ORIGINAL: Apollo11
Hi all,
ORIGINAL: captskillet
A Cat 5 would take em' out also Leo........ if the wind dont get em' the storm surge will.......a 30 or 35 ft wall of water being pushed by a 150+ mph wind is pretty nasty!!
I remember seeing many hurricane/tornado devastation photos from USA (that were taken over past decades) that all have sad "Hiroshima like" look of neighborhoods shattered to pieces... [:(]
If you look closely those were all 100% wooden buildings.
Even with latest "Katrina" hurricane I don't recall seeing any destroyed concrete/brick/stone building (like hotel for example and there were many of those in affected areas).
What we saw were shattered windows and lost roofs but concrete construction withheld wind, rain and even storm surge (i.e. water incoming to land in "tsunami like effect).
Are there any pictures of leveled hotels build from concrete?
Please note that what I called "European" like house made of concrete / brick / stone (and with deep foundations - usually 2+ meters deep also made of concrete) is similar only to bigger constructions in USA (like hospitals, hotels and similar).
BTW, in tsunami that hit Asia last December hotels withstand but, slums where poor people lived (shacks made of wood, paper and cardboard) didn't... [:(]
Leo "Apollo11"
Most US homes even if made with concrete block walls will still have wooden trusses and roofing systems. These give way and then some of the concrete may give way but most will stand. See Andrew across South Florida if you all remember the pictures. Many were wooden but some were concrete that lost their roof. Once you lose the roof, everything inside is pretty much gone so not much different then the wooden structures with many metal tie down straps as code is now (newer buildings). I helped build a clinic in Kosova several years ago and was amazed at the concrete block and floor construction, definately made to last many, many years.
