CNN:

[George II]

Link to tweet

[Iliyah]

1. Huh?

[Blue_true]

72. He could have said that he would help them rebuild in safer areas, or rebuild storm resistant houses

The way he said it, they are totally on their own, even as taxpayers.

[BlueMississippi]

2. Yeah -- everyone will have to relocate and build a new life.

Tone deaf

[sheshe2]

3. WHAT!?!?

[highplainsdem]

4. Mediaite article with some of the Twitter responses:

https://www.mediaite.com/news/bernie-sanders-under-fire-for-saying-he-wont-pay-to-rebuild-homes-in-storm-stricken-areas/

[unblock]

5. ultimately climate change dictates this approach.

i fail to see why any candidate would want to proclaim this during a campaign as it's a losing electoral strategy.

but as a matter of public policy, we need to strongly encourage people to migrate out of areas that will be underwater and/or subject to repeatedly worse and worse environmental damage in the next few decades.

someone circulated a video projection of what happens if all the ice melts, and florida is pretty much entirely under water. it makes vastly more sense to spend money helping people in such areas relocate rather than rebuild in an area that's basically doomed.

[KPN]

8. Bernie's just being Bernie -- honest to a fault as usual (the fault being how some perceive

him and his statements with the glasses they wear). Ironically, that's exactly why some folks are Bernie diehards; he's genuine.

[True Blue American]

34. We have rebuilt

So many times in flood zones and I agree this has to stop.

If I was flooded out once that would be enough for me.

[KPN]

46. FEMA has had a buy out program for a

while now to do exactly what zdandet’s is saying. They have also been working with State and local governments for decades to better identify and prohibit or establish suitable standards for construction within floodplain zones. I know from personal from having lived seven years on the lower Colorado River in the 1980s during which. 200 year flood occurred. This is not something Bernie has just pulled out of the air.

[Blue_true]

74. So he tells a state of 21 million people that their homes are doomed if he becomes President.

That is something, I would not call it wise. Maybe offering people a carrot that leads them to the right decision longterm is wiser. But that would not be Bernie, he wants it now, like banning fracking immediately or placing heavy taxes on billionaires and large companies on Day One.

[KPN]

86. The carrot has existed for quite some tome.

FEMA has a buy-out program already. They also work with States and local governments to implement it and prudent floodplain management in flood prone zones where and whenever possible.

Also, did you view the video?

[ReformedGOPer]

17. +1

[mcar]

6. He wouldn't have rebuilt New Orleans?

[TheRealNorth]

10. The levees failed in New Orleans

I am pretty sure Sanders is talking about constantly rebuilding in areas that are subject to hurricanes or floods where no infrastructure is built to mitigate damage from future storms.

Don't people in these areas already get a huge government handouts in the form of subsidized property insurance, since if that had to buy insurance on the private market it would be extremely expensive?

[mcar]

24. Huge government handouts?

Seriously? Check out flood insurance rates sometimes. And remember that many people without means live in flood zones.

There is a big community of fisher folk in my county and they are not wealthy. Some families have been here for generations. Their flood insurance can be very high.

[TheRealNorth]

58. National Flood Insurance Program

Or NFIP. It's basically allows for people who build homes in exposed areas to obtain insurance at below-market rates for the risk involved in insuring their property.

[mcar]

61. I'm aware of it

I'm also aware of how much people pay.

[jberryhill]

76. Luxury beach homes

What does a house go for on the outer banks?

I know what oceanfront property on barrier islands goes for in Delaware.

[woodsprite]

83. We could get into one (not luxury) for anywhere

From 300k to 500k. Those are not the McMansion prices. That would be darned close to our DE house in size (3000 soft) and value (320k).

We love the Outer Banks and vacation there yearly for 3 wks at a pop, but would not buy down there unless it was just a spot to park our camper. Many of the houses are built to be “disposable”.

We did buy a lot down in my in-laws development on the Gulf near Rotonda, FL. Hope to build a vacation home/rental on it before we retire. It was one of the highest lots in the neighborhood and according to the latest govt tables, doesnt ”require” flood insurance or a stem wall to be built. We plan on both though. Construction in that development is an attempt to build it to last - reinforced concrete block filled with rebar and more concrete. Roofs are rated for 150-160mph winds, windows are wind and impact resistant with built in hurricane shutters. Electric lines are buried for maximum protection. Houses down there are in the same price range. Lots however were a bit less expensive.

