Damage Control BY MARIA BLACKBURN

In the Irish Bayou of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. With fearsome fury, hurricanes bring punishing winds and deadly storm surges—but there are relatively easy steps you can take to protect life, limb and property.

HEN THE STORM FORMED wsomewhere off the coast of the Bahamas, it was just another tropical depression—one of 100 or so cre - ated around the world each year as a mass of thun - derstorms with a cyclonic wind circulation at its core. Many of these depressions never develop into significant tropical storms. This one was different. Fueled by warm ocean water, its winds increased and it gained power quickly. By the time Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005, it was a force to be reckoned with. Among the communities in its path was the small town of Diamondhead, Miss. Here, tornadoes and Diamondhead, an unprecedented 26-foot storm winds of 135 miles per hour howled through the surge pushed the waters of Bay St. Louis over its streets, uprooting trees and sending some more banks, flooding streets, destroying more than 350 than 20 feet in the air. The gusts tore off roofs and homes and leaving survivors clinging to rooftops exposed homes and businesses to hours of soaking, and praying for rescue. devastating rain. On the south side of When the rain and wind ceased and the flood -

WWW . DIXONVALVE . COM SUMMER 2012 ᔢ BOSS 9 In the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s destruction, Raymond Sheehy’s storm-resistant house escaped virtually unscathed. waters receded, the damage was colos - uproot during a storm. And to ensure PEOPLE WHO LIVE ON THE sal. Katrina killed some 1,836 people that his roof would protect him and his North Atlantic Ocean and Eastern and caused an estimated $81 billion in wife, Pat, from the elements, he exceed - Pacific Ocean call them hurricanes. property damage, making it the costli - ed standard mitigation practices by Those on the Western Pacific Ocean est disaster in U.S. history. In using extra trussing to tie the roof and coasts call the storms “.” And Diamondhead, half of the town’s 5,000 the walls together; he also covered the in the Southwest Indian Ocean, these homes were destroyed, leaving thou - roof surface underneath the shingles low-pressure systems are known as sands homeless. The tidy, planned com - with extra-thick plywood. “cyclones.” Whatever one calls them, munity with its quaint Hawaiian street When Hurricane Katrina swept the fact remains that these intensely names looked as if it had been whirled through town, the house didn’t move destructive storms have been devastat - through a blender. an inch. In fact, the only damage to ing coasts worldwide for centuries. Raymond Sheehy was one of the Sheehy’s home occurred when a neigh - More than 20,000 people died when lucky ones. The 82-year-old not only bor’s pine tree toppled over onto his the Great Hurricane of 1780, the dead - survived the hurricane, but his home, roof and damaged a small section of liest Atlantic hurricane on record, located only seven miles from the Gulf an aluminum ridge vent. plowed through the Lesser Antilles in Coast, was virtually untouched. “When you walk around disasters October 1780. Specifics on the hurri - However, he would be the first to say like I’ve done, you don’t want to live it,” cane’s strength are not known, but the that luck didn’t protect him from the says Sheehy, who witnessed Atlantic highest winds on Barbados during the ravages of Hurricane Katrina. hurricanes during his childhood in storm are estimated to have exceeded Careful planning did. New Orleans, and South Pacific 200 mph; the furious gales stripped the Hurricane protection figured into typhoons while working as a communi - bark from trees before downing every nearly every aspect of the 3,000-square- cations officer for the Federal tree and destroying every house on foot single-story house that Sheehy Emergency Management Agency the island. A 25-foot on built in 1995. To avoid flooding caused (FEMA). “People who have undergone Martinique caused 9,000 deaths. Just by a storm surge, the U.S. Air Force hurricanes and typhoons have a ten - offshore, about 4,000 French soldiers retiree situated the house on a hill 70 dency to be more cautious. The newer drowned when their fleet of 40 ships feet above sea level. Aware that hurri - people who move here don’t tend to from the American Revolutionary cane winds usually blew from the think about it. I see them building War capsized. Other areas affected by southeast, he placed few windows on houses, especially friends of mine, and the hurricane included Puerto Rico, that side of the house and flanked all I say, ‘Why don’t you do this to protect Hispaniola (the Dominican Republic of the windows with manual wooden your home in a hurricane?’ They tell and Haiti) and Bermuda. “hurricane” shutters that could be me, ‘I’m not worried about it.’” The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 closed and latched before a storm. Sheehy’s response is always the was a Category 4 storm (see sidebar) Sheehy cleared all of the pine trees from same. “When the time comes,” he says, that devastated nearly all of the build - his land because of their tendency to “you’re going to worry about it.” ings and bridges of the Texas city,

