|
Home > Archive > Emergency services > October 2004 > Hurricane (FLA) Housing Codes?
You are viewing an archived Text-only version of the thread.
To view this thread in it's original format and/or if you want to reply to
this thread please [click here]
| Author |
Hurricane (FLA) Housing Codes?
|
|
| Edwin Gibbons 2004-10-04, 2:24 am |
| I have been watching the continuous coverage tonight on
The Weather Channel, MSNBC, CNN and FOX News. The hurricane
Jeanne has landed near Vero Beach, FL, and not as many people
have evacuated as they did in previous hurricanes this season.
And this hurricane appears to be worse that the others.
One caller has called in to CNN from his home in Melbourne,
FL and he has an electric generator with a 28-gallon supply
of gasoline and two roofs! Next spring he want to have
a 3rd (steel) roof built. But he sounded prepared to
battle this storm tonight.
Questions ..... do the new Florida construction (house) codes
call for a cement frame (walls and basement/1st floor)? Does
anyone know?
I noticed after the high winds began, only the news media
(satellite trucks) were visible and you didn't even see
any police cars or fire trucks along Route 1 or A-1-A.
Are the rescue (emergency workers) ordered to stay put?
As I write this at 2:20 am Eastern time, over 800,000
residents in FL are without power, and it's getting worse
by the hour. Will it take weeks to get back to normal,
whatever that is?
Edwin
| |
| JerryL 2004-10-04, 2:24 am |
|
"Edwin Gibbons" <edgibbs@notmyisp.com> wrote in message
news:41566034.66921EA0@notmyisp.com...
>I have been watching the continuous coverage tonight on
> The Weather Channel, MSNBC, CNN and FOX News. The hurricane
> Jeanne has landed near Vero Beach, FL, and not as many people
> have evacuated as they did in previous hurricanes this season.
> And this hurricane appears to be worse that the others.
>
> One caller has called in to CNN from his home in Melbourne,
> FL and he has an electric generator with a 28-gallon supply
> of gasoline and two roofs! Next spring he want to have
> a 3rd (steel) roof built. But he sounded prepared to
> battle this storm tonight.
>
> Questions ..... do the new Florida construction (house) codes
> call for a cement frame (walls and basement/1st floor)? Does
> anyone know?
>
> I noticed after the high winds began, only the news media
> (satellite trucks) were visible and you didn't even see
> any police cars or fire trucks along Route 1 or A-1-A.
> Are the rescue (emergency workers) ordered to stay put?
>
> As I write this at 2:20 am Eastern time, over 800,000
> residents in FL are without power, and it's getting worse
> by the hour. Will it take weeks to get back to normal,
> whatever that is?
>
> Edwin
The code down here in Palm Beach is concrete block walls with rebar from the
top to bottom then cement poured down the block. Each roof rafter is tied
to the rebar with special metal straps. That keeps the roofs on. There are
some stick built homes but not many, especially after Hurricane Andrew which
blew all of them down in Homestead. They have a very strict building code
with many tie bars and straps. Not as strong as concrete block but I've seen
a few around here stand up to the punishment.
When a hurricane hits, a curfew is called in all the effected areas.
The reason for this is many-fold. It keeps looters away from abandoned
homes.
It also keeps cars from driving on roads that may have debris or downed
power lines.
Emergency vehicles do not respond to any calls once the winds hit 45 mph and
over. It endangers their lives unnecessarily. That's another reason for the
curfew. Police, fire or ambulance can't get to you in an emergency.
As for power, that's a long story. Down here in Palm Beach County, I was
without power 7 days, other up to 15 days. Now that was with help from power
companies from Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas. This time, these states
have their hands full restoring power to their own states after Hurricane
Ivan devastated them so our power company will have to go it alone, thus the
big delays.
| |
|
|
Kurt Ullman wrote:
> In article <s6KdnWRuIfbN6MvcRVn-oA@adelphia.com>, "JerryL"
> <jlevine@adelphia.net> wrote:
>
>
>
> FWIW, the Indy paper has had some articles on Indiana area
> electrical crews heading south to help with the clean up. We were
> heading down to Destin a couple of years ago after a near miss and
> saw convoys or utillity trucks (some with Detroit Edison on the
> side) heading back from their staging area when they weren't
> needed). Utilities have their own mutal aid pacts, too.
>
> --
> "Even I realized that money was to politicians what the
> ecalyptus tree is to koala bears: food, water, shelter and something to crap on."
> ---PJ O'Rourke
I had read we had crews from Indiana, Michigan, Oklahoma, Louisiana,
Georgia, Texas, and maybe even New Mexico here in Alabama. Amazingly,
Florida shipped us transformers.
amy
| |
| JerryL 2004-10-04, 2:24 am |
|
"Amy D" <amykae@joimailNOSPAM.com> wrote in message
news:10ldjmvtlpl9b40@corp.supernews.com...