I don’t understand why you wouldn’t batten down the hatches as best you could, then haul ass to safety off the island. One guy has a restaurant down in Ocracoke. He said their house flooded, restaurant flooded, 3 cars and a golf cart gone and/or destroyed, has $5k worth of food in the restaurant freezer and no electricity. He would have been better off if he secured what he could, taken the cars and evacuated.

[progressoid]

43. It's not just NOLA.

It's happening in Iowa too.

https://www.wowt.com/content/news/Pacific-Junction-residents-debate-whether-to-rebuild-or-move-on-509038091.html

“We want to make smart decisions, and not just rebuild and not have protections,” Parr said.

Residents at Wednesday night’s meeting in Glenwood, IA were told the local levee breach at Pony Creek will be repaired by next week. Two other breaches impacting the town will take longer to fill as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers makes its way north from Hamburg, Iowa.

“That’s going to be a big problem. It’s going to be a big problem,” Parr said.

“It’s everyone that’s west of I-29 right now and south in the county that’s at risk,” Hurst said.

It's a risk a number of life-long Pacific Junction residents may not be willing to take — a never-ending fear that if they re-build, this could all happen again if those levees aren’t secure.

“I’ll be honest. I’m undecided. My husband is probably a little less undecided. He wants to probably get rid of the house,” Parr said.

The county is working on providing temporary housing around Pacific Junction and Glenwood. There was also talk of a future residential buyout from Mills County.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

7. Christ this guy is an embarrassment.

[dsc]

9. He is partially correct here

there should be a mandated buy out. There is a town in my county that was flooded at least twice in the last few years.

[True Blue American]

36. Not a Bernie fan

But have heard of houses being rebuilt 6 and 7 times. You are in a flood zone zoning ordinances should stop the rebuilding

[qazplm135]

11. we finally found something

Bernie won't pay for.

[comradebillyboy]

35. Ba da bing...

[Baclava]

56. LOLOLOL!

Bernie says he's got all the vacation homes he needs at the moment, but check back later

[George II]

62. Homes along the shores of Lake Champlain get flooded every spring.

[Autumn]

12. It makes sense. We should not have to pay to rebuild homes and businesses over and over in

locations that are built close to the tide surge areas.

[crazytown]

14. Relocate NOLA to Vermont.

[Autumn]

18. No maybe we should rebuild the levees that failed better and not

allow homes in areas that are constantly being flooded. Like the ones on the fucking beaches.

[progressoid]

40. That will happen to some extent.

Unless we are willing to spend billions shoring up coastal communities who will be under water in the next decade or two, millions of people will be relocating to higher ground.

This study expects it to cost 400 Billion to shore up some of our coastal communities. 725 Million dollars just for NOLA.

https://www.climatecosts2040.org/rankings

[dawg day]

84. Miami... Manhatttan... Boston...New Orleans...

We have an awful lot of "cultural capital" in cities near the ocean.

I live in a landlocked state, but I think these towns are worth saving.

[George II]

54. That won't help:

https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/sir20165060

"Flood-inundation maps for Lake Champlain in Vermont and in northern Clinton County, New York"

[Blue_true]

75. With climate change getting worse.

You are talking about almost all major California areas, Seattle, Boston, New York City, Washington DC (it sits on reclaimed swampland, with global warming the Potonac backs up), all the rest of the major eastcoast cities, lots of Georgia, almost all of Florida.

Maybe Bernie could give a more hopeful message. It is not condescension to give people a more hopeful message along with the warning that choices that we are now making are harmful.

[crazytown]

13. There goes South Carolina

Maybe the folks down there should consider moving to land locked Vermont.

[George II]

20. bwahahahahaha!!!!

OH NO! Vermont is bounded on the east by the Connecticut River and two thirds of Vermont, including Burlington, is bounded on the west by Lake Champlain. In fact, some have homes on an island in the MIDDLE of Lake Champlain! Make them move to North Dakota.

[crazytown]

22. I think you meant make them move to Iowa

being first in the nation and that stuff.

[George II]

25. Yes, but either/or - there's a whole (white) strip of states down the middle of the country.

[crazytown]

27. Got it.

There are two juicy Senate seats on offer in North Dakota. Time for a trail of beers.

[progressoid]

41. That also happened after Katrina.

Being an Iowan, I know people who live here now who had to flee NOLA permanently. They ended up here.

[SCVDem]

15. How do you rebuild a structure to

make it endure 20 ft seas?

Even Jakarta, Indonesia realizes this and is starting the plan to relocate the city.

Like killing all fracking, Bernie has the right idea, but it is too extreme to get elected.

Be a moderate, get elected and then ramp up.

