Max Mayfield has been the voice of the National Hurricane center for 34 years. He recently retired.
Max went out with a bang, predicting major doom and gloom for the Alabama Gulf Coast in coming years.
Well, sure. Would it be news if Max retired saying he was leaving at a good time because all the good storms were over? That's not news.
Just recall the horrible devastation Hurricane Ivan wreaked on Alabama's Orange Beach and Gulf Shores in 2004. Large high-rise condominiums were demolished and beach-front homes swept away. Dauphin Island was similarly pounded by Katrina.
Now development experts are predicting that in a half-dozen years, there could be twice as many rental properties along the Alabama coast as there are now. In the Gulf Shores area, the number of rental units already has neared pre-Ivan levels.
If those units were all built with significantly tougher building codes, and with greater setbacks from the ocean behind established dune lines, perhaps the potential for new devastation would not be so high. But too often, elected officials allow their interest in building a tax base overcome their interest in protecting the public.