Would you donate?

[garry1p]

Even if they had building insurance I doubt they had flood insurance so no coverage.

Would I donate probably it's doubtful they have a big enough congregation to rebuild without outside help.

I would hope they would build on another location but that is up to them.

Having said that, if they are the folks that play with snakes or holly rollers then nope.

 

[CliffordK]

I believe the premium for annual insurance including flood was $250,000.00! That small Church and their members need a place to worship, and that is what they have, so they are scraping together the money to try to rebuild.

Do you have a before photo of the church? My guess is they knew the rocky beach was there, but that it was covered with a few inches of dirt making it look like a picturesque lawn.

If the flood insurance is $250K, then somebody knows it is an accident waiting to happen.

People like to attach something sacred to an old church and the church location. Thus new churches are often built over the top of old churches. But ultimately it is just a building. My vote is to find a new location that isn't in a flood plain or a fire risk, and build back better. Perhaps even look at the hillside behind it.

If the lot is sacred, then perhaps one could say that GOD didn't want a church located there.

Thinking about churches being destroyed, Notre-Dame comes to mind. Many of those old cathedrals were built and remodeled over centuries. Sometimes things like bronze doors are less than a century old. They chose to rebuild a wooden superstructure like the one that burnt. I would have chosen to modernize the roof supports with steel and aluminum to reduce catastrophic fire risk.

 

[ruffdog]

Maybe it is time for much more than just the church moving locations.

Managed retreat involves the purposeful, coordinated movement of people and buildings away from risks. This may involve the movement of a person, infrastructure (e.g., building or road), or community. It can occur in response to a variety of hazards such as flood, wildfire, or drought.

Managed retreat - Wikipedia

Soldiers Grove is a village situated along the Kickapoo River in Crawford County, Wisconsin, in the United States. The population was 552 at the 2020 census. The town is notable for having relocated its central business district due to flooding on the nearby Kickapoo River during the 1970s, and has become a case study in best practices for managed retreat.[5]

Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin - Wikipedia

 

[ruffdog]

Here is another community that moved because of the Kickapoo River flooding.

Gays Mills, Wisconsin - Wikipedia

 

[CliffordK]

The reasoning to build in the same spot is apparently it was a "500 year flood".

I believe that calling something a 25 year, century, 500 year, or millennium flood is a poor use of statistics.

If one collects a series of water levels over time, one can get the average water level, and then calculate the standard deviation, and come up with how far any particular flood is from the norm. And thus calculate the frequency of occurrence.

Yet, that ignores the underlying cause of the flood. Not all rain events are the same.

If you once in a while get hit by a Hurricane, then you have to look at the probability of getting hit by a hurricane, rather than the average water level. And not all hurricanes are the same.

Our big local flood was the 1964 Christmas Flood. We have had a few floods, but nothing in my lifetime like that one. So, we're 60 years on, not bad.

Christmas flood of 1964 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Looking at the cause of the flood, it wasn't that we just had a big rain. Yes, there was that. But, there were 3 primary contributing factors.

1) Hard Early Freeze creating impermeable ground.
2) Heavy Snow storm.
3) Heavy Warm Rain (atmospheric river). Perhaps a "Pineapple Express" storm. That melted the snow which washed off rather than soaking in.

We've also had flood control dams that were built around the 1950's and 1960's, and it is possible the risk is somewhat reduced today, although I wonder if the dam system would be overwhelmed by that flood. Of course there is also an effort to remove the dams that were protecting us.
Any of those events happen from time to time. The problem was the 3 of them occurring together causing catastrophic widespread flooding.

So, to calculate the frequency of a flood like the Christmas flood, one has to not look at the standard deviation of the water levels, but to look at the contributing factors and determine how frequent they occur together. It is also possible that the three events weren't independent, but were part of a single storm.

I am a slightly lower elevation than when I was a kid, but I just don't think we've had hard freezes like when I was younger.

Here on the West Coast we also have typhoons or hurricanes. Most don't make landfall in Oregon, but we've had a few blowing by close. Then there was the California hurricane a couple of years ago.

Columbus Day storm of 1962 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

We could get directly hit by a hurricane or typhoon that could cause huge floods that would be far outside of any predicted range.

Anyway, one has to pay attention to the cause of the flood and risk factors, not just high water.

 

[scootr]

And lotsa luck getting insurance on it.
The town I live in has no building permits or anything like that (other than septic, which is a state requirement). More than once someone has bought property a mile or more down a Class VI road thinking of building there only to find out no one will insure the property once it's built.

Who needs insurance when you got God ? Unless you build in the creek bed or on top of a volcano ...
Seriously, you're gonna pray to God for salvation from an act of God and buy insurance to hedge your bet?
Brings up some interesting questions, doesn't it.

 

[2manyrocks]

Most of these rivers in the Smokey mountains are peaceful and serene. It took a tremendous amount of rainfall from Hurricane Helene in a very short period to cause mudslides down the mountains and for the streams to rise 30' or more. It is very rare that rainfall of this magnitude happens in these mountains, and I understand why so many didn't have flood insurance.

If the same amount of rainfall had fallen so quickly on Knoxville, Nashville, Memphis, or anywhere else, they'd probably all be washed away, too.

 

[shooterdon]

Short answer. NO.

They are not very bright. God has sent them a message and they have chosen to ignore it.

 

[ultrarunner]

And lotsa luck getting insurance on it.
The town I live in has no building permits or anything like that (other than septic, which is a state requirement). More than once someone has bought property a mile or more down a Class VI road thinking of building there only to find out no one will insure the property once it's built.

The way it’s going in the West is you can be a mile from 2 fire stations, have city fire hydrant in front, clay tile roof, etc… and still cannot obtain insurance unless through the state plan … less coverage at much higher premium.

The future of available insurance is uncertain at best.

 

[CliffordK]

Most of these rivers in the Smokey mountains are peaceful and serene. It took a tremendous amount of rainfall from Hurricane Helene in a very short period to cause mudslides down the mountains and for the streams to rise 30' or more. It is very rare that rainfall of this magnitude happens in these mountains, and I understand why so many didn't have flood insurance.

If the same amount of rainfall had fallen so quickly on Knoxville, Nashville, Memphis, or anywhere else, they'd probably all be washed away, too.

I figured that was a Hurricane.

But that is also my point. It isn't about how frequently you get a few clouds that dump a foot of rainfall, but rather how frequently the place gets hit by a hurricane, or a hurricane remnant.

There will be many homes and businesses that weren't sitting down in a creek bed that survived.