Local meteorologist sees Ike’s destruction firsthand
As Hurricane Ike approached and moved over the Houston metropolitan area in mid-September, it forced hundreds of thousands to evacuate, destroyed thousands of homes and left some areas without power for weeks. Daniel Noah, the Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Ruskin, was sent to the Houston area as part of a NWS damage assessment team. Noah interviewed people who had lost their homes and saw the damage firsthand. “I was surprised with the number of people who did not evacuate,” said Noah. Of the 500,000 people in the mandatory evacuation area, only 300,000 left. Of those who did not evacuate, 40,000 were left to contend with the worst of the storm surge. The death toll in the Houston/Galveston area was 32 and over 300 people remain missing. Many may never be found.
The center of Hurricane Ike moved directly over Galveston Bay just after 2 a.m. on Sept. 13th, produced sustained winds of 110 mph (Category 2) and a storm surge of at least 14 feet. However, the surge could have reached over 25 feet if Ike had moved ashore just 20 miles to the west of Galveston. In short, the devastation could have extended much further inland with the potential to have taken many more lives.
Outside of the storm surge, the Houston area experienced a tremendous amount of downed trees. These trees fell on homes, blocked roads and knocked out electricity. Other wind damage included shingles off homes, broken windows and damage to signs. Inside the storm surge area, some homes were completely washed off their foundations. This type of damage was found on the barrier islands as far as 30 miles up Galveston and Trinity bays.
Remember, a similar storm impacting Tampa Bay will have very similar results.
A new kind of TV broadcasting that may affect emergency reception
As you may be aware, Congress has mandated that all TV stations broadcast a digital signal starting Feb. 17, 2009. If you get your signal from cable or satellite, you won’t have to do a thing to keep watching TV; those formats are compatible with all sets. However, if you use a regular antenna and your TV does not have a digital tuner, you will need a digital converter to continue receiving a signal.
That’s great for your home TV during normal operation, but many portable battery-powered TVs are used when the power goes out after a storm. Unfortunately, the older sets will not function after the February shift to digital transmission. And, without a source of power, digital converter boxes will not work.
So, what can you do? Unfortunately, if you want to use a portable TV to receive broadcasts in the aftermath of a storm and your TV isn’t equipped with a digital tuner, you will have to purchase a new portable TV. Another option is to use a radio to get your news and information. However, if your radio is equipped to receive audio TV signals, that feature will no longer function since both audio and visual signals from TV broadcasters are going digital.
For more information on this switchover to digital transmission, visit the Federal Communications Commission’s website at www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/digitaltv.html.
Will your garage door let in trouble?
Shortly after Hurricane Andrew plowed through south Florida in 1992, structural engineers from the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes went into the devastated areas to discover just how homes failed. After extensive surveys of buildings that had major structural damage from the Category 5 winds, the engineers were able to determine that 80 percent of the devastated homes lost their garage doors first.
When you think about it, it’s not that difficult to understand why this occurs. Garage doors span wide openings – double-width doors typically measure 16 feet wide by 7 feet tall – so, they are called upon to resist a tremendous amount of wind force. Also, garage doors are designed with lightweight materials to make operation easier for homeowners. This means that most doors installed prior to Florida’s unified building code of 2001 do not meet the stringent wind-loading requirements now mandated.
When those large openings fail, a tremendous amount of damage can result, with high winds pressurizing the interior of the building. This can lead to window and roof failure.
So, what can homeowners do who have older, underrated garage doors? Newer doors in good condition can be retrofitted with bracing. These kits typically include removable pillars which connect to the concrete floor and roof framing, backing up the door’s existing bracing. While an option, these systems require homeowners install the protection before a storm impacts the area.
If the door is in bad shape or extremely flimsy, a new door may be required. New wind-rated garage doors have extensive bracing which helps prevent wind failure, as well as heavy-duty rollers and roller tracks that prevent trouble at vital connection points.
If in doubt, be sure to consult with a building inspector from your municipality or a licensed contractor to help find the door that’s best for your situation.
Not all water damage is the same
In the event of any water damage in your home, typically the only concern on your mind is, “who is going to cover the expenses of all the mess and get me back to normal?”
To help find the answer to that question, you may want to speak with your insurance agent to examine what kind of flooding coverage you have. Some water intrusion is covered by your homeowner policy, while some by a separate policy offered by the National Flood Insurance Program.
