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 “typhoons.” 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 storm surge 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 Typhoon, China 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 Typhoon Nina, 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, India 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 Cyclone Nargis 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 Bangladesh disaster in the recorded histo - 1970 Bhola Cyclone, 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 tropical cyclone ever recorded, boats in the harbor and killed ful tropical cyclone struck Bengal and gathered strength Bhola struck Bangladesh 300,000 people. the Chittagong district of to attain peak winds of 135 and India’s West Bengal in southeastern Bangladesh mph. The storm made landfall 8. 1881 Haiphong Typhoon, November 1970. 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 Bay of Bengal this city and killed 3,000 of with a 40-foot storm surge SOURCES: Scienceray, Weather Underground WWW . DIXONVALVE . COM SUMMER 2012 ᔢ BOSS 11 A M E F / O N I T S U G U A N Y L E A C O M J E F Y S E T R U O C 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.