Hurricanes Will Send Foreclosure Debris Flying

By Drew Nelles,  Newser Staff
Posted May 31, 2009 6:28 PM CDT
Hurricanes Will Send Foreclosure Debris Flying
In this May 19, 2009 photo, Mike Manikchand, a 22-year-old pharmacy student, poses in front his duplex in Lehigh Acres, Fla.   (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

It’s a perfect, er, storm: Some of America’s most hurricane-prone areas are littered with foreclosed houses likely send debris flying in a storm, the AP reports. Without caretakers to secure them, the houses will also endure greater damage and lose even more value.
"A lot of these places will get destroyed,” a Florida resident says—and so far, few communities across Southern states are stepping up to protect them.

Some banks say they're asking property managers and bank employees to board up foreclosed houses. A few counties are sealing them up simply to ward off crime. But when a predicted nine to 14 tropical storms—including four to seven hurricanes—strike the US this year, evacuation will be the priority. Securing homes "is not an aspect that we really deal with," one Florida emergency director said. "Our No. 1 concern is life safety."
(More hurricane stories.)

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