Long ago, Neal Frank, former National Hurricane Center Director talked about that. He was the one with the crewcut.
He said people who live along the coast were making a trade-off of a great lifestyle for a few years, against the inevitability of a catastrophic storm. It’s a decision each property owner has to make for himself.
Me & Mrs abb have every so often discussed owning property in PC Beach, since we go there 2 or 3 times a year. But the anxiety would just be too much for me every hurricane season every time a sandstorm blows off the North African Continent.
Regarding the gentrification, there’s a piece in this morning’s PC News Herald on that very subject. A lot of houses in Mexico Beach were older places that were grandfathered before the current building codes. Cinder block construction on a slab. There’s still a lot of that along PC Beach. Places that have probably been handed down for generations.
http://www.newsherald.com/news/20181020/hurricane-michael-devastation-could-signal-death-of-beach-town
Hurricane Michael: Devastation could signal the death of a beach town
There’s also this.
http://www.newsherald.com/news/20181021/gulf-power-improves-estimated-restoration-times-for-some-areas-in-bay-county/1
Gulf Power improves estimated restoration times for some areas in Bay County
Thanks for the links. In the first, the author certainly knew what he was writing about the nature of the North FL coastline.
We’ve had a good run at life on the beach, and a very isolated and tight beach community when we arrived, back when around 100 people called the Cape home.