|
Poor construction, lack of codes increased storm damage
A federal building inspection team has found that damage from hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year 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, according to the team's report, released Friday by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, a unit of the Department of Commerce.
The New York Times
Poor construction, lack of codes increased storm damage
Report: Not having statewide building standards made hit worse for states battered by Katrina, Rita
By Adam Nossiter
The New York Times
A federal building inspection team has found that damage from hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year 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, 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 report documents considerable building damage from the hurricanes' winds and even more from storm surge, the team found that wind speeds did not reach levels that model codes are devised to withstand.
The region's roofers, largely unlicensed and unregulated, come in for particularly scathing appraisal in the report. Where roofs were blown off, the team found that the culprit was almost always poor installation.
The team found roofers making repairs after the storms in the same faulty manner.
Louisiana has adopted a statewide building code since the storms; some cities, like New Orleans and Lake Charles, La., already had similar codes. Texas adopted the International Building Code in September. Mississippi has no statewide code.
Copyright 2006 IndyStar.com. All rights reserved
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006606110488 |
Home 
