In this story from yesterday’s New York Times, the lack of good building codes increased the damage from hurricane Katrina, according to a federal inspection report.
This is the first I had heard of this report, and it is somewhat of a shock to hear that the four states most affected did not have statewide building codes before Katrina.
Let's hope they all do now.
Here is an excerpt.
June 11, 2006
Inspectors Fault Lack of Codes In Storm Damage
By ADAM NOSSITER
A federal buildings inspection team has found that damage from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita was amplified by a lack of construction standards in the Gulf Coast states, as well as by shoddy building practices.
None of the states severely affected — Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas — had adopted statewide building codes before the storms last year, according to the team's report, released Friday by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, a unit of the Department of Commerce.
As a result, many of the collapsed brick walls in the region had not been correctly anchored or reinforced. Shingles blew off roofs because not enough fasteners had been used, or because they had been put in place incorrectly. Dozens of windows shattered on high-rise buildings, as in downtown New Orleans, because nearby buildings were roofed with gravel, forbidden in high-wind areas under standard building codes.
Though the 270-page report documents considerable building damage from winds and even more from storm surge, wind speeds did not reach levels that model codes are devised to withstand.
