A team of structural engineers at the University of Notre Dame is closely watching the path of Hurricane Florence, which has strengthened to a Category 4 storm and has already led officials to order evacuations in North and South Carolina, where it’s expected to make landfall.
The team is preparing a rapid reconnaissance assessment of structural damage as a result of Hurricane Florence – and has already collected pre-landfall assessments of homeowner readiness and household vulnerability in New Hanover County in North Carolina. Notre Dame professor Tracy Kijewski-Correa, a national expert on hurricanes and natural hazards, will lead the multi-university coordinated response. Kijewski-Correa and her team are often called in after major disasters to assess damage to structures in order to improve building codes and create more resilient buildings. Last year the team conducted research in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, in the hardest hit areas of the 2017 hurricane season.
On the ground, researchers assess the load path of residential homes damaged in the storm. Traditional construction can be vulnerable to rapid pressurization, which causes the roof to blow off, for example. Engineers can help educate homebuilders and owners on preventive building practices.
Kijewski-Correa’s work in assessing structural damage has included response to four hurricanes across seven states and islands, managing 73 researchers from 27 institutions and collecting 2,616 damage assessments.
Kijewski-Correa is available to discuss the rapid response plans to Florence and insights from previous work.
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