About our Sessions

 Landfalling hurricanes leave a path of destruction in their wake that can damage and destroy homes, buildings, and infrastructure. The damage and destruction are wrought by extreme natural forces, including high winds, heavy rain, storm surge, waves, wind- and flood-borne debris, and widespread flooding. In the aftermath of a hurricane, it is often important for building code adaptation, insurance coverage, and reconstruction purposes to determine the extent to which one natural force (or combination of forces) caused the damage or loss relative to another. Assessing forces of flood, debris impact, and high wind, and their timing with respect to peak severity, is important to determining why damage or building loss occurred and how to rebuild stronger and safer.

On 28 September 2022, Ian made landfall near Cayo Costa, Florida as a Category 4 Hurricane, bringing high winds and storm surge flooding to the Ft Myers/Cape Coral, Florida area. Ian caused catastrophic damage across the Florida peninsula as it travelled northeast. After Hurricane Ian, the author investigated a variety of damage to various construction types that experienced a combination of flood, debris impact, and/or high winds, and also noted the performance of structures built under modern building codes. This presentation shares our investigation methodology and general findings through the examination of case studies.