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O P I N I O N
Hail, wind, and floods
As communities look for ways to protect themselves from large-scale weather-related events, design firms are equipped to help them meet the challenge.
T hrough mid-2018, the U.S. experienced six weather and climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each, including four severe storms and two winter storms, according to the U.S. National Centers for Environmental Information. The 1980-2017 annual average is six events; however, in each of the past five years (2013- 2017) the annual average has nearly doubled to 11.6 events.
Rob Hughes GUEST SPEAKER
Although it might appear that in the first six months of 2018, the U.S. is experiencing a less active year for large-scale loss events than 2017 or 2016, NCEI is still assessing losses from two other 2018 events, the Colorado hail storms and South Texas flooding. Unfortunately, given the effects of Hurricane Florence and the impact of severe weather events this summer the numbers for 2018 have grown significantly worse. As horrendous as Florence was and continued to be in its immediate aftermath, a single event does not necessarily affect the design community. Yet, sustained increases in severe storms, as noted, do effectuate change, which brings both opportunities and risk. Aside from the personal impacts, let’s look at the design community and how it may be able to have a positive impact on clients and the overall health,
safety, and welfare of our communities. Severe weather, and the increase in frequency of severe weather events, is a problem. And designers are what? Problem solvers. “Severe weather, and the increase in frequency of severe weather events, is a problem. And designers are what? Problem solvers.” If you Google a combination of the words engineering/design/catastrophic/weather, a long list of engineering firm websites will pop up. The first few focus on post-event forensic and similar services, including: ❚ ❚ Hail and/or wind damage assessments
See ROB HUGHES, page 12
THE ZWEIG LETTER November 26, 2018, ISSUE 1273
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