South Florida Building Code

[zlaxier]

They say that South Florida homes are now built to withstand 146mph winds, are they saying sustained winds or gusts?

Because if it's gusts, these homes really only offer protection for Cat 1 and 2 storms. A Cat 3 storm can have gusts over 146mph.

[weatherwindow]

unless i am mistaken, the sfla code wind standard is 120 overall...perhaps there have been some changes in zone A, closest to the water???...the 120 is sustained....rich

[Derek Ortt]

its 120 sustained. Now, if we have 100 sustained at the surface, we have 120 sustained aloft in the high rises, menaing the high rises can really only withstand about 100 sustained

[SouthFloridawx]

When I looked around here in south florida on the south east coast I noticed that the damage basically looked like if the wind speed was any higher for any longer there would have been major roof damage to most homes here in south florida. You can tell by the shingles and the ceramic tiles that they both would have been gone if wilma would have been a cat 3 here in palm beach and broward county.

[gatorcane]

When I looked around here in south florida on the south east coast I noticed that the damage basically looked like if the wind speed was any higher for any longer there would have been major roof damage to most homes here in south florida. You can tell by the shingles and the ceramic tiles that they both would have been gone if wilma would have been a cat 3 here in palm beach and broward county.

Damage from Wilma here in Palm Beach definitely reflected a CAT 2 storm at the most. There was some minimal structural damage but the majority of it was to trees and primarily the non-native ones. I could not imagine a CAT 4-5

[Ixolib]

Codes... Plans... Scenarios... Animations... None of 'em will prove themselves successful - or unsuccessful - until they are tested by the real thing. Future events will prove this to be correct.

[GeneratorPower]

The nice thing about building codes being set at, say, 120mph is that it would take a very direct hit by a cat 3+ to exceed 120mph. The building code is designed to *reduce* damage, not eliminate it. You don't want people building houses that are easily torn apart in 80mph winds. Since the area of max winds in even a cat 5 hurricane extend out usually no more than 20-30 miles, a 120mph building code will reduce damage considerably in all areas but the ones most directly hit.