On the eve of his departure from the National Hurricane Center after a 34-year career in government, Director Max Mayfield says he is frustrated that not enough attention is being paid to warnings that population growth along the coast in the Southeast, vulnerable housing and lack of disaster preparedness could result in unprecedented tragedy. 

Mayfield says that a future storm could cause 10 times as many fatalities as Hurricane Katrina and leave countless others homeless. 

“We’re eventually going to get a strong enough storm in a densely populated area to have a major disaster,” he said. “I know people don’t want to hear this, and I’m generally a very positive person, but we’re setting ourselves up for this major disaster.”

He argues that this scenario does not have to become reality.  Tougher building standards and land use rules would go a long way to mitigating the effects of future storms, but the political will to make these difficult decisions is lacking.  “It’s good for the tax base” to let developers to build on the coastline, Mayfield said.  He also noted that Florida has developed a workable disaster-response program and taken steps toward improving building safety.  In contrast, other states along the Gulf of Mexico still have no statewide building codes.

Hurricane Center Chief Issues Final Warning (Los Angeles Times 1/3/07)

January 17, 2007