(Photo Bernt Rostad)
That could have a big impact on how storms affect the region.
Craig Fugate, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, says it's shortsighted for local permitting authorities to continue to build without considering the vulnerabilities.
"We saw this just north of Atlanta in the recent floods, when many people asked, 'I didn't know I lived in an area that floods. Why was I allowed to build here?'" Fugate said. "And I think you're going to see more and more of that as we deal with climate adaptation issues."
Fugate was Barack Obama's choice to lead an agency much criticized in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Fugate was in Savannah to talk to students at Savannah State University. S.S.U. recently became the first historically black college in the nation and the first college in Georgia to offer a bachelor's degree in Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
