Well that is supposed to be the link to the NY times article. Unfortunately just the photo shows up. Anyways, this house was built just a few years ago to withstand "the big one". Looks like the extra work (aka $$$) paid off. Only damage was a cracked kitchen window. News to me, the building codes on the Panhandle are no where near the requirements for the SE part of the State near Miami. I would suspect that is about to change.?ÿ
I was reading about the building codes too, till about ten years ago the Hurricane building codes in the panhandle area of Florida were less strict than the other parts of Florida, due to many people believing the trees in the area would take the impact of the Hurricane Winds.
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After Hurricane Andrew made landfall in Homestead FL. (1992) the building codes were changed by the legislature for all residential construction to be able to withstand 120mph winds.
Don??t work in 150+mph winds.
Michael still had winds of over 100 mph at over 100 miles inland.?ÿ Pecans are going to be EXPENSIVE this year.?ÿ The Georgia Secretary of Agriculture is estimating over $100 Million in losses this year.?ÿ Then they have to replace the trees that don't produce for 10 to 20 years.?ÿ Texas may regain the title of most pecans produced again.
Andy
Hurricane proof buildings??ÿ Geodesic Dome.?ÿ Curved surfaces do a better job deflecting the wind.?ÿ Found this out surveying, when I built a wind break for an instrument setup.?ÿ Flat surface caught the wind, but when I curved the surface it was wind proof!
Building codes here are the same as southeast Florida, I think. From what I've seen and heard, there was little or no structural damage from Irma's 165+ mph on houses built to code.?ÿBut lots of doors and windows to code blew in. And with so much debris from trees and buildings a lot of metal roofs were opened like tin cans.?ÿOf course most older houses were destroyed. I got lucky as?ÿa 15o sq. ft.?ÿroof went directly over my house, truck and car and 2 other similar roofs landed within 50 feet. ?ÿIn the middle of town is a school building that was being used for admin. offices. The steel roofing is all gone and the steel frame roof structure is all twisted and destroyed. Not sure what went wrong there, and the govt. seems to have abandoned it.
