Update growth plans for growing number of storms

As Hurricane Dennis bore down on the Panhandle, federal officials prepared 4.5 million ready-to-eat meals. They lined up 300 trucks of water, 350 trucks of ice and 200 generators.

When a hurricane approaches, Floridians expect their tax dollars to work to reduce suffering from the potential devastation of what is becoming an all-too common summertime event.

After four decades of infrequent threats, hurricanes seem to be churning as often as summer rains. The long layoff provoked a false sense of comfort, encouraging Florida's runaway growth at an advantageous moment in history. Air conditioning and economic growth made Florida one of the country's great destinations. Now, when hurricanes approach, government serves the people, no matter how many there are. As more people move in, hurricanes promise more risk to human life and damage to human structures. The cost of survival grows.

In the package of laws that greet developers to Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, there are requirements for traffic, parks, libraries, garbage and sewage, but nowhere are there limits designed to offset the awful effects of an Andrew. Schools are retrofitted to serve as shelters, but who pays the cost of the thousands of meals needed to serve the residents of that new 2,000-home subdivision? What the hurricanes of the past year have shown is that growth has a cost beyond the concerns of traffic jams and garbage pickup.

Governments routinely pay to help flood victims who go back to homes that never should have been allowed in the first place. The Florida Keys, a geographically unique area, takes hurricanes into consideration when determining whether new homes can be built. Growth limits there are based on the number of people who can be evacuated before a hurricane strikes. But no developer is asked to set money aside to feed powerless survivors after a major blow.

The Panhandle dodges statewide hurricane building codes out of the obviously mistaken claim that the Big One could never happen there. People keep coming as if news of a Florida hurricane is no more off-putting than a Denver blizzard. Even damage to nearly a third of the state's 8 million homes last year doesn't deter the migration. A University of Florida study showed that could change if the hurricane onslaught carries over several seasons.

Developers certainly don't want to bring up hurricanes when newcomers are shopping for a home. But government could. Planning needs to consider hurricane evacuation, shelters, power delivery and aid response. At some point, the carrying capacity of the state of Florida rides on the whims of a storm.