Unnamed Expert on Bridge Safety

I told him we had been driving around some of New York's hardest hit areas. There are some neighborhoods that are rebuilt right next to a neighborhood where 70% of the people did take a buyout next to a neighborhood that hasn't changed at all and is hoping for a seawall. I mean, what's the plan here?

I told him we had been driving around some of New York's hardest hit areas. There are some neighborhoods that are rebuilt right next to a neighborhood where 70% of the people did take a buyout next to a neighborhood that hasn't changed at all and is hoping for a seawall. I mean, what's the plan here?

I told him we had been driving around some of New York's hardest hit areas. There are some neighborhoods that are rebuilt right next to a neighborhood where 70% of the people did take a buyout next to a neighborhood that hasn't changed at all and is hoping for a seawall. I mean, what's the plan here?

Fugate said FEMA and other federal agencies had to compete with those developers when they would create programs to elevate homes or buy homeowners out. But what was more frustrating, he said, is that often local officials preferred the developers' plans. just south of Staten Island around the Raritan Bay on the Jersey Shore. I met up with Sean LaTourette.

Fugate said FEMA and other federal agencies had to compete with those developers when they would create programs to elevate homes or buy homeowners out. But what was more frustrating, he said, is that often local officials preferred the developers' plans. just south of Staten Island around the Raritan Bay on the Jersey Shore. I met up with Sean LaTourette.

Fugate said FEMA and other federal agencies had to compete with those developers when they would create programs to elevate homes or buy homeowners out. But what was more frustrating, he said, is that often local officials preferred the developers' plans. just south of Staten Island around the Raritan Bay on the Jersey Shore. I met up with Sean LaTourette.

He's the state commissioner of environmental protection and in charge of getting people to build differently. I asked him how it was going.

He's the state commissioner of environmental protection and in charge of getting people to build differently. I asked him how it was going.

He's the state commissioner of environmental protection and in charge of getting people to build differently. I asked him how it was going.

We're standing on top of a massive earthen levee as workers complete the final section of a new seawall in Port Monmouth, the kind many communities are hoping for. But they're expensive and take years. And LaTourette says coastal areas also need to protect themselves by elevating new homes five feet. But he's facing resistance.

We're standing on top of a massive earthen levee as workers complete the final section of a new seawall in Port Monmouth, the kind many communities are hoping for. But they're expensive and take years. And LaTourette says coastal areas also need to protect themselves by elevating new homes five feet. But he's facing resistance.

We're standing on top of a massive earthen levee as workers complete the final section of a new seawall in Port Monmouth, the kind many communities are hoping for. But they're expensive and take years. And LaTourette says coastal areas also need to protect themselves by elevating new homes five feet. But he's facing resistance.

Special interests. We were starting to hear a lot more about special interests back in North Carolina. In particular, the development industry and home builders, who it turns out hold a lot of sway.

Special interests. We were starting to hear a lot more about special interests back in North Carolina. In particular, the development industry and home builders, who it turns out hold a lot of sway.

Special interests. We were starting to hear a lot more about special interests back in North Carolina. In particular, the development industry and home builders, who it turns out hold a lot of sway.

We returned to Swannanoa early this spring. It had been five months since Helene, and we headed straight to the trailer home park where Shalana Jordan's parents, Nola and Robert Ramsor, had lived, next to the river. The remains of their trailer and all the others were gone. A few piles of debris were ready for pickup, and recently, the property had been put on the market.

We returned to Swannanoa early this spring. It had been five months since Helene, and we headed straight to the trailer home park where Shalana Jordan's parents, Nola and Robert Ramsor, had lived, next to the river. The remains of their trailer and all the others were gone. A few piles of debris were ready for pickup, and recently, the property had been put on the market.

We returned to Swannanoa early this spring. It had been five months since Helene, and we headed straight to the trailer home park where Shalana Jordan's parents, Nola and Robert Ramsor, had lived, next to the river. The remains of their trailer and all the others were gone. A few piles of debris were ready for pickup, and recently, the property had been put on the market.

Don't miss this high-visibility land, the real estate flyer said, with abundant river frontage that, quote, can be rebuilt as a mobile home park. Nathan Pennington came to meet us. He's Buncombe County's planning director, and he spends his days thinking about flood rules and floodplains. He points across the way, up at those duplexes we'd heard about in episode one that survived the storm.

Don't miss this high-visibility land, the real estate flyer said, with abundant river frontage that, quote, can be rebuilt as a mobile home park. Nathan Pennington came to meet us. He's Buncombe County's planning director, and he spends his days thinking about flood rules and floodplains. He points across the way, up at those duplexes we'd heard about in episode one that survived the storm.