IBHS Issues Comment on Texas House Select Committee Hurricane Ike Report
TAMPA – February 13, 2009 – (RealEstateRama) — The Institute for Business & Home Safety applauds the Texas House of Representatives Select Committee on Hurricane Ike for the breadth and depth of its assessment of the devastation to the Texas Gulf Coast, as well as the speed with which the findings were issued.
The report recommends asserting more state authority to provide temporary housing, ensure that utilities and other essential services continue to function, and limit damage by requiring stronger building codes.
In regard to construction, the report recommends “rewriting the State’s building code laws to require that all new residential and commercial structures built within 80 miles of the Gulf Coast be constructed to withstand 130 mph wind (Category 3 wind design.) Designate that all structures within 10 miles of any coast or bay in the wind-borne debris region should be constructed to withstand 130 mph winds. In addition, require that all structures be constructed so that the first floor elevation is one foot above the Flood Insurance Rate Maps’ 9FIRM0 100 year storm elevation.”
IBHS President and CEO Julie Rochman said, “These are critical issues, and time is of the essence for Texas residents – as for all Americans exposed to hurricanes – because another hurricane season will be here in a just a few months. By releasing the findings now, the state legislature still has time to act to implement some much-needed reforms.
“We believe some committee recommendations are right on the mark, such as the focus on both improving wind-related codes and flood elevation requirements. We will have slightly different specific recommendations of our own in a soon-to-be-released IBHS post-disaster damage assessment study. We look forward to sharing those findings with public policymakers in Texas so that they will have a strong scientific base upon which to act as they debate how to make Texas communities more resilient to natural disaster.”
The report also cites Florida as an example of a state that enacted the strongest hurricane building codes in the nation, and says the need in Texas for improved laws to reduce the destructive damage of hurricanes is “apparent and with an intelligent and thoughtful approach in this regard, Texans can become victorious over future disasters.”
The full report can be found here.
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IBHS is an independent, nonprofit, scientific and educational organization supported by the property insurance industry. The organization works to reduce the social and economic effects of natural disasters and other risks to residential and commercial property by conducting research and advocating improved construction, maintenance and preparation practices.
Contact:
Wendy Rose (813) 675-1045
(813) 486-8365
wrose (at) ibhs (dot) org
