tolakram wrote:Leave out the buildings and back off the coast and these storms are less worse, though it does seem to depend on exactly how the storm is behaving at landfall (strengthening, weakening). If nothing else this is a good visual argument for not building near the coast, the winds usually (not always) drop off dramatically. Water is more dangerous than the winds, again usually. Homestead in Florida is a good example of wind damage but is also a good example of bad or unenforced building codes. Remember that one house in Mexico Beach that was still standing after Michael? Had every house been built to those standards I think we would have had similar observations.
I'm waiting to see damage near the shore.
Same thing on Bolivar Peninsula when Ike hit and the one lone "yellow house" left standing. Local news used that when explaining what Helene would do to the coastal cities last night.
I assume that the losses will exponentially increase once the impacts in Georgia are properly understood.
