LSU’s annual “Louisiana Survey” shows many people are concerned about coastal land loss, but aren’t worried it will affect them personally. Manship School of Mass Communications research director Mike Henderson says 85-percent of people surveyed fear that land loss is a serious problem. “It looks like they’re more concerned about it being a danger for people who live near the coast, than affecting the state more broadly…and also more of them expect it to be a danger to future generations.”
The survey polled over 500 adult Louisianans of a variety of ages, genders and races. Henderson says another finding under the topics of coastal land loss was that two-thirds of respondents felt hurricanes hitting the Bayou State are stronger than ever, and their frequency is also increasing. Those storms often cause floods, but only about 40-percent said flooding was worse in recent years. “Most Louisianans are saying they’re NOT seeing more flooding than they are used to. Baton Rouge is an exception. In the Baton Rouge area, you have about two-thirds saying flooding is getting worse here than it was in the past.”
Dr. Henderson says the survey also asked about public policy to encourage mitigation against future hurricane and flood damage and losses. “There’s pretty broad support for requiring any new construction to be built higher than in the past. and there’s also broad support for paying owners of current properties to elevate. so subsidizing elevation.”
However, he says, about 60-percent of respondents were solidly against property insurance rate increases in flood-prone or storm-prone areas. Find the whole report at “lsu.edu/manship/research”
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