To the editor:

Hurricane Milton was a major storm, there’s no doubt about it. My wife and I live on Cape Coral, just north of Fort Myers in Florida, and Milton made landfall 75 miles to the north up the coast. The size of the storm meant that we were fully vested in the storm as it traveled to that later destination. Our area experienced the rainfall, winds and tornadoes that made Milton such a nasty hurricane. As the sun shines on this following day, the temptation is to try to put that experience behind you, fix what got broken and move on. But I think that’s a great mistake.

Just two years ago, our area took a direct hit from Hurricane Ian. This devastated Fort Myers Beach under 15- foot storm surges that overwhelmed everything in their path. At the time, people were talking about “The Storm of the Century.” My own house was flooded, costing $150k to put right, and I am just a drop in that ocean.

Once again with Hurricane Milton, politicians from high to low were doing their usual parade of warning people to evacuate, emphasizing the severity of the storm and the imminent danger to lives. They promised the usual army of workers to clear up debris and get lives back on track. In this case, both President Biden and Gov. DeSantis took prominence, warning of the dangers to come. At the same time the media pundits, both large broadcasters and small vloggers were monetizing the storm by sensationalizing every small detail they could come up with — the lowest pressure recorded, the highest wind speeds, the explosive formation of the storm, the awesome size of Milton. A few small voices mentioned that we may be breaking records because of man-made climate change.

The media exposure, now moving on to other weighty topics, can be largely dismissed because they have to be showmen in order to keep their audience and maintain advertising revenue. Very few are interested in simply presenting the important facts of where will the hurricane make landfall?, how powerful it will be? and the implications of that force. That’s because that would be boring and they have 24 hours of airtime to fill. So instead, they fill the airwaves with hyperbola to get their viewers ever more anxious. That is to be expected, however debilitating.

The politicians are the real problem, of course. They are busy telling people to prepare, evacuate and do the right thing, without any real thought for the implications for the citizens. I was not in my house for Hurricane Ian two years ago. As a result the water that intruded in my house was devastating. Not only that, but my premium for flood insurance more than doubled the following year to over $5,000. That was on top of the $3,500 for regular home insurance which includes hurricane coverage, albeit with a hefty deductible that means it only pays out if the damage is around 10% of the value of the house. The net effect for hurricane coverage is that it rarely pays out and if it does, you’re still on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars of expense. But given the astronomic rise in flood insurance, like many, I decided to forgo it and “self insure.” That means that I am almost mandated to stay and defend my home when a storm is on the way. Mandatory evacuations mean nothing. I have to be ready for what the storm serves up; taping up doors, laying down flood barriers, readying the generator, preparing escape routes etc.

Our governor’s attempt to “solve” the hurricane/home insurance problem in Florida was to give the insurance companies a financial bailout at taxpayers’ expense and introduce some restrictions on lawyers suing insurance companies to force them to make payouts against their will. With these steps in place, the insurance premiums show no signs of coming down. Flood insurance is separate of course, being underwritten by FEMA, but is equally out of control because nothing is being done to reduce the risks.

I’m sure it’s quite deliberate, but little is being done in this regard, just Band-Aids. Homes are being built on higher mounds of earth. Funds are being provided for clean-up. Linesmen from other states are being recruited to repair power lines. The next storm will simply be a repeat of what we saw with Hurricane Ian and now with Milton.

Why is Florida not burying power and utility cables? Why is Florida not building coastal defenses? Why is Florida not restricting the building locations of mobile home parks? Where is the governmental study into risk mitigation for future storms?

As long as Florida’s right-leaning government won’t acknowledge climate change, and only considers near-term financial benefits for a few individuals and corporations, we are condemned to repeat the fiasco that we have just witnessed with Milton. The lives of the citizenry and the perils they have to endure will continue as normal.

And the hurricane season is not yet over.

Simon Rowell

Cape Coral