>
>
>
> amy
\
Send 'em back, we need them :}
| |
| JerryL 2004-10-04, 2:24 am |
|
"Rich Greenberg" <richgr@panix.com> wrote in message
news:cj6lc1$ft8$1@panix5.panix.com...
> In article <10ldg4d3ova0d7e@corp.supernews.com>,
> Amy D <amykae@joimailNOSPAM.com> wrote:
>
>
> Are underground utilities common in the FL area? Does that help reduce
> the outages when Mother Nature strikes back?
>
> In some areas of GA, all utilities are underground and power outages are
> rare in storms. I haven't had an outage of more than a few minutes
> since the ice storm in Jan 2000 when I was out a few hours.
Undergroung lines are a rarity in Florida. They'd rather spend 3 billion
dollars four times to repair the lines than 12 billion to bury them and not
have anymore problems.
| |
| Kurt Ullman 2004-10-04, 2:24 am |
| In article <rf6dncQ6VOaAf8vcRVn-qw@adelphia.com>, "JerryL"
<jlevine@adelphia.net> wrote:
>Undergroung lines are a rarity in Florida. They'd rather spend 3 billion
>dollars four times to repair the lines than 12 billion to bury them and not
>have anymore problems.
>
>
Any engineers out there? I am wondering if soil conditions
(relatively high water tables, sandy soils, etc) argue against
burying the line?
--
"Even I realized that money was to politicians what the
ecalyptus tree is to koala bears: food, water, shelter and something to crap on."
---PJ O'Rourke
| |
| TURTLE 2004-10-04, 2:24 am |
|
"JerryL" <jlevine@adelphia.net> wrote in message
news:s6KdnWRuIfbN6MvcRVn-oA@adelphia.com...
>
> "Edwin Gibbons" <edgibbs@notmyisp.com> wrote in message
> news:41566034.66921EA0@notmyisp.com...
>
> The code down here in Palm Beach is concrete block walls with rebar from the
> top to bottom then cement poured down the block. Each roof rafter is tied to
> the rebar with special metal straps. That keeps the roofs on. There are some
> stick built homes but not many, especially after Hurricane Andrew which blew
> all of them down in Homestead. They have a very strict building code with many
> tie bars and straps. Not as strong as concrete block but I've seen a few
> around here stand up to the punishment.
> When a hurricane hits, a curfew is called in all the effected areas.
> The reason for this is many-fold. It keeps looters away from abandoned homes.
> It also keeps cars from driving on roads that may have debris or downed power
> lines.
> Emergency vehicles do not respond to any calls once the winds hit 45 mph and
> over. It endangers their lives unnecessarily. That's another reason for the
> curfew. Police, fire or ambulance can't get to you in an emergency.
> As for power, that's a long story. Down here in Palm Beach County, I was
> without power 7 days, other up to 15 days. Now that was with help from power
> companies from Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas. This time, these states
> have their hands full restoring power to their own states after Hurricane Ivan
> devastated them so our power company will have to go it alone, thus the big
> delays.
>
This is Turtle.
I did not know about all the concrete walls over there.
Here is a funny one by you saing about not getting the northern state above fla.
being bussey. Here is Louisiana the Utility power company offered 120 lift and
service trucks to send down there with about 180 men to run them and Fla. told
them they did not need them durring Ivan and has not took them up on the offer
for the last hurrican or two. I think it is over the pay rates from one state to
the other.
Now I was told that a Electric power service company called Quanta Services [
PWR ] was doing a lot of the restoring the power and they can move into a area
with living quarters and self contain water, lights, and utilitys to set of a
living area while the workers restore electric & telephone service. They will
restore electric power liners, restore power plants, and telephone line system
too.
If these Hurricans keep popping up you will see more and more of these company
popping up.
TURTLE
| |
| Carey Gregory 2004-10-04, 2:24 am |
| kurtullman@yahoo.com (Kurt Ullman) wrote:
>Utilities have their own mutal aid pacts, too.
Even between the US and Canada.
| |
| JerryL 2004-10-04, 2:24 am |
| "Kurt Ullman" <kurtullman@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:wtB5d.747$ls6.419@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net...
> In article <rf6dncQ6VOaAf8vcRVn-qw@adelphia.com>, "JerryL"
> <jlevine@adelphia.net> wrote:
>
> Any engineers out there? I am wondering if soil conditions
> (relatively high water tables, sandy soils, etc) argue against
> burying the line?
