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This actually might not be as bad of a dialogue to have as some people might think. Simply pay the people the money that would have otherwise been spent on rebuilding, and allow them to move to another location. Of course, nothing is ever simple.

As the Gulf Coast reels from two catastrophic storms in a month, and the Carolinas and Florida deal with damage and debris from hurricanes this year and last, even some supporters of coastal development are starting to ask a previously unthinkable question: is it time to consider retreat from the coast?

Yes, said Howard Marlowe, president of Marlowe & Company, a lobbying firm that represents counties and local governments, often in seeking support for coastal infrastructure, like roads, sewers and beach replenishment. “I think we need to be asking that and discussing that, and the federal government needs to provide leadership,” Mr. Marlowe said.

He added, “I have never been an advocate for the federal government telling people that they have to move out, but it’s important to have a discussion at all levels of government about what can be done to make sure more people do not put themselves in harm’s way. It will not be an easy dialogue.”

[Full Article]

It looks like Florida is, well, getting f##ked. Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up … but if you have a better caption, I’m all ears.

[via National Hurricane Center]

As Hurricane Rita moves into the Gulf of Mexico tonight it is continuing to gain strength. It is already being classified as a category 2 hurricane, but meteorologists are warning that it could reach category 4 by mid-afternoon Wednesday, meaning that it will be generating sustained winds of about 130-150mph. Evacuations are already underway in Texas and Hurricane Katrina weary Louisiana.

Lashing out with 105-mile-per-hour winds, the storm’s long reach pummeled Florida’s southern coast and the Keys and posed a potential new threat to the weary Gulf Coast region.

In its 8 p.m. advisory, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said the center of the hurricane was about 65 miles south of Key West, Fla., traveling west at 12 m.p.h. It was expected to keep that pace for the next 24 hours as it pushed into the southern Gulf of Mexico on a track that would have the storm come ashore in Texas, with the potential for heavy winds and rain to extend east into already battered Louisiana.

[via NY Times, CNN, and The BBC]