The Washington Post reports today:
Though Hurricane Charley's devastation was extensive, it may have been blunted by tough new federal regulations designed to make mobile homes less vulnerable to violent storms, experts said yesterday.Later in the report:In addition, a new state building code may also have helped prevent some damage -- although probably to a lesser extent, because it took effect only two years ago.
After Hurricane Andrew devastated Florida in 1992, federal regulators began reviewing trailer park construction regulations and Florida launched a major review of the state's overall preparedness. They led to measures designed to minimize damage from future natural disasters, including the new building code intended to make structures less vulnerable to high winds. * * *
Still, the code has affected only those buildings constructed in the past two years.
Another issue that the state has failed to fully address, some experts said, is the continued explosive development on the most vulnerable real estate.Posted by Marcia Oddi at August 17, 2004 08:33 AM"One issue in Florida is that there has been a tremendous buildup in the most at-risk areas of the state -- the east and west coasts," said Robert P. Hartwig of the Insurance Information Institute. "These are the growth areas for the state, and there is tremendous pressure to allow building there."