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More and more experts now think that additional construction should be discouraged. The Federal Emergency Management Agency imposes building and development codes as a prerequisite for communities to qualify for subsidized flood insurance. In Bailey's Prairie many newer homes were spared serious damage because they were built on higher ground. The trouble is, says Arthur Storey, executive director of the Harris County Flood Control District, "regulations look at worst-case scenarios, but those are always exceeded by nature's storms." And hundreds of thousands of other structures erected before the mid-1970s are not covered by the rules and are vulnerable.
Most distressing, only 17% of those living in flood-prone areas buy flood insurance, which typically costs $300 yearly for $80,000 coverage. Explains FEMA insurance administrator Bud Schauerte: "Some people think they're covered by homeowners' insurance. Others think the government will come to their rescue. But that's wrong; they may not get anything but a hotel room for a few days."
Such warnings have only limited effect. Under dark skies that threatened cloudbursts, evacuees at a Red Cross shelter in Angleton talked eagerly of returning to rebuild near the Brazos. "I prayed the water would never get too high," said Mike Horn, 32, an electrician who fled with creek waters lapping at his lawn. "But I don't care. I'm going home."