"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
NOYB wrote:
"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
October 30, 2005

Many Floridians at risk since Wilma cut power


Knight Ridder Newspapers MIAMI -- Still largely power-less Saturday,
South Florida confronted new issues: storm-related injuries, jammed
emergency rooms and deteriorating conditions for the ill, the frail and
the elderly.

"If the power isn't restored to the high-rises soon, we're going to be
seeing some real medical problems in the elderly, and quite possibly
some dead," said Michael Weston, Broward County fire rescue medical
chief. Scores of frail people have been unable to leave their
upper-level apartments since the storm struck Monday because elevators
are out of service.

- - -

What Katrina and Wilma have shown is that the federal government, four
years after 9-11, is NOT prepared to act properly after a major
disaster, natural or manmade.


Pssst. Hey Harry...
The electric companies are privately owned.


So what? If the private sector cannot cope, then we need a well-equipped
federal emergency agency to step in and take control temporarily.

Perhaps we need federally mandated changes to the building codes that
require all elevator buildings to have sufficient emergency generators.
And obviously those hospitals that have them shouldn't be placing them in
the basement, eh?

Agreed. But it's the *local* legislature's role to see that the proper
codes are enacted and *enforced*. In fact, there's a very timely article in
today's Naples Daily News about this very subject. Pay close attention to
the last couple of paragraphs:



Stronger building codes helped Collier, Lee survive Wilma's wrath
By KATHRYN HELMKE,
October 30, 2005

A Category 3 hurricane hit Southwest Florida less than a week ago. But gas
stations are up and running. The groceries are stocked, and the malls are
operating as normal.

Collier and Lee counties successfully survived Hurricane Wilma on Monday.

It passed over the area and took down trees, crashed in pool cages and
ripped off roof tiles, but Wilma didn't cause much major structural damage.

"There's a lot of damage, but this time there was more minor damage," said
Mary Gibbs, director of Lee County's Department of Community Development.
"With (Hurricane) Charley there was more severe damage, but it was in a
concentrated area."

The outcome of Wilma is a combination of good luck and newer stronger
construction in Southwest Florida.

The lack of devastation is due to three major things: the strong Florida
Building Code, strict compliance with the code and the construction
industry's self-policing to ensure the code is followed, said Joe Schmitt,
Collier County's administrator of Community Development and Environmental
Services.

The area benefited from being a newer community, said Russell Henes, a
Tampa-based meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

In Naples, a large amount of construction happened after 1986, said Bill
Hammond, director of the Collier County building department. And a lot of
that happened after 1992's Category 5 Hurricane Andrew, which spurred the
state and counties to adopt stricter building codes, including the statewide
Florida Building Code, which went into effect March 1, 2002.

"We realized in 2004 after Hurricane Charley made landfall that the homes
built under the new stringent code performed as they exactly were supposed
to," said Edie Ousley, spokeswoman for the Florida Home Builders
Association.

Florida homes are now built to be a continuous block against the wind,
Hammond said. Everything is bolted and tied together.

New homes also must have impact-resistant glass windows or hurricane
shutters.

In the 1950s, the building code could fit in a pamphlet, Hammond said.
Today, it takes seven volumes.

"The same storm hitting 15 years ago would have caused a lot more damage,"
said Robert Hartwig, chief economist for the Insurance Information
Institute.

The storm's slow trip to Florida also helped the two counties.

People kept waiting and waiting, wondering when it was going to move away
from the Yucatan peninsula, said Scott Coulombe, director of the Collier
Building Industry Association.

"Those three days over there just gave us more time to prepare," he said.

People brought inside their lawn furniture and other potential missiles,
such as grills, Schmitt said.

They did what they could, Coulombe said.

The other side of Florida didn't fare so well.

The east coast acted as though this would be a tropical storm coming their
way, Schmitt said.

Some residents are still waiting in long lines for food, gas, water and ice,
while lines here have dwindled over the days.

"They were expecting it to weaken," Schmitt said.

But it didn't.




It's too bad we waste so much money on our military. It should be obvious
to everyone by now that the mighty US military cannot defend our homeland
from the kinds of attacks we face these days any better than it can defeat
a Moslem insurgency in Iraq. A lot of the money wasted on the military
could be more wisely spent hardening our infrastructure against attacks
from human and natural forces. What's a better buy? A new $4+ billion
dollar aircraft carrier, or spending half that amount beefing up a major
city's subway system?

I'd spend it on the aircraft carrier. Without the aircraft carrier
protecting US interests, that subway ain't worth spit.