Nature’s fury, as they call it, describes various destructive acts of the natural world. These storms and events may cause a great deal of property damage, and they cannot be prevented or redirected easily. Thus, engineers are always hard at work developing new construction methods to keep both property and lives safe from hurricanes and tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and more. Meteorologists study and track storms like these to make evacuation efforts possible, and this can save lives. No one can prevent a hurricane, but they can get out of its way safely before it arrives.
Buildings certainly cannot be evacuated, so instead, apartment buildings and hotels, condos, office buildings, and more will have the right hardware to stay safe. This ranges from elevated foundations to resist flooding all the way to high impact glass door systems and high impact windows to block hurricane winds and debris. Local glass door manufacturers along the east coast may provide hurricane impact doors and hurricane proof sliding doors, and wholesale glass door manufacturers can provide those materials. A construction company in Miami, for example, may have a working relationship with glass door manufacturers to make new buildings safe from hurricanes.
On Hurricanes
These are some of the most powerful storms on planet Earth, and many of them form over the Atlantic Ocean and strike the Caribbean and the American east coast. American meteorologists take care to track and study these massive storms, and many records show some general trends among these storms. In the 20th century, 158 hurricanes in total struck the United States, and Florida alone was hit with 57 of them (Texas also gets hurricanes along its coast). Even the smaller hurricanes may wreak havoc wherever they arrive, and larger ones cause truly vast amounts of expensive damage along the coast. Hurricanes boast strong winds, wind-blown debris, rain, and floods, and they are even known to spawn tornadoes. Back in 1992, Hurricane Andrew spawned some 62 tornadoes during its lifetime.
Meteorologists and other experts have noted that hurricanes seem to be even more powerful and frequent now in the 21st century, and man attribute that trend to climate change and warmer oceans. At the very least, the year 2017 saw some devastating hurricane formations. In that year, 10 different storms in a row formed into hurricanes, a feat not seen since all the way back in 1893. Hurricane Irma also formed in 2017, and it ranks as the most powerful Atlantic hurricane ever recorded. During its lifetime, this mammoth storm contained a staggering seven trillion watts of energy, and it created winds at 185 MPH for over 37 hours. By the time Irma had vanished, it had devastated 90% of the buildings in Bermuda, leaving many people there homeless. It is possible that storms of this incredible magnitude may strike again in the near future, so construction crews and glass door manufacturers alike are preparing coastal cities for just that.
Buildings With Hurricanes in Mind
As mentioned earlier, there is no real way to move a building out of a hurricane’s path, so countermeasures are put in place. Levees can help contain rising waters, while hurricane glass windows and specialized sliding glass doors help prevent wind and rain from getting into buildings and devastating the interior. Windows and glass doors are a vulnerable point during a hurricane or tornado, but it is not an option to simply omit them. So, construction crews will purchase wholesale glass doors and windows from local glass door manufacturers, and install them. And when someone buys an older building, they may inspect the premises and have old or fragile windows replaced with newer models of high impact windows (and glass doors, too).
These specialized windows and doors may have a tough glaze that helps them endure strong winds, and the glass itself will have a high impact glaze, too. A glaze system of +105/-130 can endure winds over 100 MPH in strength, and debris might bounce right off of them. Otherwise, regular windows may shatter in a hurricane, which not only scatters sharp glass shards but also allows wind, rain, and debris to maul the building’s interior. Thus, specialized windows and doors can be a fine investment once they prevent such damage.
