Talk about timing. Next month, several hundred
insurers will converge on New Orleans for a long-planned annual convention on
how to reduce human casualties, property damage and economic losses during natural
disasters. Following Tropical Storm Isidore and Hurricane Lili, we cannot think
of a better time or place for an annual meeting of the Institute for Business
& Home Safety, a nonprofit disaster safety group sponsored by the insurance industry.
The three-day conference starts Nov. 13, with disaster experts
from both private and public sectors discussing lessons learned from the floods
of Tropical Storm Allison. Other panels address the nation's "aging inventory
of levees" and how new development contributes to flooding woes. (For more information
on the conference, visit www.ibhs.org
or call (813) 675-1047.)
Controlling insurance losses through building code enforcement
is another big item on the convention agenda. It sounds dry on paper, but anyone
who heard Fox8 TV weathercaster Bob Breck rant about inadequate state building
codes as Lili bore down on Louisiana will want to hear more about that critical
issue.
With so many insurance carriers trying to bail out of our flood-prone
coastal state, our elected officials should endeavor to keep the insurance industry
intact in Louisiana and stabilize homeowner premiums. Public officials also
should attend some of the convention seminars, which seem tailor-made for Louisiana.
The conference is scheduled to conclude with a presentation
on 1992's Hurricane Andrew, which cost the insurance industry $20 billion in
combined claims from Louisiana and Florida. Insurers have been writing fewer
homeowner policies in Louisiana since Andrew, the most expensive storm in American
history. This unhappy trend has forced current homeowners to pay as much as
30 percent above market rates for special high-risk insurance provided by a
pool of carriers. Preliminary figures from the Louisiana Department of Insurance
show a combined total of roughly $240 million in claims from Lili and Isidore.
That figure will increase.
Every hurricane season seems to expose new weaknesses in human
endeavors to escape the storms' wrath. Hurricane Georges (1998) revealed a frightening
lack of evacuation planning by families of the aged and infirm as well as by
area nursing homes. Dozens of these "special needs" patients were dumped at
the Superdome or bused to Baton Rouge shelters via crowded highways, provoking
an outcry about the added strain placed on emergency services in the capitol
city.
Four years later, as Lili stormed toward our coast, Louisiana
Gov. Mike Foster and Mississippi Gov. Ronnie Musgrove publicly squabbled over
the terms of a Georges-inspired plan to evacuate southeast Louisiana by turning
all four lanes of Interstate-59 into a northbound highway.
Musgrove rejected Foster's interpretation of the "contraflow"
plan, saying it would strain his state's emergency services at the expense of
protecting Mississippi from coastal flooding and hurricane-spun tornadoes. The
governors reached a compromise -- only one day before Lili hit south central
Louisiana. Fortunately, evacuation of New Orleans, which officials say would
require 72 hours, was not necessary. Not this time.
As the insurance group gathers, we need the industry's best
thinking on two critical questions:
· What are the necessary components of
a regional hurricane evacuation and refugee plan that would help all Gulf Coast
residents who may not be able to return home for weeks, or longer, after a storm?
· When is the optimal time to call for
an evacuation of New Orleans, which has 100,000 people who depend on public
transportation?
Meanwhile, local media should temper storm
warnings with cautionary science about the unpredictability of hurricane force
winds, lest the public become distrustful of their reporting and dangerously
complacent. Some storms can "wimp out" -- or rear up --literally overnight.
(See "Lessons from Lili," in this issue.)
Since 1891, 28 hurricanes have made landfall
in Louisiana, including the Category 2 Lili. Emergency officials fear that New
Orleans, which has not suffered a major hurricane since Betsy in 1965, cannot
continue to skate by on hope and prayers that killer storms will continue to
go the other way. Fears have increased as coastal erosion has eaten away natural
barriers that once could be counted upon to slow hurricane winds.
In "The Sinking of New Orleans," a report
on the storm threat to our city that aired nationally Sept. 20 on PBS, correspondent
Bill Moyers noted, "The American Red Cross lists the worst natural disasters
that might strike America. They worry about earthquakes in California, and tropical
storms in Florida. But they say the biggest catastrophe could be a hurricane
hitting New Orleans."
Thousands dead. A city flooded. Pumps overwhelmed.
The historic French Quarter destroyed. The chilling report notes that engineers
are already marking our city's avenues and roadways by longitude and latitude
in the event street signs and landmarks are swept away.
Our city faces many woes, including crime
and poverty. But even a "moderate" hurricane with no casualties can cripple
New Orleans' economy if we fail to prepare for the storm next time. The insurance
industry convention is a good place to start.
