Hurricane Experts Gather To Discuss Lessons Learned From Destruction

July 11, 1996

GAINESVILLE — As residents along the Atlantic Coast keep a wary eye on Hurricane Bertha, experts from around the country are trying to analyze the lessons learned from last year’s destructive storm season — the busiest in more than 60 years.

Dozens of those experts will gather Tuesday in Pensacola — one of the hardest hit areas in 1995 — to pore over assessments of billions of dollars in damage done by Hurricanes Opal and Erin, and try to come up with answers that will prevent such catastrophic devastation from future storms.

“There are obviously buildings in the area that need new code requirements,” said Charles Glagola, an assistant professor in civil engineering at the University of Florida who is organizing Tuesday’s workshop with UF associate professor Ronald Cook.

The workshop, sponsored by the Florida Department of Community Affairs, will draw officials from the National Hurricane Center, and national experts on the effects of wind and water damage on building systems. Makers of manufactured homes will be there, along with manufacturers of windows, doors and just about anyone else associated with the building industry. Local building officials who enforce the codes will also be on hand to tell the experts how their recommendations will play out in the real world.

“We have contacted everyone we can find in the country who has any knowledge of the effects of the storms,” Glagola said.

A similar workshop was held after Hurricane Andrew, and organizers want to learn what happened with recommendations from that meeting. Some of the proposed changes may have been made in some areas, but not in others. Other locales may still be contemplating changes to the building codes or have decided against instituting them for lack of enforcement capabilities, Glagola said.

“The Department of Community Affairs works with local authorities and can help with the implementation of any recommendations that come out of this workshop,” Glagola said. “This is particularly helpful in some places where local authorities may not have the resources that larger communities might have. The important thing about workshops such as this is that we are all working together to make things better.”

On Tuesday, experts will look at the damage to all structures from last year’s hurricanes and prioritize recommendations to prevent future problems. The recommendations could result in changes to the Southern Standard Building Code or on the local level, where rules can be made more stringent than the standard code. These measures might include more stringent inspection requirements for specific elements such as hurricane clips or elevations or setback lines. While experts will evaluate damage done in Florida, what they learn can be implemented just about anywhere such storms occur, Glagola said.

“Many of the structures in the Panhandle were built on slab, as opposed to up on pilings, and they are considerably lower than what is now mandated,” Glagola said. “Many of those incurred severe damage. And that is proof that changing the codes to meet these natural disaster requirements is effective.”

The group meeting in Pensacola doesn’t want to create work, Glagola said, but instead create a safe environment that will be good for the state.

What’s good for the state, of course, is less damage. If buildings can be made to better survive a hurricane, then that’s good for everybody, Glagola said.

“People don’t realize sometimes just how expensive hurricanes are,” he said. “If the insurance companies have to pay, everybody loses. The magnitude of the losses associated with recent storms has caused increases in the cost of insuring against such losses and everyone in the state shares in the burden.”