[crazytown]

16. Well obviously there must be some strategic decisions made here

and Senator Sanders is leading the way by writing off South Carolina in February.

[Autumn]

19. Don't allow building in areas that get 20 ft seas.

[crazytown]

23. Like Charleston.

[Autumn]

29. Yes. Towns may have to be relocated or barriers built. These storms are only going to

to get worse. Like it or not with climate change and the rising seas the ocean is coming.

[crazytown]

30. Gone With a Whim

Like votes for felons on Death Row, Sanders is proposing pure political poison. This is exactly why he can not be the Party's candidate. He might be willing to write off SC, FL and TX for the foreseeable future - I am not.

[Autumn]

31. No, they will be gone with climate change. Get used to it, it's here and we can't stop it.

Why do you care if he commits political suicide? The campaign would be popping. Doing the right thing is often costly to politicians. What's better? To ignore it and keep fingers crossed that it goes away or don't give a fuck and protect yourself politically and do nothing because we older people like Bernie won't be around when it gets bad?

[crazytown]

32. What's better

getting that man who is worse on Climate Change, and everything else, out of the Oval Office. Without that step, the rest is whistling at the wind.

[Blue_true]

77. No one is advising ignoring climate change.

Bernie is looking at a punitive phase, that does not work in retail politics. Good politicians lead reluctant people to a better place, often against their will. We know that some existing cities may have to relocate, but how we break that news to people determines whether we get to lead that change.

[roody]

28. Yup. He is too honest.

[comradebillyboy]

37. Honest isn't the word I would use. nt

[Blue_true]

78. Same here. nt

[Gothmog]

26. Do we need to abandon Texas and Florida?

[greatauntoftriplets]

38. Or Puerto Rico and the USVI.

[True Blue American]

39. The houses I read

About being rebuilt 6 and 7 times were in Houston.

[still_one]

52. What about tornado alley. There are a lot of states affected by this. In fact there is no state

that isn't immune from natural disasters.

This is not only bad policy, but cruel

[mcar]

64. California

Earthquakes, mudslides, wildfires.

[still_one]

65. I know, that is where I live, and I take this personally. Thanks

[mcar]

66. I live 30 miles east of the Gulf of Mexico in Florida

Believe me, I get the challenge. If things go on as they are, I'll have gulf front property.

Every part of the country is subject to natural disasters. We need to do what we can to keep people safe and help in the aftermath. We could all be relocated to the midwest and get blown away by a twister.

[still_one]

67. Absolutely mcar. I guess we need to close down New Orleans while we are at it

[mcar]

68. And Miami, Houston, Charleston, Norfolk, VA

Forget all the history.

[still_one]

69. ++++++

[George II]

53. Or the shores and islands of Lake Champlain?

https://www.mychamplainvalley.com/news/waters-of-lake-champlain-are-rising/

[Blue_true]

79. And all the big cities in California, and Seattle, Boston, NYC, DC, host of others. nt

[Zambero]

33. So victims of unmitigated climate change

are screwed, in other words?

[progressoid]

42. Yep.

One way or another. It's gonna happen and people are gonna get screwed.

Time to wake up to that reality.

[brooklynite]

44. This is a good sound bite, but it's not that simple a solution...

I discuss this in my Transportation and Land Use class at NYU. The problem is that everyone assumes these are summer homes for the 1%. Here in NYC, we have lots of public housing in the Rockaways, which was heavily flooded during Sandy? Do we force them to move? What apartments do they move in to?

[KPN]

47. Which is pretty much what Sanders said.

[Blue_true]

80. Stop it!!!

You can't talk abou reality, you must talk about some high minded idea that may or may not be achievable.

The reality is that with Bernie's position, loads of heavily populated blue cities will have to be abandoned. Why not encourage people to change with a more optimistic solution proposal.

[peggysue2]

45. Well, this is certainly an inartful statement

Because you're writing off an awful lot of voters who may at one time or another get hit by hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and massive flooding. Didn't Vermont suffer massive damage after Hurricane Sandy? Didn't FEMA rescue homeowners and businesses?

I can understand the underlying logic of forcing people to cease and desist from building on flood plains, ocean beachfront property, etc., etc. But this hardline tactic will not win hearts and minds. Just the reverse.

[KPN]

48. Bernie bashing time! Yahoo! Pile on everyone ...

or watch the video, listen to everything he says and put that sentence in that context.

In the face of rising sea levels associated with global warming, it would be pretty foolish to take any other position.

