In mid February a panel of World Meteorological Organization experts released a consensus report (published in the journal Nature Geoscience on 02/21/2010).
What is significant is that the panel consisted of 10 leading experts from both sides of the Global Warming debate. Up to now there has been considerable division between the argument that Global Warming would lead, inevitably, to more hurricanes and tropical storms and those who either do not believe in Global Warming or do not believe in any relationship to increased risk of tropical storms.

The consensus report predicts that the NUMBER of storms is likely to decrease but the strength (or intensity) is likely to INCREASE. To some this may be counterintuitive but, given this rare consensus, worth further discussion as to the implications.
First a little background: Our business is exporting hurricane protection to 27 markets in the Caribbean, Mexico and Belize. After a combined 55 years in the region, every one of which has suffered from extensive damage in the past, one would have expected less fatalism and more awareness of the need for protective measures. Arguments we have heard range from "Hurricanes are an act of God, and I dare not defy Him" to " I am Insured" to the more cynical "I need to remodel my Hotel every 3 or 4 years, so if a hurricane causes damage the Insurance Company will pay and I get the remodeling free" (!)
Whilst we specialize in export the arguments against protecting your property are similar in the U.S.A.
The U.S.A. is a world leader in hurricane protection devices and, more importantly, in strict building codes that often demand hurricane protection, to strict product testing requirements, to the Insurance Industry demanding installed, code compliant, hurricane protection before issuing coverage. Much product development has taken place in the last 10 years and protection is no longer limited to traditional plywood or concertina shutters, both of which have disadvantages, but now offers many new, more economical solutions such as hurricane fabric protection.
One problem hindering greater awareness and up to date product knowledge is that there are literally hundreds of relatively small manufacturers who have not managed to get the word out to the market extensively but tend to rely on customers approaching them. Since most of the retailers only sell one, two or three types of protection the customer, who is usually not aware of the new, code approved and often more economical products, has a limited choice available to him.
The simple fact is that the coast of the U.S.A. from Texas round to at least N. Carolina is in the danger area up to many miles inland. Much as we all (and I include the Government) may sympathize with the victims of hurricane damage there probably will come a point, given our present economic climate, when neither the Government (FEMA) nor the Insurers will continue to cover non protected structures.
There seems to be a general lack of understanding about the various elements of a hurricane that produce the most risk. Probably most people believe that heavy rain (and subsequent risk of flooding) is, combined with high winds, the principle risk factor. Yes, BUT!
WIND:
The most obvious danger is flying debris hitting structures and breaking glass. Once the structure is breached air pressure increases inside the room that was breached and has difficulty "escaping". Since so many interior walls are drywall, hence intrinsically not very strong, either the interior walls collapse or the air escapes upwards blowing the roof off. What most people do not realize is that NEGATIVE pressures are often greater contributors to damage than positive pressures.
To explain this, picture the wall facing the direction that the wind is coming from. Picture the air as consisting of millions of baseballs. Baseball #1 hits your wall and #2 and #3 etc. are following close behind. When they hit the wall or window some may break the glass and enter the structure. Others do not and are being pushed from behind by more millions of "baseballs". They have to "escape" so some go left, some go right and some go upwards around and over the structure. On the downwind side there is a low pressure area or partial vacuum and nature hates vacuums! The winds moving round the structure and over the roof speed up to fill that vacuum. This creates lower pressure than the air in the structure which may have been increased by air blowing in through a broken window.
Remember why an airplane can fly. The air going under the wing has less distance to travel than the air going over the wing which creates LIFT. Your house is no different. The air going round and specially over the house create lift. Now we have a combined effect of the PRESSURE inside being added to the lower pressure over the house and greatly increasing the LIFT on the roof, which often flies away.
WATER:
Apart from building on higher ground there is much less that can be done to prevent flood damage. While removable flood barriers are available the maximum practical height is around 7 feet and as we saw from Katrina and Ike this is just not enough to guarantee safety in really low lying areas.
FLYING DEBRIS:
Here the picture is better. Concrete block can usually resist most debris impacts so the effort should be on preventing hurricane winds entering the structure through broken windows by fitting window protection. By the way, duct tape or films will NEVER protect you and are not code approved. If you believe your walls are strong enough it is worth looking at the FEMA website which we reference at the end of this article. You may be unpleasantly surprised!
ROOF STRENGTHENING:
One of the best preventive measures, often overlooked, is to strengthen the roof. Make sure that all tiles are secure and consider some of the new foam products that are installed inside, underneath the plywood base, to "Stick" the roof down. There are some amazing increases in roof resistance by doing this. A second method, especially if replacing or repairing a roof, is to use a quite remarkable new roofing nail from BOSTICH. The Hurriquake nail can double the resistance to up lift of ordinary nails and according to the manufacturer adds only a few dollars to the cost of ordinary nails.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
We all appreciate that protection can seem expensive. It need not be as expensive as you think and in the long run is cheap! What price peace of mind? After all it is your safety we are talking about. Spread the installation of protection over two or more years if necessary. Protect the most exposed part of your house first. Some protection is better than none!
Finally, be suspicious of offers that are too good to be true. Check that all products you might be considering are CODE APPROVED. Anything not approved leaves you at risk and you are wasting your money.
Here are two websites that may be of interest:
First is FEMA: www.fema.gov (Federal Emergency Management Agency). As a suggestion go to the library section and download their publication "Hurricane Charley in Florida" Publication # 488/ April 2005. This has an excellent series of photos of reality.
Second is the Florida building code page: www.floridabuilding.org were you can check code compliance.
Florida has some of the best codes for hurricane protection and you can search for product approvals by manufacturers name or the code number supplied by your chosen vendors. We apologize to those who found this article to be too basic but hope that many will find information to become better informed! Inevitably there WILL be hurricanes in our future and we will be submitting further articles describing each and every available hurricane protection solution.
REPRINT RIGHTS: The author grants reproduction rights to any media provided that the content on the Caribbean Hurricane Stop Ltd. web site URL: http://www.chsexport.com or other works authored by Stephen Goss are credited and the web site is published either as a note or incorporated in the republished text. Extracts, précis, division into parts is also permitted proved full credit is given to the author. Editing/changing text is not permitted without prior authorization.
Copyright 2010 Stephen Goss.
Stephen Goss may be contacted at scgoss@chsexport.comfor further information on hurricane protection. The corporate web site may be found at http://www.chsexport.com for English or Spanish.A 40 page descriptive booklet is available for download. We are the ONLY company to offer all 14 known code approved hurricane protection systems from Plywood to concertina to the latest fabric screens and thus able to offer unbiased advice in assisting in choosing the best system (or mixture of systems) for your needs. We are not limited to just one or two as are most suppliers. We happily answer questions by filling in the "Contact us" page on our web site.
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