10 BOSS ᔢ SUMMER 2012 10 OF THE WORST HURRICANES IN WORLD HISTORY

Here’s a brief look at the 10 on Oct. 27, 1876, this cyclone worst hurricanes, typhoons had a maximum wind speed and cyclones recorded world - of 136 mph and a surge of 45 wide over the last 300 years: feet. It killed about 200,000 people, half of whom died in 1. 1922 Swatow , the storm surge; the remain - Six days after the typhoon der succumbed to famine and was spotted near the Caroline disease following the storm. Islands in the Pacific Ocean, it 5. Super , 1975, hit the Chinese city of Swatow China One of the largest on Aug. 2, 1922, with winds of recorded typhoons in history 100 miles per hour and a tidal and the second deadliest wave that swept over 50,000 hurricane in the Pacific, this people. One of the deadliest August 1975 storm made land - typhoons ever to hit the north - fall in Taiwan with winds of ern Pacific, it killed some up to 155 mph. The storm 60,000 people. weakened as it made its way 2. 1882 Bombay Cyclone, to China and missed most of This deadly storm, which the major cities, but its heavy began over the Arabian Sea rainfall caused the collapse as a result of a hurricane in of 62 dams, killed more than at landfall. progress, hit near Bombay, 100,000 people and caused India, on June 6, 1882, and $1.2 billion in damage. the city’s inhabitants, accord - that killed 300,000 people, killed more than 100,000 ing to one report. Other destroyed more than 20,000 6. 2008 Cyclone Nargis, people reports from merchant ships boats and flattened the city. Myanmar The worst natural indicate that the disaster was 3. The 1991 disaster in the recorded histo - , in fact an earthquake and tidal 10. Cyclone, Bangladesh On April ry of Burma, Cyclone Nargis Bangladesh The deadliest surge, which destroyed 20,000 29, 1991, this power - developed over the Bay of ever recorded, boats in the harbor and killed ful tropical cyclone struck and gathered strength Bhola struck Bangladesh 300,000 people. the district of to attain peak winds of 135 and India’s in southeastern Bangladesh mph. The storm made landfall 8. 1881 Haiphong Typhoon, . A Category with winds of around 155 mph. on May 2, 2008, killed more Vietnam The most powerful 3 hurricane with peak winds The storm forced a 20-foot than 138,000 people and storm of the Pacific, this of 115 mph, it wiped out storm surge inland, killing caused damages estimated cyclone struck on Sept. 15, villages, destroyed crops some 138,000 people and at more than $10 billion. 1881, and killed 300,000 and caused some 500,000 leaving as many as 10 million people in Vietnam and deaths, the majority from 7. Calcutta Cyclone of 1737, people homeless. surrounding areas. the 33-foot storm surge that India On Oct. 7, 1737, this flooded many of the islands 4. The Great Backerganj cyclone destroyed nearly all 1839 Coringa Cyclone, India 9. of the Ganges River Delta. Cyclone of 1876, Bangladesh of the thatched buildings in This storm made landfall Formed over the this city and killed 3,000 of with a 40-foot storm surge SOURCES: Scienceray, Weather Underground