>
> --
> ---PJ O'Rourke
There are ritzy communities near us that didn't want utility poles in front
of their development and paid Florida Power to bury them underground so the
answer is 'money', not water tables.
| |
| bumtracks 2004-10-04, 2:24 am |
| I'm in Florida
Where I am, we have both underground and overhead power and other utils.
Older homes are in neighborhoods with overhead.
Underground utils had been pretty much norm for years in new developments.
Last time the phone guy was here at my 1955 model home he mentioned he
should go ahead and trench me underground as he looked at the line ... but
it was Saturday.
"Kurt Ullman" <kurtullman@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:wtB5d.747$ls6.419@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net...
> In article <rf6dncQ6VOaAf8vcRVn-qw@adelphia.com>, "JerryL"
> <jlevine@adelphia.net> wrote:
>
not[vbcol=seagreen]
> Any engineers out there? I am wondering if soil conditions
> (relatively high water tables, sandy soils, etc) argue against
> burying the line?
>
> --
> "Even I realized that money was to politicians what the
> ecalyptus tree is to koala bears: food, water, shelter and something to
crap on."
> ---PJ O'Rourke
| |
| Jeff Cochran 2004-10-04, 2:24 am |
| On Sun, 26 Sep 2004 02:22:44 -0400, Edwin Gibbons
<edgibbs@notmyisp.com> wrote:
>I have been watching the continuous coverage tonight on
>The Weather Channel, MSNBC, CNN and FOX News. The hurricane
>Jeanne has landed near Vero Beach, FL, and not as many people
>have evacuated as they did in previous hurricanes this season.
>And this hurricane appears to be worse that the others.
>
>One caller has called in to CNN from his home in Melbourne,
>FL and he has an electric generator with a 28-gallon supply
>of gasoline and two roofs! Next spring he want to have
>a 3rd (steel) roof built. But he sounded prepared to
>battle this storm tonight.
>
>Questions ..... do the new Florida construction (house) codes
>call for a cement frame (walls and basement/1st floor)? Does
>anyone know?
No. And basements are rare anyway.
>I noticed after the high winds began, only the news media
>(satellite trucks) were visible and you didn't even see
>any police cars or fire trucks along Route 1 or A-1-A.
>Are the rescue (emergency workers) ordered to stay put?
Locally, once wind speeds hit 45 MPH sustained, crews are called in
until it passes.
>As I write this at 2:20 am Eastern time, over 800,000
>residents in FL are without power, and it's getting worse
>by the hour. Will it take weeks to get back to normal,
>whatever that is?
For most, no. For some yes.
Jeff
| |
| Martin 2004-10-04, 2:24 am |
|
"JerryL" <jlevine@adelphia.net> wrote in message
news:qs6dnf5qSPn0aMvcRVn-uQ@adelphia.com...
> "Kurt Ullman" <kurtullman@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:wtB5d.747$ls6.419@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net...
> There are ritzy communities near us that didn't want utility poles in
front
> of their development and paid Florida Power to bury them underground so
the
> answer is 'money', not water tables.
>
>
The problem with underground lines in those developments is that the feeder
lines are still hanging in the wind up on poles.
| |
| Kurt Ullman 2004-10-04, 2:24 am |
| In article <oc1el01hsgsgfvsq4ivbv1kiruqtuonohd@4ax.com>, Jeff
Cochran <nospam@mydomain.dude> wrote:
>No. At some point something has to be above ground. You may be able
>to recover quicker because lines to individual homes are protected,
>but when a transformer is out or a substation is dmaaged, power stays
>out.
Yeah but, then you have to fix only one area and line instead of
thousands. Also, it is MUCH easier to route around transformers or
substations and return power to lots of people all at once. The time
consuming parts are the individual drops.
>
>So how do you get an outage of "minutes" with underground utilities?
>
Easy, it is a macro event instead of a micro and they merely route
the electricity around whatever is causing problems. The same things
happen here all the time in Indiana. Lost power to winds 3x this
year, but never for more than 30 minutes or so.
--
"Salary is the only biological variable which peaks
after the age of 25. Somebody once suggested female libido is another
but I completely reject that because female libido and salary are
not independent variables."
Dr. Neil Barnes
| |
| dadiOH 2004-10-04, 2:24 am |
| JerryL wrote:
> "Rich Greenberg" <richgr@panix.com> wrote in message
> news:cj6lc1$ft8$1@panix5.panix.com...
>
>
> Undergroung lines are a rarity in Florida. They'd rather spend 3
> billion dollars four times to repair the lines than 12 billion to
> bury them and not have anymore problems.
The recent problems have less to do with low voltage lines to homes (what
could be underground) than high voltage transmission lines and sub-stations.
Can't put those underground.
--
dadiOH
_____________________________
dadiOH's dandies v3.0...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico
____________________________
|
| |
|
|