For instance, if a sewer back-up occurs in your home and you have damage, a majority of standard homeowner policies will provide coverage for such an event. However, if a back-up occurs off the residence premises (for example, in the municipal sewer line or due to a pumping station going down), additional coverage is usually needed such as a Back-Up of Sewer and Drain endorsement. While not all companies offer this coverage, it’s a good idea to check if your carrier offers such an endorsement.
When it comes to water damage from a storm, flood insurance typically covers damage from rising water (storm surge, flooding from heavy rains) and your windstorm policy covers damage from falling water (rain pouring into your home through a damaged roof).
Regardless of where the damage may come from, it’s important for all insurance customers to:
-
Have an inventory of all items. If possible, include some type of photo to show the type and condition of your personal contents.
-
Have materials on hand to make temporary repairs that will minimize further damages.
-
Keep receipts of any expenses incurred related to the damage.
-
Call your insurance agent or carrier as soon as possible.
-
Keep a journal outlining the calls (name/date/time/summary) made.
Please note that legislation passed in 2005 requires insurers (insurance companies/carriers) to acknowledge a claim within 14 days. A claim investigation must begin within 10 days after the insurer receives proof of loss statements from the insured. However, there are exceptions for extenuating circumstances – such as catastrophes – which are beyond the control of the insurer.
For more insurance tips and suggestions, read the Consumer Guide to Homeowner Insurance produced by the Florida Department of Financial Services. The guide may be obtained by downloading it from the website at www.myfloridacfo.com or by calling the toll free Florida Department of Financial Services Consumer Helpline at (877) MyFLCFO (1-877-693-5236) and asking for a free copy to be mailed to your home.
Storms in History
Hurricane Noel, 2007
Late season hurricanes, just like their very early season cousins, can be unpredictable. Hurricane Noel was no exception.
As with many late-season storms, the clouds that eventually became Hurricane Noel had a difficult time organizing in the mid-Atlantic. Through the last few days of October, the storm moved in fits and starts as it approached Puerto Rico. Once it became a named tropical storm, it moved through the Greater Antilles, dumping tremendous amounts of rain and causing flash floods and deadly mudslides in Haiti.
As the storm approached the Bahamas and the east coast of the United States, the storm began to interact with a high pressure ridge. A tropical storm warning was issued for Florida’s east coast. While the storm’s winds never got above sustained tropical storm force (39 mph +), the air pressure difference caused a great deal of gusty winds and coastal erosion all the way up the eastern seaboard into the maritime provinces of Canada. In New England, the storm’s precipitation fell as snow – in some cases up to six inches as, in some isolated areas of Maine.
Ultimately, this storm caused more than $600 million in damages and killed 169 people, mostly in the Caribbean. The storm’s name was retired in April 2008 at an annual conference of the World Meteorological Organization, never to be used again. Noel became the first N-named storm to be retired.
For more information on 2007’s Hurricane Noel, visit Wikipedia’s Hurricane Noel page at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Noel.
What does THAT mean?
It’s been said that eyes are windows into the soul. If you want to learn as much as you can about a hurricane, you may want to take a look at the storm’s eye and the clouds that surround it.
The eye of a hurricane marks the central circulation point of the storm and the point where the atmospheric pressure is lowest.
Inside the eye of a storm, the weather can be perfectly calm and blue skies can be seen above. And the more intense the hurricane, the clearer and more distinct the eye can be.
While meteorologists aren’t 100% sure of the mechanism that drives the formation of the eye, the leading theory involves air that is drawn into the hurricane. Most of the air vents outward from the center of the storm, which is called outflow. Some of the air, however, pushes in toward the center of the storm and sinks toward the ground, clearing the skies.
The eye is surrounded on all sides by eyewall clouds. In sharp contrast to the calm air inside the eye, the eyewall clouds are where the strongest winds of the storm are found. A common warning to residents is not to be fooled by this calm in the middle of the storm. The winds will pick up quickly after the eye passes, coming from the opposite direction of the previous winds before the eye passed overhead.
Some hurricane eyes can be dozens of miles across, while others are tiny. 2005’s Hurricane Wilma had both – a narrow eye diameter of 3 miles at its most intense and a very wide eye later while making landfall in Florida.
Storms other than tropical systems can also have eye-like features. Very strong Nor’Easters and Polar Lows can have eye-like structures. The strong winds, however, can be located hundreds of miles from these structures, meaning the worst winds can be far away from the center of these storms.
checklist