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Above left, a special construction technique called “continuous load path” uses hangers and hurricane straps to stabilize a structure in severe weather, like that caused by Hurricane Katrina, which brought members of the U.S. Coast Guard out into the flooded streets for search and rescue operations. which is located only 8.7 feet above land, can cause devastating floods. Home Builder’s Guide to Coastal sea level. Winds of more than 120 The average annual damage from Construction . He had seen 750 houses mph and a 15-foot storm surge tornadoes, hurricanes and floods in built to the book’s mitigation specifica - knocked buildings off their founda - the United States is $11.4 billion, tions when he was deployed to tions and pounded them to bits. according to the National Oceanic American Samoa in the South Pacific Some 8,000 people—20 percent of and Atmospheric Administration. by FEMA. He recalls being impressed the island’s population—died in the During the last two decades, scien - when only one of these houses was storm, and more than 4,000 more tists have gained greater understanding damaged after a 1991 storm, with succumbed when they were trapped about how hurricanes behave and that 225-mph winds, slammed the island. under wreckage and could not be knowledge has drastically improved When Sheehy handed the book to reached by rescuers. our ability to predict these acts of his contractor in Diamondhead at the In November 1970, the worst tropi - nature and fortify the property in their start of the project, the builder glanced cal storm in history, the Great Bhola path. “We know more about the fury at it and told him, “We already do this.” Cyclone, struck the Ganges River Delta of hurricanes and how to protect Sheehy replied, “Not like this, you don’t.” region of Bengal and East and ourselves from them,” says Sheehy. Sheehy’s home has three reinforced killed an estimated 500,000 people. It is For homeowners, preparing for laminated beams along the ceiling believed that 90 percent of the popula - surges is largely about building homes to enhance structural integrity and tion was aware of the cyclone before it at high enough elevations to remain the roof’s anchoring capacity. made landfall—but only 1 percent safe. But there are lots of other steps Traditionally, half-inch plywood is used sought refuge in fortified structures. people can take to make their homes to construct roofs, but Sheehy’s roof is Each year an average of 11 tropi - resistant to hurricane winds and rain. built with three-quarter-inch plywood cal storms develop over the Atlantic Such efforts can be as extensive as a attached to trusses that are 16 inches Ocean. Lately that tally has been specially constructed foundation or as apart, rather than the usual 20 inches. growing. The busiest hurricane sea - minor as the type of nail used to attach In addition, he built a reinforced safe son on record in the U.S. came in a roof shingle, says Mike Rimoldi, a room in the center of the house that 2005, with 28 named storms and construction specialist with the non - he and his wife refer to as a “scaredy seven major hurricanes. profit Federal Alliance for Safe Homes. hole.” They use it as a place to store The resulting damages can be costly “Your house is only as strong as its food and water, but in case of disaster as well as destructive. In addition to weakest link,” he says. the room has enough space for 12 punishing wind and rain, hurricanes people to safely wait out a storm. also have tornadoes embedded in FOR SHEEHY, THE SPECIFICS When Katrina hit, residents in the them; moreover, storm surges, which on his hurricane-resistant home came area lost power for 21 days. Sheehy occur when winds push the sea into the from a book published by FEMA called kept his diesel generator running and

