Hurricane at WDW?

[10 min. to wdw]

I would never do that, Just wanted to bring up the topic. last year I ended up taking 14 out of towners off the highway for various problems, so I kind of get riled up about questions like that, no hard feelings though. Your best bet is to decide where to ride out the storm in advance and stock up on magazines, bring a computer hook up to the net or something, Sleep (my favorite).

 

[Amber]

mmmm sleep. Now there's an idea. We can see our friends the next day. I'm always up for a snooze.

:snore: http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZSYYYYYYYYUS

 

[Tom]

I'm a Construction Manager (I boss around the people who build buildings for a living :lol In Indiana we have to design and build to certain wind loads (usually 100 or less for most buildings) and correct for Seismic conditions, since there are a couple of faults around us. I have never run across a window that can withstand 200mph winds without blowing out - unless it's VERY thick and embedded deep into the jambs.

I can tell you that most of WDW's windows that I've seen do not meet this criteria, thus, the buildings may stay standing in a Cat5 storm, but more than likely their windows will look like all the windows in Louisiana - gone. However, as has been covered many times here, a Cat5 storm will not hit WDW.

I would love to see the EPCOT Code some day - I bet it is amazing. While it says that all buildings must withstand hurricanes, I'm pretty sure that not all of the theming and decorations will. Their buildings are all steel and concrete, and assuming no flooding occurs, these will withstand nearly anything if built right - but the "rocks" and light fixtures and other accessories will probably suffer. I've also see the Small World and HM buildings, which are simply Pre-Engineered Metal Buildings, with metal siding and "stucco" where they can be seen in the park. I guess that siding and roofing is attached REALLY well, because most metal siding in Indiana can't withstand the minimal winds we get :lol:

 

[10 min. to wdw]

The epcot code is a FOI item and I think if you hunt around on reedy creeks web site you will find it.

 

[Thrawn]

http://www.rcid.org/Dept_Building_Safety.cfm
google ftw

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

Surely its not about the buildings just being able to stand the high winds - its about them being able to survive direct hits from the debris which the winds have picked up and carried : Floating casinos (admittedly not that many in Orlando), cars, trees etc

 

[RogueHabit]

I had the same thoughts, some said that a few trees may get ripped up; that's well and fine, but it's where those trees land that would worry me...

 

[BigNormsMom]

We are leaving Saturday morning and driving down to WDW. What worries me is Ophelia sitting off the coast of Orlando. There is no way we can re-arrange our vacation time and the weather has me worried. I have never been in a hurricane, but I am a tornado survivor, so I am just devasted that our holiday time, and the other vacationers there, will really be (excuse the pun) washed up. Thanks for caring.

 

[Master Yoda]

There would be no doubt that there would be a lot of superficial damage but the major structures as a hole would remain intact the temporary buildings would be obliterated.

I really have a hard time that all the buildings there were built to withstand 155+ mph. Thats not easy to do. I

Surprisingly it is not that difficult to design a structure to withstand those types of forces. Your weakest link in any structure are your openings. (windows doors etc) Impact resistant glass will easily handle this speed, it might break but the coatings put on it will allow it to stay intact. I have personally beat on one with an aluminum base ball bat and could not get the glass to come out of the frame. If the glass is not impact resistant a sheet of properly attached 7/16" osb or steel storm panels will easily solve this problem. Steel frame exterior doors will also take this wind speed without incident. As a safe guard a structure can also be designed as a "Partially Enclosed Structure". What that means in layman terms is the building is designed to stay intact if a window or a door is breached and wind blows in and puts internal pressure on the structure.

Usually these were buildings that did not have proper hurricane straps in their roof structures, or only had plywood roofs, not tongue and groove as my home did.

While tongue and grove plywood or 1x6 helps some (you can get the same results from plywood clips) it is not that major of a factor in roof sheeting staying intact. The most important factor is the nailing. At the time of Andrew code was 35 nails per 4x8 sheet of plywood current code is 45. Many of the demolished homes in Homestead were found to have only 4 nails in each sheet (1 in each corner). The numbers I heard indicated that a sheet of plywood attached in this manner would detach at around 20 mph if fully exposed to wind. The straps as you mentioned are critical. I have seen video of a roof with properly attached roof sheeting and no strapping coming off the walls entirely intact.

 

[PhotoDave219]

A Cat 5 hurricane will never hit Disney. By the time it reaches that far inland it will be a 3 at best. Disney will also never have the flooding seen in NO. That said all Disney buildings and infrasturcture are built to the best of their ability. Last year Disney was hit by three hurricanes and their was no structural damage, and they never lost power. The parks in all three cases were able to reopen quickly.

Im glad to see some people pay attention aroun here..... Thanks :wave:

Tho The roof to the living seas was damaged as well as part of the roof to TOT was damaged....

 

[jeff_in_FL2003]

I remember during the hurricanes last fall (not that they were Cat5, but still...) the worst damage I saw inside the parks were broken windows, small pieces of building fronts missing, and debris from the trees in the area. Before Frances hit, the parks closed early, and everything that wasn't bolted down was moved inside. It took a little extra time but when I was working on Main Street, we moved all the tables, chairs, trash cans, signs, etc. into the buildings and this kept it from becoming projectile hazards. It was one of the weirdest things I've seen. Main Street USA with no people in the middle of the afternoon completely bare of anything that is normally out there. It was unreal.

Pirate/Custodian Jeff °o°