Would SoWal Be Prepared for a 4-5 Hurricane?

[Kurt]

Maybe not a bad idea, but the viability of the material would depend on exactly where the server(s) hosting the board "live"...

Dallas.

 

[OhioBeachBum]

Dallas.

Sweet - didn't know where you were using a service or a local setup on the end of a cable net. Nice call. So SoWal lives in a rack in a data center somewhere in Dallas, said data center no doubt sporting a gaggle of industrial sized UPS units, redundant utility power trunk feeds, and maybe even a nice healthy 2MW generator outside [corp I work for has a setup like that - generator spplies enough power to run the little town where I live. ]

 

[Uncle Timmy]

South Walton should fare better than a lot of other communities along the gulf coast in terms of our structures.

Two main reasons:

1.- The majority of extensive damage would be from storm surge, as was the case along the Mississippi coast in Katrina, and Walton's coastline is relatively high. Detailed storm surge maps are available online. Try www.floridadisaster.org for maps of south Walton.

2.- The building codes, including the Florida Building Code, 2001 which is the current code here in Walton County, were strengthened after Hurricane Andrew to address wind related damage. Since a large number of structures here have been built within the last 10 years, a high percentage of our buildings are built strong.

I wouldn't recommend anyone staying for a 4-5 Hurricane of course but hopefully most would return to intact homes.

A few other things to keep in mind when building:

-Metal roofs fare better than asphalt shingles or even tile roofs in high wind.
-Plywood can be difficult and time consuming to put up, especially on second floor windows, consider impact resistant glass or permanently attached shutters in these places
-Concrete block construction will resist wind, humidity, and termites better in the long run than wood frame construction.
-And, (I know this is real specific but), make sure your contractor uses stainless steel or G-185(Z-max) galvanized metal connectors that will be in contact with pressure treated wood. The new pressure treating is far more corrosive than the older stuff from a few years ago and it will eat away metal!

 

[Camp Creek Kid]

South Walton should fare better than a lot of other communities along the gulf coast in terms of our structures.

Two main reasons:

1.- The majority of extensive damage would be from storm surge, as was the case along the Mississippi coast in Katrina, and Walton's coastline is relatively high. Detailed storm surge maps are available online. Try www.floridadisaster.org for maps of south Walton.

2.- The building codes, including the Florida Building Code, 2001 which is the current code here in Walton County, were strengthened after Hurricane Andrew to address wind related damage. Since a large number of structures here have been built within the last 10 years, a high percentage of our buildings are built strong.

I wouldn't recommend anyone staying for a 4-5 Hurricane of course but hopefully most would return to intact homes.

A few other things to keep in mind when building:

-Metal roofs fare better than asphalt shingles or even tile roofs in high wind.
-Plywood can be difficult and time consuming to put up, especially on second floor windows, consider impact resistant glass or permanently attached shutters in these places
-Concrete block construction will resist wind, humidity, and termites better in the long run than wood frame construction.
-And, (I know this is real specific but), make sure your contractor uses stainless steel or G-185(Z-max) galvanized metal connectors that will be in contact with pressure treated wood. The new pressure treating is far more corrosive than the older stuff from a few years ago and it will eat away metal!

I don't want to be doom and gloom, but I also don't want anyone to have a false sense of security. I've resisted posting this because I don't want to scare anyone. However, my husband was told by the head of the Walton County Building Dept. that 30-A (and Hwy 20) would have been "whiped-out" by Katrina. The new building code has helped, but no construction can be strong enough to withstand winds much greater than 130 m.p.h. Concrete construction is definitely the best way to go and if we build another house near the coast, we are going to build one with reinforced concrete.

That said, the large Cat 4 and 5 hurricane are very rare and there is a lot we can do in preparation and construction to withstand the more common smaller storms.

 

[Paula]

The gloom and doom possibility certainly exists. But it will be good to be prepared for the up-to-but-not-including gloom and doom scenarios in terms of preparing and salvaging properties. Even in the gloom and doom scenario, it would be very useful to have communication up for notifying people of evacuees' locations, finding missing people, official notices, etc. As we tell our children (as I'm sure you tell your children), people are always more important than things so any action plan we take could first take care of the people and then focus on taking care of the things (if there are any things left!).

If we can get ourselves ready to handle up to a high category 3 or very low 4 (which I believe many places here are likely to withstand), then we can at least preserve what we can with some preplanning (e.g. flood insurance, the best kind of shutters, protecting french door leakage, offering people places to stay to wait out the storm and days afterwards, etc.). If we help each other prepare, we may be able to save a lot of people time and money before, during and after a storm. And you're right that the best way to save lives is to make sure people get out of the area before the exits are closed.

 

[Miss Kitty]

Dallas.

I feel even closer to SoWal now!

 

[Smiling JOe]

Maybe this is where us folks who don't live in SoWal could help. We would still have phone access. If your cell phones would work (hopefully) you could contact one of us and we could post any message or relay any message to you guys.

Kurt mentioned that we are assuming a complete wipeout of cell towers. During Hurrican Ivan, the cell towers were so clogged that I was not able to make a call until 4 days after the storm passed. Also, my phone showed that I had 30+ messages, but I was never able to retrieve them.

I understand that text messaging works much better than actual calls for cellular phones when the towers are jammed.

 

[DBOldford]

A strong Cat IV or V storm would destroy most structures south of Hwy. 20 and the bridges beyond recovery, with or without a major storm surge. How many people in South Walton remember Gulfport, MI after Camille in 1969? Plywood on windows would be a useless and possibly dangerous deterant to damage. Even Ivan loosened the plywood on our windows almost to the point of its being ripped off. I shudder to think of that huge piece of plywood soaring off of our second story windows, an airborn missile in hurricane-force winds. On the plus side, however, the new building codes are very effective. We have had absolutely no structural damage through several big storms over the past year and we looked very carefully to make sure of that.

Every person in an area threatened by such a storm should simply get out and head for a safer haven, as soon as possible. Everything else is just stuff and can be replaced. We had renters in our house who refused the orders to evacuate before Hurricane Dennis, so very foolish. Their reason? They were having a fmaily birthday party and were just in tears that they might never be able to rent this special house again.

FYI, flood insurance through FEMA is not expensive and it carries only a $500 deductible, whereas hurricane insurance carries a $10,000 deductible. We had some minor damage due to storm surge after Ivan. We received a check for the entire claim before our charge card expenses for cleanup were even received. Everyone should carry flood insurance in a coastal area. I would argue that anyone living in Florida should carry it, for that matter.

 

[Paula]

Thanks, everyone so far. This is a very interesting and useful discussion. Some people got some new advice (e.g., flood insurance), and there are some interesting areas of discussion that may help people's homes (e.g., what kind of window protection -- plywood, shutters, other) at least to a high cat 3/low cat 4 storm.

The bridge situation would be critical. Does anyone have an arial view or map that shows exit and entry routes, including bridges and/or alternatives? Is there any way to leave or get to So. Wal without going over a bridge, even if it's a long route? If not, what boat services would be available (would one have access if they had access to private/charter boats or would private boats be kept out?).

I hope we never have to use any of this advice, but there's some peace of mind to having it!

 

[Kurt]

SoWal is an island - bridges in each direction.

To the East is the Phillips Inlet Bridge over Lake Powell which would disappear quickly from surge. Same thing for the Marler Bridge at east Pass in Destin.

That leaves the Clyde B. Wells - 331 causeway and Bridge, and the Mid-bay bridge in Destin. It's possible one of those could survive, but unlikely. I guess it would depend on the wind direction.