How to buy a hurricane RESISTANT home?
Living in Florida one is always thinking about hurricanes: So, how do I go about buying a home that is resistant to hurricanes?
Well, as many of you know I am a structural engineer. I have under graduate and graduate degrees in civil engineering and I am an SE (Structural Engineer) in Massachusetts where I was first licensed and a PE (Professional Engineer) here in Florida. I will try to answer this is with some basic concepts and advice. If you truly want to know how resistant your home is to a hurricane then during the inspection period hire a Professional Engineer to inspect the property. General home inspectors, roofers, plumbers, AC techs etc are all great but they are not engineers. Hire a PE and you will know for sure what you are buying.
OK Chris, but what about before I actually go to contract on a house?
Step 1 – Location, Location, Location
You can hide from wind but you must run from the water. Storm surge and surface flooding should be the first concerns. One can change everything about a house they do not like. You can modify a house to better withstand a hurricane but you can not pick it up and move it out of an area prone to storm surge or surface flooding. Where water deaths are 9 out of 10 storm related fatalities the first thing to look at is the location of the property on BOTH the FEMA FIRM flood maps AND the county evacuation zones. The FIRM maps are primarily for surface flooding (rain) but future revisions will take storm surge into account vis so called ‘slosh models’. The Palm Beach County evacuations zones, once off the barrier islands, are largely based upon projected storm surge. The area around the Jupiter Inlet is VERY susceptible to storm surge and the evacuation maps reflect this. Admirals Cove for instance is in a Zone B evacuation zone which is the same as Jupiter Island yet Jupiter Inlet Colony is mostly a Zone C flood zone (not prone to surface flooding) while Admirals Cove is mostly a Zone A5 (very prone to surface flooding. In short, water gets pushed up the Jupiter Inlet where it meets water coming down the Loxahatchee River and it has no place to go but out. On the FEMA maps a C is better than a B which is better than an A zone. And similarly for the county evacuation zones, a Zone E is better than Zone D which is better than zone C then B. Zone A is mobile homes. Personally, I live in a zone B flood zone and Zone C evacuation zone. This is the risk I am willing to accept for the pleasure of living near the water.
What about exposure? North, South, East or West? It’s difficult to say which way the wind will come at you from so I would say forget this one. Except, don’t choose a house that faces west. Hurricanes are few and far between but the sun sets every day in the west and a setting sun is hot.
How about power restoration? FP&L recently made a statement to the news that verified what I have been saying for years. Once they have restored power to specific buildings (shelters, police, fire, hospitals and the like) they start at the main transmission lines and move out. I’ve heard people say recently, ‘I live next to a fire house so I get power back ASAP’. Maybe and maybe not. If a specific power failure affects both your property AND the fire house then yes. But if the fire house is up and you are not then you’re in the same boat as everyone else. Restoring a main power line restores everyone down line of it. If the neighbors tree comes down and affects only you and they, it will be a LONG time before you get power back. The closer you live to the main transmission lines the better, and in our area they run up US-1 and A1A.
“We look to make sure our generation facilities are up and running. Then we shift to the critical infrastructure facilities, so water treatment facilities, fire stations, police, hospitals, all of those are critical facilities. Then we go to the feeder lines. Those are the main power lines that are feeding the neighborhood lines. Those main feeder lines, we go after and attack and get them up and running. Then we go after the individual neighborhoods and look to ensure that we are getting those customers up,” said Gould.
What you can look for though is open terrain upwind of the property? Long flat open areas where the wind can come at your home unimpeded are no good.
How about the house next door that looks like a strong puff of wind would blow it over. No good. That house will blow down and send debris at your house.
The fancy house that’s going to be under construction for the next 2 years? No good. Construction materials tend to be poorly secured in a hurricane.
The shade loving neighbor whose house looks like a jungle wrapped around the power lines. No good. All those trees come down and bring the power lines with them, make one a heck of a mess in everyone’s yard and may even come through your roof.
Everything about a house can be changed except the location. Look at the FIRM (flood) maps and look at the evacuations zones.
What about the house itself? We will cover that in Part 2.
