As Dorian Arrives, Have Florida’s Lessons Been Learned?

A slow moving hurricane, fed by the unusually warm waters of the Atlantic, is growing and creeping toward the Florida coast. Dorian, as it has been named, is categorized as a potential monster storm that may directly affect portions of the state not previously impacted by major hurricanes.  Florida’s preparations are in full activity mode.  But didn’t they see this coming?

Hurricane Andrew (1992), Source Here

The “big one” for the state was Hurricane Andrew, a category 5 storm that roared ashore in 1992.  It still holds the record for the highest (normalized) damage cost for a Florida storm (Katrina is the only larger number).  Shortly after Andrew, the state’s Division of Emergency Management created the Hurricane Loss Mitigation Program to “act as a specialized, state-funded mitigation program aimed at minimizing damages caused by hurricanes.

With an annual budget of $7 million, provided by the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Trust Fund, the program is funding activities that promote property resiliency through retrofits made to residential, commercial, and mobile home properties, the promotion of public education and public information, and through hurricane research activities…. Through partnering with local housing authorities and non-profit organizations, the Division has been able to promote wind and flood mitigation and provide hazard mitigation retrofitting to residential and commercial properties. Funded activities include retrofits, inspections, and construction or modification of building components designed to increase a structure’s ability to withstand hurricane-force winds and flooding.

This is a drop in the proverbial bucket of mitigation need. But the resiliency-focused codes implemented statewide during the decades following Andrew have had an impact.  Architect Magazine and The Wall Street Journal noted that residential structures built or retrofitted to the new post-2002 codes have fared much better than those that pre-date the statewide implementation of those codes. The Journal stated:

Florida has one of the strongest building codes in the country. Passed statewide in 2002 after Miami-Dade County beefed up regulations in the wake of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the new rules required newly built homes to have stronger fasteners that prevent their roofs from blowing off, nails instead of staples and impact-resistant windows in certain areas, which manufacturers sometimes check by firing pieces of plywood out of cannons at them.

Research led by Kevin Simmons, a professor at Austin College, looking at insured-loss data from 2001 to 2010 found that the building code reduced windstorm losses by up to 72% and that there were $6 in losses saved for every $1 of additional construction costs.

With another hurricane season upon us, the question is, will the state continue in this positive direction?  Some are very concerned the lessons are learned, then forgotten.

The downside to the new code is cost. Builders estimate that regulatory compliance can add as much as 45% to the price of a home in some parts of Florida, compared with about 25% nationally.  Florida passed a bill this spring that gives the Florida Building Commission flexibility to evaluate whether or not to make code changes to keep up with technological advancement and removed a requirement that it adopt International Code Council standards every three years.

Critics say it will gradually weaken the standards that just helped protect swaths of the state from a hurricane.  Mr. Payton of the Florida Home Builders Association said the change would simplify bureaucracy and help save home buyers money, but added that, “We don’t want to build houses that blow down. The longer you go between hurricanes the more people forget how bad it was and start thinking maybe it was an off year and we can start saving a lot of money if we don’t build to these codes,” he said.

In spite of changes proposed by state and Federal leaders that chip away at the requirements for resiliency-focused codes, Florida has done a pretty good job.  The awareness of the benefits of those codes and the recurring nature of the threat keep higher standards a priority. 

 The Architect article noted above states, however, that the story has not been the same across the rest of the country, adding that "the inclusion of resilient design principles in building codes is a mixed bag.  Recent moves to stalemate federal and state minimum standards have prompted architects and engineers to take a more vocal stance in advocating for stronger and enforceable codes. FEMA is proposing policies to incentivize states and municipalities to take a more proactive role in mitigating damage—and thus recovery costs. And five years after Hurricane Sandy, resilient design has become a marketing tool in New York."

FEMA has recently taken steps to encourage municipalities to adopt resiliency-focused building codes and standards in the hopes of mitigating damage from future disasters. Last year, as part of its public assistance program, the agency issued a policy that states “as a condition of assistance, buildings eligible for repair, replacement, or construction located in hazard-prone areas will use, at a minimum, the hazard-resistant standards referenced in the most recent edition of the model building code (IBC, IEBC, and IRC) as of the disaster declaration date....

FEMA is also considering creating a system under which states would need to pay a set amount of their own disaster recovery costs before it could start receiving FEMA reimbursement for the repair and replacement of public infrastructure damaged by a disaster—much like how insurance deductibles work. This “disaster deductible,” as FEMA calls it, also allows states to offset that cost by investing in infrastructure resiliency—which, in theory, would reduce ultimate disaster recovery costs for both the state and the federal governments.

I wish Florida well as they face this new hazard. Perhaps recurring hazard events will help keep the need for vigilance and advanced preparation fresh in everyone’s minds and help keep them all... Out of Harm’s Way.