On Tue, 30 Mar 2010 17:11:55 -0700 (PDT), the infamous RonB
scrawled the following:

On Mar 30, 12:17*pm, "J. Clarke" wrote:
On 3/29/2010 7:13 PM, Lee Michaels wrote:

I am really curious as to the effect of having hurricane ties and/or better
fasteners would have had on those houses. I know, you get hit hard enough,
almost nothing will standu up tothe force. But I saw houses that the second
story was removed. Would a stonger tie-in to the first story have prevented
that?

The houses with the siding gone made me wonder if that would have happened
with screws? *Maybe the wind would have just bent them all up.

I assume if big storms happen there that building codes would have been
strengthened recently. Older houses would not have the improvements.

Do folks have storm shelters around thre?

It's possible to build reasonably priced houses that can survive
hurricanes with little damage. *But if you want a house that will
survive an f4 tornado unscathed you're talking steel plate or heavy
reinforced concrete all around, pressure doors, and heavy laminated
bulleproof glass. *The kind of place that nobody but the very rich could
afford, even as a rental.

That is right. The F5 that passed through the neighborhood south of
us, and then on to Andover, literally leveled the neighborhood. This
was an area we used to walk in during evenings. After the tornado, we
literally couldn't identify any landmarks. Houses were gone, trees,
large trees, were mowed off about 10-15 feet above ground level.

You can't build for that.

Sure you can. Think "cement domes" and only replace a window or two.

--
May those who love us, love us;
And may those that don't love us,
May God turn their hearts;
And if he doesn't turn their hearts,
may he turn their ankles,
So we'll know them by their limping.
--old Gaelic blessing