Posted on 08/16/2004 4:26:54 PM PDT by jolie560
CAPTIVA - The ritzy barrier islands that Hurricane Charley pummeled first before raging across the state appear to have survived far better than their neighbors farther inland.
Although damage assessments had yet to be completed for the islands Sunday night, Lee County officials said they were confident that damage could be repaired and the islands could recover their identity as an idyllic vacation getaway.
"Nearly all (buildings) had some damage, but it was varying degrees, because these are big homes and well-put-together homes," said Pat O'Rourke, spokeswoman for the Lee County Emergency Operations Center. "It's a matter of the integrity of the structures."
While many resort homes on Captiva and North Captiva Island saw some damage, most lost rooftops, not walls. A St. Petersburg Times reporter and photographer who toured the area in a boat noted some damage to homes on the tip of North Captiva Island but not to the extent of those damaged in Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte.
(Excerpt) Read more at sptimes.com ...
Good night.
Actually the truth about tornadoes and mobile homes is that many of the "tornadoes" that hit mobile home parks.....aren't.
The NWS takes 2-3 days to do damage surveys, and by the time they determine something was a downburst or straight-line winds, the media has moved on from the story.
The media (or residents of the park) see any serious structural damage or a home tipped over, it's immediately a "tornado."
The victims desperately WANT it to have been a tornado; makes a better, more exciting survival story to tell than something they don't understand, like a downburst or something. Also I think there's a sense of embarrassment if the damage was from something that wasn't a tornado.
And straight-line winds can be very, very strong; while usually not capable of causing damage to regular housing (though they do at times) they can be really destructive in a mobile home park.
"It would be wise for those who can afford it to buy something a little more solid."
...and for those who can't afford it, don't park your trailer in a hurricane/tornado prone area.
Approximately 17. How many died in car accidents today? You live in California, how many homes burned to the ground today? Your statment about dragging down property values quashed any concern you had about the dead. Thanks for playing.
OK - one more.
Building codes for new construction are steeper than when older mobiles and homes were made. But you aren't required to bring your house up to every new code that is passed, and thank goodness for that. They'd keep us all broke. Code improvements come up and are required when you do a major remodel or addition. Some apply when you try to sell or finance it. Short of that, new code doesn't apply to old homes.
True, bringing up to code only applies when selling or remodeling so I am affected by that.
I guess no one remembers "The 3 little pigs"
Think about it.
I said, if you look, that I don't believe that California has few is a result of the earthquake risk. Rather they do drag on property values. Are you trying to say that they don't ... or that you WISH they don't?
Microscopic, tiny slivers of the Midwest getting destroyed. Despite the misfortuntes of Moore, OK, the odds of a given acre of land in Oklahoma being hit by a tornado in a century is some shockingly, insanely small number, which I know has been calculated but have had trouble looking up.
It's an unbelievable, massive, insane fluke that in the last 50 years or so South Florida has only had 2 Andrews/Charleys. And it unfortunately matches up perfectly with the massive explosion in South Florida population.
South Florida (eather coast) should be having at least one Andrew/Charley type storm every 10 years, and at times could easily have a couple in a five year period. The precise area Charley hit could easily have a nearly identical hit within the next 5 years. THAT's NORMAL, the preceeding 50 years were abnormal.
You need to stop pretending that everyone is in the same boat across the country because everyone has disasters. Not true. Someone not living on the West Coast, or not living within 50 miles of the coast from Texas to Massachusetts, if they DON'T live in a flood plain, has basically 0% chance of having their home destroyed in a natural disaster.
I don't know Florida construction costs, but I'm assuming they are considerably less than Hawaii. Even so, I believe I could build a "house" large enough to house a retired couple safely for the same or less than it would cost to buy a mobile home. Again, it may not be as big, may only have one bathroom, may be only one room basically with maybe a sleeping alcove .... but I know I could build a hurricane safe house for the same money or less than a mobile home.
What most people want instead of safety and quality is the largest cheapest "home" they can afford. Safety is way down the list for most people. That is why mobile homes are so popular. That's their appeal. This is the same mentality that pays less for land in flood prone areas, builds a house on grade, and then when flooded asks for government bail-out to rebuild ... and generally rebuilds exactly the same. Same gambling mentatlity with FEMA for collateral.
That's somewhat dependant on the locality and the type of code but you're generally correct. Some communities require upgrades only at the time of sale, while others grandfather older codes. Certainly, it would not be cost-effective to bring an older mobile home up to newer standards. The things are very modular and would require a complete rebuilding. Its cheaper to just make a new one.
That said, I'm still a little less than enthusiastic about the government getting too overbearing in terms of construction. We can build an absolutely hurricane-proof structure, up to catagory 5, but it would be enormously expensive. Few would be able to afford it.
Housing needs to be available at all levels - cheap, middle class, and upper class. And the market generally takes care of this. We have to be careful not to let the government price low-cost housing out of existance. If I had but $5000 in my pocket and a low-wage job, I'd not hesitate to buy a trailer to live in. I'd take that over any government-subsidized housing any day.
BTW, I wasn't picking on your post - just speaking in general, since I have the floor for a minute.
Did you ever try to bolt a chain to a swamp?
Move along, nothing to see here....
The media just cannot resist a class-envy angle, ever.
When a fantatic and unusual bridge is being built a factor is added for loss of workers in construction. Same with skyscrapers. Do we quit building bridges and skyscrapers?
Remember everybody had time to leave and was warned. If people stayed in a mobile home with a 145 mph hurricane coming, they were, sadly, very stupid.
*****I do have to wonder,,,
Where I grew up, wind gusts of over 100 miles per hour are not at all uncommon. A few shingles get blown off sometimes, that's about it.
Wind gusts of over 75 miles per hour occur every year, and are not even worth mentioning.
Funny, those 100 mph wind gusts cause very little damage - because everything that could be damaged by a 100 mph wind is long gone!
Somewhat like those magnitude 5.0 and 6.0 earthquakes in California - little to no damage, whereas the same strength earthquake elsewhere is called a "major tragedy", because the buildings are not capable of withstanding their normal environment!******
I remember riding around New Iberia, Louisiana after Andrew and what I noticed was that the old homes from the little shotgun houses to the big plantation homes were basically unscathed, they lost a few shingles and windows but were left structurally sound whereas the newer homes were demolished. It comes down to construction techniques. Those old homes were solidly built not just sheetrock and plywood corners, we are talking solid cypress walls here. It does not cost that much more to use the better fasteners for roofs and anchoring buildings to the foundation.
I know because I built a comercial kitchen a couple of years ago and used the all of the necessary fasteners for the roof, foundation and it added about $200 and a couple of extra hours of labor. I live about 30 miles north of the Gulf so I figured it would be cheaper to do it right at the beginning.
That's as good a wild guess as mine.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.