Breaking Wind: How Safe is Safe?
Originally shared by Johnathan Chung Breaking Wind: How Safe is Safe? If you're in a mandatory evacuation zone for a hurricane (whether due to winds or flooding), ideally it would be best to relocate outside the affected area. Often, that is not possible, in which case you'll be relocated to a community shelter. But what makes that shelter any different than your home? In the U.S., many designated shelters are designed to ensure life-safety protection. The International Code Council (ICC) and National Storm Shelter Association (NSSA) have comprehensive building construction standards that have undergone "missile impact" or debris impact testing : a 9-pound wooden 2"x4" is fired from a cannon directly at a concrete wall at various speeds up to 0.4 times the simulated hurricane's maximal wind speed (see images below). While the ICC-500 standard is most commonly used and often sufficient for storm shelters, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) ...