Hurricane Ida

[Deleted member 149562]

@noobfish

Different region, similar problem

Champlain Towers in Miami

Being built on a sandbar is always far from ideal. But given that the building was in a hurricane zone, do you believe that hurricanes over the years exacerbated the structural issues and contributed to the eventual and catastrophic collapse?

Reason for asking is that there are so many similar era, similar construction buildings, not just in Florida but in Texas, Louisiana and right along the "hurricane zone region".

We are almost used to seeing communities like 9th Ward in NOLA being wiped out overnight by hurricanes and floods/flood surges. Is there now a feeling or fear that the much larger buildings that have suffered relatively minor damage over the years from hurricanes could go down like Champlain Towers?

I stayed at the Houston Hilton Westchase after Ike, it had suffered significant damage with many rooms rendered unuseable despite being several miles from Galveston where the bulk of the damage had occurred.

I guess I cannot help but wonder if Champlain Towers is not going to be the last large building in a hurricane zone that will give way. Let's be realistic, the bulk of Florida is built on sandbars and swampland, much of the Gulf coast is built below sea level...NOLA, Houston etc

Are we going to see a major catastophe of multiple large complex buildings going down by virtue of their design, build standard and being in a hurricane zone?

 

[Slaphppy7]

Houston is 80 feet (32 m) above sea level.

Houston - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Houston is 80 feet (32 m) above sea level.

Houston - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Really....reason for including Houston was a FEMA official on the HSPCA programme commented that the city was one of many that are below sea level (I guess FEMA gets things wrong occasionally too....humans are never perfect)

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Back in 2015, we had a serious storm up in my area, (got called Desmond), that was nothing like a genuine hurricane, (I 'enjoyed' one of those back in '87).
At the time, my home, which was built in the 1690s, was unscathed, with only a few slate roof tiles dislodged.
Meanwhile, across the county, more modern buildings had lost their roofs and had broken windows.
Come the Apocalypse, that cottage will still be standing amongst the rubble of modern buildings.

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Back in 2015, we had a serious storm up in my area, (got called Desmond), that was nothing like a genuine hurricane, (I 'enjoyed' one of those back in '87).
At the time, my home, which was built in the 1690s, was unscathed, with only a few slate roof tiles dislodged.
Meanwhile, across the county, more modern buildings had lost their roofs and had broken windows.
Come the Apocalypse, that cottage will still be standing amongst the rubble of modern buildings.

I slept through the 87 storm....was in the truck parked up in a pine tree lined layby

Woke up to find no trees standing

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

I slept through the 87 storm....was in the truck parked up in a pine tree lined layby

Woke up to find no trees standing

I was also in a forest, but in the middle, so it wasn't so bad. That was a good time to have chain-saw skills.

 

[noobfish]

@noobfish

Different region, similar problem

Champlain Towers in Miami

Being built on a sandbar is always far from ideal. But given that the building was in a hurricane zone, do you believe that hurricanes over the years exacerbated the structural issues and contributed to the eventual and catastrophic collapse?

Reason for asking is that there are so many similar era, similar construction buildings, not just in Florida but in Texas, Louisiana and right along the "hurricane zone region".

We are almost used to seeing communities like 9th Ward in NOLA being wiped out overnight by hurricanes and floods/flood surges. Is there now a feeling or fear that the much larger buildings that have suffered relatively minor damage over the years from hurricanes could go down like Champlain Towers?

I stayed at the Houston Hilton Westchase after Ike, it had suffered significant damage with many rooms rendered unuseable despite being several miles from Galveston where the bulk of the damage had occurred.

I guess I cannot help but wonder if Champlain Towers is not going to be the last large building in a hurricane zone that will give way. Let's be realistic, the bulk of Florida is built on sandbars and swampland, much of the Gulf coast is built below sea level...NOLA, Houston etc

Are we going to see a major catastophe of multiple large complex buildings going down by virtue of their design, build standard and being in a hurricane zone?

From what I've seen and read (which isn't much, didn't follow the story on the tower collapse that closely), it would seem that the tower issue was due to poor building practices and complete disregard/neglect of inspections and maintenance reports. All structures will wear and have issues over time. I would assume those can be exacerbated by conditions of the region the structure is located.
And there are some areas that if you're going to build/live in you just assume the risk involved. One of my best friends lives SE of Sacramento, CA. He sent me pictures 4 days ago of smoke billowing from the other side of the mountain, about 15-20mi from his house. Yesterday he sent me pictures where you couldn't see his field from the front porch, smoke was that thick. There's no building you can do to combat those fires, just hope and pray. He knows there's a chance he could lose everything, but he loves living there.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

There's no building you can do to combat those fires, just hope and pray. He knows there's a chance he could lose everything, but he loves living there.

I do hear tell that not living in a forest may help.

 

[Colin_T]

Has your brick flat ever been exposed to sustained 140mph winds? Your walls may stand, but your roof may not.

In the northern half of Australia there are cyclones and the houses hold up fine because they are built to take 400kph winds. We have a law that any building built above a certain latitude must comply with the cyclone handbook of regulations (or whatever it's called). They basically use my screws and more materials to make the houses cyclone proof.

The USA has plenty of money, they just spend it on the wrong things. How many billions went to Afghanistan?

 

[noobfish]

I do hear tell that not living in a forest may help.

Uhhh.....

I was also in a forest, but in the middle, so it wasn't so bad. That was a good time to have chain-saw skills.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Uhhh.....

Forest fires weren't/aren't a thing here.

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Forest fires weren't/aren't a thing here.

Unless you decide to have another BBQ

 

[noobfish]

In the northern half of Australia there are cyclones and the houses hold up fine because they are built to take 400kph winds. We have a law that any building built above a certain latitude must comply with the cyclone handbook of regulations (or whatever it's called). They basically use my screws and more materials to make the houses cyclone proof.

The USA has plenty of money, they just spend it on the wrong things. How many billions went to Afghanistan?

To be sure, there are regs regarding building practices and codes for those regions. But there again, wind is only part of the destructive power of a hurricane. The majority of the homes that are destroyed, like the 9th Ward mentioned, are destroyed by storm surge and flooding.

Why spend money on that when you have foreign wars and walls to build?

 

[noobfish]

Forest fires weren't/aren't a thing here.

Well la-dee-da. Brag about it why don't ya!

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Wasn't there some scandal over the levee's in NOLA after Katrina?

Not built correctly or poorly maintained or something?

Its a section of the military who build/maintain them isn't it?