Harvey damage assessed by team

Research continues after a severe Atlantic hurricane season, with Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC researcher Dr Daniel Smith from the Cyclone Testing Station part of an international team investigating the impacts of Hurricane Harvey on Texas. This follows on from research in Florida after Hurricane Irma, also involving Dr Smith.

Focusing on the area Corpus Christi area south of Houston, the team of Dr Smith, Dr Rich Krupar III (University of Maryland), Assistant Prof David Roueche (Auburn University) and Dr Mariant Gutierrez (University of Kentucky) conducted damage assessment on various buildings. Despite the research taking place five weeks after Harvey hit, housing damage was very apparent. The team focused on low-rise homes, and contributed to broader research on damage impact, which has now assessed more than 750 homes.

Dr Smith said the focus was on collected data from areas that experienced different wind speeds during Harvey, which helps to understand wind speed and how this translates to the intensity of damage. A mix of suburban homes and isolated homes were also visited, adding another mix to the data collected. After storm surge, the level of maintenance and the age of the building appeared to be key drivers of damage. Being coastal areas, buildings had relatively severe corrosion and aging. Newer structures performed significantly better, but at this stage it is not clear if this is due to improvements in the building code or due to younger (i.e. less aged) building products.