The Advent of Hurricane Resistant Buildings
Ever since Hurricane Sandy, many east coast states have been pushing the development of hurricane resistant buildings – structures hardened by elements such as reinforced concrete, steel-strapped roofs and floors, impact-resistant windows, and heavy-duty interior and exterior doors and doorways to name a few.
This structural hardening movement has grown with the increased awareness of global warming, and has become so popular that it is now being tracked by various media outlets. Interestingly, this tracking and reporting reveals that states vary widely in terms of their effectiveness at achieving this goal.
State-by-State Efforts to Develop Hurricane Resistant Buildings
A non-profit organization called the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety recently published a report that ranked the 18 states along the east coast in terms of their effectiveness in developing hurricane resistant buildings.
Surprisingly, New York, which was hammered by Sandy (estimated $19 billion of damage in NYC alone, only half of which was reimbursed by FEMA), ranked in the bottom third of the states analyzed. Out of 100 possible points, New York scored a deflating 64, which if memory serves would count as an F in school!
The main reason for New York’s poor ranking is the lack of a mandatory statewide building code – For example, New York City runs its own building code system, separate from the State of New York’s. This also holds true for the states that ranked behind New York (in order: ME, NH, TX, MS, AL, and DE). Delaware, the state that ranked dead last, only scored a 17 out of 100 possible points.
Florida ranked first with 95 points, which would be expected. Ironically, New York’s neighbor, New Jersey, ranked very well, scoring 90 out of 100 points.
I, for one, hope that hurricane resistant buildings become ubiquitous in coastal regions. The promise of fewer destroyed homes is not only great for the residents of these high-risk areas, but also for local utility storm workers as well.
