In Matagorda, Texas, Hurricane Shutters Are a Must

Matagorda, Texas is an historic town located in the center of the coastline on the Colorado River in Texas. The town is very close to the Gulf of Mexico, just seven miles away by car. The area is not highly populated, but in the summer the numbers swell impressively, because it is very popular for both its fine fishing and its beaches.

Some of the best saltwater fishing in the world is to be found in the area. The more than fifty mile long coastline pulls Houston fishermen in, and they are discovering that they don't mind the two hour drive. If you are looking for prize-winning fish, Matagorda is the place to catch them.

But because it's right on the coast, it's a prime target for hurricanes. The position makes it vulnerable to the tropical storms and hurricanes that move inland from the gulf. It has a long history of being hard hit by storms.

When a 1941 hurricane formed in the Gulf of Mexico, it made a loop, turned toward the northwest, and then made landfall near Matagorda, Texas. The hurricane sat over the area for a while, and damage from the storm amounted to about 6.5 million in 1940's dollars. All the crops in the region were destroyed.

Installing hurricane shutters is a must for homes so close to the Gulf of Mexico. Even if hurricanes don't make landfall exactly dead-on to your property, the resulting high winds, rain, and tornadoes can do damage. Hurricane Ike made landfall approximately 80 miles to the north of them, yet still did extensive damage to the area. Even though the hurricane was not that close, the outer bands carry a lot of weather problems with them, and as they move over the area, they do a lot of damage. FEMA declared it a disaster area, in fact, in September of 2008.

Pressure changes that happen during the storm can actually rip a hole in your windows if they are not covered by storm shutters. The hurricane will then tear through your home and do major structural damage. During hurricanes, windows have been torn off, roofs have been ripped away, and porches or pool cages have been carried away for miles before landing. Storm shutters protect your windows, and while no hurricane shutter can keep you completely safe, it can keep the damage at a minimum. Hurricane shutters are tested for missile impact, and come standard with the ability to withstand winds up to 150 miles per hour. Hurricane shutters keep your family and your home safe during a storm.

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Why Governments Will Never Build Effective Disaster Early Warning Networks

We do have the technology and the social and economic need to create effective disaster early warning systems in all modern societies.  And yes,  the "conventional wisdom" is that Governments or insurance companies should build them!  The fact remains obvious that neither governments nor insurance companies have built suchs systems nor are they ever likely to do so.  Governments will not do this because the people who actually make government policy and spending decisions have very little political incentive to create a disaster warning network that can save lives and reduce property damages.  The risks and challenges in actually creating such a system far exceed the small potential political gain by decision makers. Governments do however achieve substantial political benefit from disaster planning and repeated calls for future action.  Politicians always find that disaster recovery funding gets a lot more political support for them than prevention of death and property loss.  Standing on a soapbox and writing disaster relief checks is the long preferred method of dealing with disasters.  Long term actions required for implementation of an effective early warning network create minimal political gain and therefore are not likely to ever be accomplished.  This is the sad reality, but reality is not an optional choice. 

Insurance companies will not build or fund disaster warning systems because they operate as individual entities. Each individual insurance company has no economic incentive to reduce overall deaths and property damages in society.  Insurance companies insure risk.  With less risk, there will be less to insure.  There is no "common" good served for any one company to create and implement a warning system and they have no framework for cooperative actions of this type.  It is not a core competency of insurance companies. Their profit motive is not served for all risk to be reduced, only the risk for each companies insured's.

Opportunity is created by the ability and willingness to solve major problems in people's lives. The time has come to build an effective Disaster Warning Network.  What do you think?

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