Back in '65 I was walkin' the levees for the flood, and it was a pretty good one. Bein' in the National Guard, I didn't have much say in the matter, but I was walkin' south of town and my very own brother (in the other NG company) was walkin' north of town.

Well, the levee broke north of town and flooded a bunch of prime bottomland. Farmer there had a $1 million line of credit (in 1965 this was a lot!) and a couple of brand-new championship bulls he'd just bought. The bulls and some other cattle drowned and his newly-planted 1,000 acres were covered with six feet of floodwater.

Eventually all the water ran off and his land dried out.

Next Spring he had a @2.5 million dollar line of credit and his insurance paid for the loss of his house, farm equipment, and suchlike. Why the increase? Because he now had better than three FEET of brand-new, super-fertile topsoil all over his land.

Now, to deliberately build a house -- just a house for a family -- in a floodplain or on a shore or somewhere like that, well, you pays yer money and you takes your chances.