File:Coast watch (1979) (20651822532).jpg

Title: Coast watch
Identifier: coastwatch00uncs_19 (find matches)
Year: 1979 (1970s)
Authors: UNC Sea Grant College Program
Subjects: Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology
Publisher: (Raleigh, N. C. : UNC Sea Grant College Program)
Contributing Library: State Library of North Carolina
Digitizing Sponsor: North Carolina Digital Heritage Center

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
on Dec. 31,2005, recommended adopting local building codes as a primary hazard mitigation strategy. Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco signed a new law last year after the storms, requiring enforcement of the 2003IBC and IRC statewide. No one knows how North Carolina would fare if a devastating storm like Katrina hit. However, the state has one of the oldest hurricane construction codes in the country, first implemented in the 1960s and improved over time. The most recent version is based on the International Code, with amendments addressing North Carolina's needs. Current building practices include an open-piling foundation for oceanfront properties, combined with a high first-floor elevation, so waves can pass through. "There is a low probability that North Carolina will get a storm with the water level as high as it was during Katrina," says Rogers.
Text Appearing After Image:
N o one knows how North Carolina would fare if a devastatingstorm like Katrina hit. However, the state has one of the oldest hurricane construction codes in the country, first implemented in the 1960s and improved over time. The most recent version is based on the International Code, with amendments addressing North Carolina's needs. Earlier this year, the N.C. Building Code Council implemented rules requiring storm shutters for windows and doors on all new homes built within 1,500 feet of the ocean, a much narrower zone than the national standard. The Council will reassess the width of the zone after several reports on Florida are released later this year. ABOVE: Katrina forced many large boats aground in Gulfport and other places along Mississippi's Gulf Coast. Storm Expertise Rogers has decades of experience studying buildings damaged by storms. During the last 31 years, he's surveyed the structural damage from the storm surge and waves caused by most major hurricanes that have hit the East and Gulf coasts. After Hurricane Hugo in 1989, Rogers initiated a research project that revealed walls designed to withstand 125-mph winds would fail after only a few 1.5-foot waves. Rogers and colleagues from North Carolina State University and Oregon State University developed a simple and failsafe design for "breakaway walls" that would maintain a building's structural integrity in both high wind and storm surge. By 2005, ASCE had broadened the application of the Sea Grant research results to include building foundation design in "Coastal A-Zones," areas where 1.5-foot breaking waves are expected during the predicted 100-year storm surge. The information is incorporated into ASCE's updated national Flood Resistant Design and Construction Standard. Following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, FEMA — for the first time — delineated the 1.5-foot wave zone in its Advisory Base Flood Elevation Maps for Mississippi. Rogers also has collaborated with South Carolina Sea Grant, Clemson University and the Blue Sky Foundation on a new type of plywood shutters for homes. Structural Issues To understand the massive storm surge and wave damage that occurred in Mississippi, Rogers looked at two critical issues: Why do high storm surges occur? Why are waves a threat to buildings? To evaluate the flooding, he used a storm surge model, known as the "Sea, Lake and Overland Surges from Hurricane" 10 Coastwatch I Autumn 2006 I www.ncseagrant.org

Note About Images