This wire service story caught my eye for a
discussion of some of the headaches associated with recovery from the ‘04 and ‘05 storms:
Industry officials estimate it will take a decade to catch up with the building backlog in parts of coastal Louisiana
and Mississippi, and two to three years to get back to normal in the rest of the Gulf region.“That’s on the assumption that we don’t have any more storms,” said Bill Good, executive vice president of the National Roofing
Contractors Association. “If you get another couple of hurricanes coming through those same areas, then all bets are off.”[...]Competition has been fierce for labor and materials, especially in Florida, which is in the midst of a new-building boom and
still making repairs from the four hurricanes that hit the state in 2004.The cost of roofing supplies rose 12 percent to 25 percent in 2005, industry officials estimated. Products like asphalt shingles
are petroleum-based and their cost is expected to keep rising as oil prices jump.Clay and concrete roofing tiles were in short supply before the 2005 hurricanes, and manufacturers are building new plants to
fill orders backlogged by up to six months.[...]Homeowners are also finding it can take weeks or months to get estimates from roofing contractors, and some are not accepting new
clients because they cannot handle more work.[...]Regulators are also strained. Miami-Dade County has issued 20,000 roofing permits in the last six months, 40 percent more than in
all of the prior year. Its inspectors are climbing up onto 1,200 roofs a day to sign off on repairs, six times their normal
workload.[...]Building inspectors are in such demand that some municipalities are handing out 20 percent pay bonuses to keep them from jumping
to other employers.
Simply amazing.
I remember visiting South Florida in 1995 or 1996, and still seeing signs of temporary repairs being in place post-Andrew. With
the magnitude and scope of damages over the past couple of years, and the threat of more active seasons on the way, the challenges
being faced in reconstruction don’t seem too surprising.
You’d think that once things get more stabilized, that state or federal governments would consider providing some form of incentive
to make it more worthwhile for building supply companies to stockpile supplies in expectation of their being needed after the next
disaster.