I mean, i don't call them villains, but all of the people who have been building in places with high likelihoods of wildfire are doing the exact same thing with a different element. Wildfires are a natural necessary part of forests, and we spend tons of money not only building in wildfire areas, but also preventing those fires from happening, which builds up all the dry dead shit in the forest, which makes situations for wildfire worse when one does finally happen.

Hurricanes are going to happen. Because of climate change and warming oceans, more extreme hurricanes are more likely to happen. Harvey was going to happen. I even read a reprinted article in the Toronto Star this morning of someone last year saying "Shit's gonna go down and Houston IS NOT PREPARED"

Of course, one can ask the question if anyone can truly be prepared for something the size of Harvey.

I don't know. Were these people made aware that they were on a flood plain when they were building or buying? If not, then that's a problem. If they were, then I don't really know what to say. It's like living next to the Ottawa river and being shocked when a 1% flood (which they call a 100 year flood, which is dumb and misleading) shows up on that 1%. . Like, you were warned this might happen if you lived here and you decided it was an acceptable risk.

So I don't know where i sit on this. I think if people were given the information and took the risk anyway, then they hold at least some culpability, but I also think that now's not exactly the time to go around saying that.