, Cable News Network, 13 Oct. 2018, www.cnn.com/2018/10/12/us/hurricane-michael-wxc/index.html.
“Hurricane Michael May Have Disrupted Florida's Red Tide.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/hurricane-michael-may-have-disrupted-florida-s-red-tide-n919826.
Moore, Lela. “The Price of Fleeing Hurricane Michael: 'We Are Going to Be Financially Devastated'.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 Oct. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/10/13/reader-center/evacuation-hurricane-michael.html.
Even though you asked the question of “where would they all go and live?”, where do you think they could go, or where would you go if you were one of those individuals who had basically everything taken away. Say you had no close relatives, no phone, or no money, where do you think you would end up? For me, I would try and see if could stay with a friend for a few days but assuming that their house is ripped down too, that wouldn’t necessarily be a good option. What would you do?
ReplyDeleteI agree with not only the fact that Hurricane Michael took a devastating hit from Florida all the way up to the Carolina’s and took a huge number of innocent lives destroying homes and personal properties. I think Economically, the government has to take part in the action of trying to get the money for rebuilding most of the stuff that was destroyed from the hurricane and not only that, but you are correct that people must take a part in action to help donate to the people that were affected by this tragic event.
ReplyDelete