CONCRETE MASONRY STANDS UP TO HURRICANE CHARLEY

Winds up to 145 miles per hour left thousands homeless after Hurricane Charley tore through Punta Gorda and surrounding cities direction Southwest Florida.

This vicious storm claimed 17 lives and has estimated damages in the billions. In and around Punta Gorda, trailers lay toppled or blown detached. Shards of wood and metal lay scattered on lawns.

As woeful as this loss is, it could hold been much worse if it were not for the residential building code changes which were instituted after tornado Andrew direction 1992. Andrew, the greatly destructive U.S. storm on record, blasted its nearing across south Florida, causing 24 deaths and $26.5 billion in damage -mostly due to high winds.

The magnitude of damage caused through squall Andrew was unprecedented leadership the United States. Prior to it, there had been a 25-year peace in significant hurricane activity along the Atlantic and cove coasts, and building codes were not powerful to limit the loss of life and property experienced in Hurricane Andrew.

Today, codes have been strengthened and are being more rigorously enforced. Designers are required to provide a continual worry path to ensure constructional integrity and provisions for wind-borne debris are much additional stringent.

"Because of Hurricane Andrew and other storms in this area, the residential building codes have become much more specific in Florida," said Dennis Graber, professional engineer further director of technical publications during the National concrete Masonry Association. "By adapting to these codes, houses were better able to withstand the onslaught of cyclone Charley." The National Hurricane center notes that building codes reflect the lessons experts have learned from past catastrophes besides suggest that homeowners in cyclone areas contact local building code officials to find out which requirements are necessary since home improvement projects.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency encourages construction shelter strong, impact-resistant materials, such now concrete masonry, within homes and unlike structures located monopoly hurricane-prone areas.See Others
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