12 BOSS ᔢ SUMMER 2012 never even had to turn off the air con - from the coast, and expose it to a difference,” Rimoldi says. ditioning. In the days following the Category 1 hurricane with 74- to 95- Finally, cover all openings in the storm, his home sheltered not only a mph winds. The wind pulls a few shin - house—windows, doors, garage doors— few neighbors, but several members gles off the roof or takes out a window, to protect glass from breaking and doors of the state highway patrol. “There thereby causing a breech in the building from blowing in. “For windows, we stress were some reports of looters so we envelope, the boundary separating the that people use permanent shutters, the were happy to have their patrol cars inside from the outside. For the next kind specifically made for windows, parked out front,” he says. day or two, rain pours through the hole, because when people put plywood up For Sheehy, the extra safety meas - drenching the insulation and walls, they don’t always do it properly,” he says. ures added $5,000 to the cost of build - destroying furnishings and creating a “If it gets blown off by wind, then you ing his $128,000 home—a prudent potential mold problem that could have a big sheet of plywood blowing investment, he says. “The biggest thing require the homeowner to seek tempo - through the neighborhood.” we have to do is to get people to under - rary housing for several months until stand that anything they can do will the damage is repaired. FOR YEARS, SCIENTISTS USED help,” he says. “It doesn’t take a big hole in the roof what they learned from surveying or a lot of water to cause a lot of dam - storm damage in the field to inform the HOMEOWNERS HAVE LONG age,” Rimoldi explains. “If you’ve ever best methods and products for hurri - taken steps to protect their homes had a plumbing leak in your house, you cane protection. Now they can find from hurricanes, but “best practices” know that one of those lines only has to more precise answers in the lab— have changed over time. run for a couple of hours and you have thanks to full-scale testing of structures. As a child growing up in Florida soaked furniture, flooring and drywall, Seven years ago, Stephen P. in the , Rimoldi remembers and then you have to worry about mold.” Leatherman, professor and co-director racing through his home during a of the Laboratory for Coastal Research hurricane, opening and closing win - at the International Hurricane Research dows at his mother’s direction as part The average Center, helped develop and build a of an ill-conceived effort to equalize storm simulator in Miami known as the pressure inside and outside of the annual damage “The Wall of Wind”—the world’s first house and prevent structural damage from tornadoes, full-strength hurricane machine. Using from wind gusts. The builder, who hurricanes and six 500-horsepower engines, the lab can teaches hurricane mitigation classes to produce winds of up to 120 mph. It has contractors, shudders when he thinks floods in the been used to test a variety of products of it now. “We were placing ourselves United States and technologies and has generated at so much risk by opening those is $11.4 billion. some compelling data. “In a nutshell, windows during a hurricane,” says we are gaining better understanding of Rimoldi. His counsel today: Close all how to keep a roof on,” Leatherman windows and doors, cover them with To retrofit a home in preparation says. “That’s important because if you shutters, and stay away from them for a hurricane, Rimoldi suggests don’t keep your roof on, everything is during a storm. strengthening the building envelope. going to be lost.” Statewide building codes—like the First, if you are in need of a new roof, Experiments using the simulator one that became effective in Florida make sure that you install an enhanced have shown that ring shank nails, which in 2002 in response to the devastation roof covering material that’s tested and screw into wood, are more effective wrought by Hurricane Andrew, and approved for your location, as well as than smooth nails at keeping plywood in North Carolina, South Carolina the wind speed and pressure it will be secured to roofs. In addition, and Louisiana in recent years—have exposed to. “It doesn’t matter whether researchers have discovered that soffits, helped bring to the fore the best it’s shingles or tile,” he says, as long as the area underneath the edge of a roof, practices for building new structures. it’s code approved. need to be strengthened so they don’t And new and improved building Next, it’s important to strengthen let in water during a storm. “Before we materials featuring the latest technolo - the connection where the roof eaves did our tests, a lot of people just gy are constantly becoming available meet the top of your walls by using thought soffits needed to be covered to builders. That’s a good thing, specially made metal connectors that for cosmetic reasons,” says Leatherman. Rimoldi says, because the stakes are are much stronger than nails. The “Instead of being covered, they need high. “You don’t have to have your wind uplift in a roof can easily be two to act as more of a shield.” house totally blown away to suffer a to three times the force of gravity. In October 2010, the Insurance lot of damage,” he says. “Testing and field studies show that Institute for Business & Home Safety Consider this scenario: Take a typi - having that little piece of metal in (IBHS) opened a $40 million state-of- cal ranch-style home located just in there as an enhancement makes a big the-art research center in Richburg,

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A member of the Institute for Business & Home Safety stands before one of 105 test fans that generated winds of about 100 mph. Above right: While the house without fortification collapsed after high winds, the fortified home remained intact.

