I know some people in South Carolina whose beach house (on stilts and everything) withstood Irma just fine, however it had to be demolished because the beach ha

I know some people in South Carolina whose beach house (on stilts and everything) withstood Irma just fine, however it had to be demolished because the beach had eroded enough that it was basically over the ocean now, and it was infeasible for them to dump enough sand there to have it be over dry land again. It's absolutely possible to build solid safe housing from most natural disasters, but it costs money, and often a lot of it.