[George II]

49. That's from CNN, not Yahoo.

[True Blue American]

50. My hometown on the Ohio

River used to flood often, after the 1937 flood they built seawalls

The same thing was done where I live now a city on 5 rivers we have 5 dams that are kept in good repair. Only a few outlying areas flood, but few live in those areas

[George II]

55. I live in a town on the Connecticut River. Every spring large sections of the river bank...

...in Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut from the Canadian border down to Long Island Sound get flooded.

[lunamagica]

51. ...

[LongtimeAZDem]

57. Why raise the minimum wage? Just tell people to move somewere cheaper to live

Guy sounds more like a Republican every day

[Cha]

59. Somebody better tell Puerto Rico about this..

Link to tweet

[Cha]

60. Sanders under fire..

Link to tweet

[Cha]

63. Virtually every portion of the highly populous 2,000 mile stretch of coastline from Massachusetts to

Link to tweet

[NurseJackie]

70. Hooray! He's lost everyone who's paying attention who lives along the Eastern and Gulf coasts.

Tell us more, Bernie!

[Cha]

71. Virtually every portion of the highly populous 2,000 mile stretch of coastline from Massachusetts to

Link to tweet

[George II]

85. There's a flood watch at this very moment from around Boston through Nova Scotia.

[Cha]

94. Oh wow.. Best of Luck!

[George II]

95. We're about 30 miles upriver from LI Sound, but my friends in Maine are near the coast.

The underlying point is that tens of millions of Americans live in coastal areas that are flooded from time to time.

Even around us there are areas routinely flooded in the spring when the snow melts up in the mountains.

[Cha]

96. Thanks.. Exactly.. Best of Luck to anyone

who is in the path of a Natural Disaster.

Would Islands who have been in the paths of previous hurricanes be disqualified from FEMA in BS' world?

[Blue_true]

81. Most of California and Seattle also.

Basically, he would throw away all of our coastline, here sonething like 50+% of Americans live and/or work.

[nolabear]

73. So much for our shipbuilding and seafood industries.

I happen to be on the Gulf Coast right now. There’s massive military, shipbuilding for that military, NASA, and a huge percentage of the country's seafood industry. So that’s done then? Good to know. (And that excludes an incredible amount of other invaluable assets).

[NurseJackie]

87. Wow! I didn't even consider that. That really IS a foolhardy and short-sighted plan.

Wow! I didn't even consider that. That really IS a foolhardy and short-sighted plan.

There’s massive military, shipbuilding for that military, NASA, and a huge percentage of the country's seafood industry. So that’s done then? Good to know.

Our nation needs someone who takes the time to carefully think things through. I think it's wise for us to avoid candidate---no matter who he or she may be---who tend to spout-off some harebrained idea, right on the spot, without giving it thoughtful consideration.

[LakeArenal]

82. Many countries don't allow developments right on the beach

I wish it was true here.
I was just in Miami. We tooled around looking for a beach. Never saw water. It’s crazy that the rich can purloin a coast all to themselves. No one else can see it.
I know the beach itself can be accessed but not seen. Crazy.

[Joe941]

88. That is actually a very brilliant policy.

[George II]

89. No it isn't. He's indirectly advocating for millions of Americans to migrate inland...

When will we see a policy to ignore victims of wild fires?
When will we see a policy to ignore victims of earthquakes?
When will we see a policy to ignore victims of blizzards?

[Joe941]

90. He said the government wont subsidize living in those places...

People can do what they want though. Very smart.

[George II]

91. He never spoke about subsidizing living in those places.

[Joe941]

92. That's what it is if G bails out people for living in disaster prone places.

[mopinko]

93. simple minded.

that's my beef w bernie. always the irresistible, simple answer to a complex problem.
those "solutions" are always, always wrong.

this is thoughtless and just cruel.
he isnt wrong on the substance. it needs to change. but people's homes are just not something that you take a bulldozer to.

nuance, bernie. try to find some nuance.

[SaschaHM]

97. Terrible.

This doesn't just affect the coast. If you live 2-3 hours away from the coast and have a river in your town, better pack it up because chances are your place may flood when the next hurricane dumps too much water and the rivers can't drain fast enough. Eastern NC flooded catastrophically weeks after Hurricane Matthew because of that.


Yeah, no way in hell that he's getting my vote in the primary and no Democratic senator from a state affected by natural disasters is going to back such a policy. Hell, if he's the nominee and this is his policy, kiss most electoral gains in NC goodbye.

Biden was already going to clean his clock in the southern primaries, but now I doubt that he'll even be eligible for delegates with policies like this.

[George II]

98. We're inland but some houses in our town are flooded every couple of years....

...in the spring when the snow melts in upper New England and runs into the river.