S.C., that takes the technology structure performed in high winds, do is help people analyze homes so that Leatherman helped develop to new Reinhold’s builders used current design we can put the right amount of strength heights. Funded entirely by the insur - specifications to strap together the in the right places.” ance industry, the center features a second-story exterior walls with the 105-fan wind tunnel capable of generat - second floor of the fortified structure. SEVEN YEARS AFTER HURRICANE ing Category 3 winds of 130 mph— However, when both structures were Katrina came through Diamondhead, and a 21,000-square-foot chamber, exposed to 100-mph winds and their the small Gulf Coast town has mostly large enough to test one- and two-story returned to normal. The debris has structures, with rain capacity equal to been cleared, trees have been replant - 8 inches per hour. What we want ed, and residents have rebuilt lost and “We’ve never had the ability to to do is help damaged homes with stronger struc - take full-sized structures with all of analyze homes so tures better suited to surviving wind, the real materials—shingles, siding rains and flooding. People seem to and so forth—in their full-sized that we can put have gotten the message that hurri - configuration and test them under the right amount cane mitigation is important, Sheehy realistic wind conditions,” says the of strength in the says. “If you go around Diamondhead IBHS’ Timothy Reinhold, senior vice now, I’d say 40 percent of us now have president and chief engineer. “What right places. generators,” he says. we are trying to create in the lab are —Timothy Reinhold, IBHS chief engineer But despite the fact that the most real-life settings.” destructive storm in U.S. history is For the next few years, IBHS is front doors were opened, the fortified now behind him, Sheehy isn’t about to focusing on roofing and will be testing structure’s walls began expanding out let his guard down. Not long ago he such products as roof covers, roof equip - like a balloon from the pressure, and it replaced the original windows in his ment for commercial buildings, second - nearly blew away. house with impact-resistant windows ary water barriers and flashing. “We found that it only took an extra that can withstand the force of a 2-by- However, because all of the structures $20 in strapping materials to secure the 4 hurtling into them at a speed of 230 they will be testing will have walls, win - structure, but it made a big difference,” mph. And every other Sunday, he and dows and doors, researchers also will Reinhold says. This was a modification his wife take turns running the gener - have an opportunity to observe how that wasn’t in any of the current design ator for two hours just to make sure these behave in hurricane conditions. guides or building codes—something that it’s working. Already the scientists in the IBHS they never would have discovered with - There are hurricanes coming, and lab have made some interesting discov - out the lab. Sheehy just wants to be prepared. “We eries. While preparing a video to show “Looking at some of these systems skated this year, but after a big storm the difference in how a hurricane- issues is what we see as a real power of you usually have a lull,” he says. “I think resistant structure and a non-mitigated this facility,” he says. “What we want to next year we are going to get hit.”

14 BOSS ᔢ SUMMER 2012 FACTS & FIGURES / A A O N Y S E T R U O C

Looking southeast in the of Hurricane Emmy. Measuring Intensity

CATEGORY SUSTAINED WINDS POTENTIAL DAMAGE 1- Minimal 74 to 95 mph Damage primarily to shrubbery, trees, foliage and mobile homes. No real wind damage to other structures. Some damage to poorly constructed signs. Low-lying coastal roads inundated, minor pier damage, some small craft in exposed anchorage torn from moorings.

2 - Moderate 96 to 110 mph Considerable damage to shrubbery and tree foliage; some trees blown down. Major damage to exposed mobile homes. Extensive damage to poorly constructed signs. Some damage to roofing materials of buildings; some window and door damage. No major wind damage to buildings. Considerable damage could occur to piers. Marinas flooded. Small craft may be torn from moorings.

3 - Extensive 111 to 130 mph Foliage torn from trees; large trees blown down. Practically all poorly constructed signs blown down. Some damage to roofing materials of buildings; some window and door damage. Some structural damage to small buildings. Mobile homes destroyed. Serious flooding at coast and many smaller structures near coast destroyed; larger structures near coast damaged by battering waves and floating debris.

4 - Extreme 131 to 155 mph Many shrubs and trees blown down and most street signs damaged. Extensive dam - age to roofing materials, windows and doors. Complete failure of roofs on many small residences. Complete destruction of mobile homes. Major damage to lower floors of structures near shore, due to flooding and battering by waves and floating debris. Major erosion of beaches.

5 - Catastrophic Greater than Shrubs and trees blown down; considerable damage to roofs of buildings and all 155 mph signs damaged or destroyed. Very severe and extensive damage to windows and doors. Complete failure of roofs on many residences and industrial buildings. Extensive shattering of glass in windows and doors. Some complete building failures. Small buildings overturned or blown away. Complete destruction of mobile homes.

SOURCES: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Service, National Hurricane Center

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