So now that the floodwaters have receded, what should be done? Should those homeowners repair/rebuild, know-ing that their homes are sitting ducks for future floods? If they do so — and many have little choice — it’s hard to see how they’ll ever be able to relax again on a rainy night. Should the federal government, via the Federal Emergency Management Agency, pay to buy and bulldoze many of those homes? Should Cobb County and the munici-palities in south Cobb participate in such a plan? Or should those governments perhaps offer subsidized flood insurance to those in those areas? Would any of those options be a worthwhile use of local tax dollars?
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I think that before there are any answers there are a lot more questions to be asked, such as:
-Who let developers build new housing developments on these lands, some of which were owned by Cobb elected officials and sold to the developers?
-Why did the county declare some of them flood zones but the homeowners were never notified.
-Did the flood gates work at surrounding lakes?
Citizen groups will be investigating these and other questions to determine liability and then seek redress.
How can we be in 2009 with conditions ripe for floods, and home owners being told they are not in a flood zone any longer, so the coverage is discontinued, sometimes after coverage had been in place for more than 10 years? I suggest the county as well as the government look at empty builder lots that may be bank owned or almost bank owned and give the opportunity to the homeowners that really should not rebuild in the flood zone and some subdivisions that are empty or only have a few homes lived in and or completed become an opportunity for new lives to begin. Something to think about, Don't you agree?