美国国家公共电台 NPR After Hurricane Michael, A Call For Stricter Building Codes In Florida's Panhandle

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The state of Florida has some of the nation's toughest building codes - at least most of the state. The rules are less stringent¹ in the panhandle. That's where Mexico Beach is, and that's where Hurricane Michael made landfall with 155-mile-an-hour winds a week ago. Entire blocks were flattened². NPR's Greg Allen reports many are now calling for revised stricter building codes on Florida's Panhandle.

GREG ALLEN, BYLINE³: In Mexico Beach, Lance Erwin is one of the lucky ones. His house is still standing⁴. He rode out the storm in his home several blocks from the beach.

LANCE ERWIN: The garage door was shaking. It was like somebody was trying to get in, and the inside door was shaking. I knew the roof had gone at that point because everything was shaking. I thought just hang in there and I had faith everything was going to be OK.

ALLEN: Erwin lost doors, windows, part of his roof, but his home is largely intact. The same can't be said for many other residents. Mexico Beach's mayor says 75 percent of the town is gone. The storm surge washed houses on the beach off their foundations to the other side of the coastal⁵ road. High winds lifted off roofs and knocked down walls. Craig Fugate is the former head of FEMA and a longtime emergency management official in Florida. He points to one reason for the extreme destruction in Mexico Beach and other communities on the panhandle. In many cases, it's old construction that predates the building code.

CRAIG FUGATE: I mean, this is a part of Florida that's what I call the Old Florida. It's not a bunch of high-rises. It's not a lot of new construction. This is multigenerational Florida families. Many of them were descendants from folks that fished the areas.

ALLEN: After Hurricane Andrew in 1992, Florida took a hard look at its building codes. In South Florida, Miami-Dade and Broward Counties adopted strict standards requiring storm shutters⁶ and reinforced concrete block construction for all buildings. Structures must be able to withstand winds up to 175 miles per hour. Several years later, Florida revised its statewide building code. John Pistorino, a structural⁷ engineer in Miami, says officials decided⁸ not to require South Florida's 175-mile-per-hour wind speed standard throughout the state.

JOHN PISTORINO: Unfortunately because it is based on probability of storms in the past and all of that, it sort of goes down as you go further north in Florida.

ALLEN: Historically, there have been fewer intense hurricanes on the panhandle than elsewhere in the state. In some North Florida communities, new construction need only withstand wind speeds 130 miles per hour or less - far below the 155-mile-per-hour winds seen in Hurricane Michael. In the aftermath of the storm, as local, state and federal officials assess the damage, a consensus⁹ is emerging that building codes along Florida's Panhandle need to be stricter. David Prevatt is a professor of civil engineering at the University of Florida. He's part of a team that spent the weekend on the panhandle gathering¹⁰ data on Michael's impact.

DAVID PREVATT: What we saw there was damage to pretty much all types of construction, all types of materials and all types of housing. What was not damaged were houses that were well-engineered.

ALLEN: Former FEMA head Craig Fugate has long believed that the wind speed standards along Florida's Panhandle were too low. He says when policymakers developed them, they left out information about a powerful hurricane that hit the area in the 19th century before accurate record keeping.

FUGATE: And if you add that storm back in, and now particularly if you add Michael back in, it’s going to force a much higher wind load requirement for the coast well inland based upon those two storms.

ALLEN: Florida's building commission is now in the process of revising the state code and is awaiting recommendations from the University of Florida team led by David Prevatt. But Prevatt says understanding how to build resilient structures is just the first step.

PREVATT: We know what can be done. It has been proven. The research is there. It is whether a community is willing to adopt it or not.

ALLEN: Realtors, homebuilders, the insurance industry and many others will all have a voice as Florida considers how to prepare the panhandle for the next storm like Hurricane Michael. Greg Allen, NPR News.

1 stringent   

adj.严厉的；令人信服的；银根紧的

参考例句：

• Financiers are calling for a relaxation of these stringent measures.金融家呼吁对这些严厉的措施予以放宽。
• Some of the conditions in the contract are too stringent.合同中有几项条件太苛刻。

2 flattened   

[医]（水）平扁的，弄平的

参考例句：

• She flattened her nose and lips against the window. 她把鼻子和嘴唇紧贴着窗户。
• I flattened myself against the wall to let them pass. 我身体紧靠着墙让他们通过。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

5 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

6 shutters   

百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门

参考例句：

• The shop-front is fitted with rolling shutters. 那商店的店门装有卷门。
• The shutters thumped the wall in the wind. 在风中百叶窗砰砰地碰在墙上。

7 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

10 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。