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Wilma Damage:Espirto Santo bldg

KendallKid

By KendallKid
in Florida

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dave8721 Unincorporated Area

dave8721

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:shok: The Metrorail blown down!! My prayers are with everyone in South Florida.

I can't believe the looters are out already... :angry:

Metrorail tracks blown off?!?!?!?!?! Not even Andrew did that. About the looters, they were looting while the storm was still raging at its peak. I guess they really wanted those sneakers and liquor. Of course the looting was taking place in Overtown.

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Florida Megalopolis

Florida

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It's astonishing to me how poorly the newer towers in Brickell fared.

Newer construction is always vulnerable because of the little time it is given to settle. You'll notice, homes built long ago of brick and mortar will weather the storms best.

But I'm sure we'll rebuild, bigger and better as always.

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Aessotariq Burg

Aessotariq

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Just checking in... I've been listening to the radio trying to assess damages and now starting to see stuff on TV at work, and we were relatively fortunate. Our trees were shredded and our backyard fence was knocked down, but otherwise unscathed. The trees are tough and grow back. We're within that 98% of folks without power... Plus the landline phones don't work and cell phone service is spotty. We would intermittently lose power from about 3am to 4am Monday morning, when it finally gave out entirely. We had about 5 hours of non-stop pounding were I was - lots of wind and little rain. After about noon, like clockwork, the entire neighborhood started coming out and cleaning up and bringing everything to the curbside. I saw 3 fire engines pass through my neighborhood, patrolling.

Perhaps the most notable experience I've had in a while from this vantage point was being able to see stars, almost impossible to see on a regular day. Another unusual sight was I saw police patrols every few minutes with spotlights on the roofs of the vehicles.

And perhaps the nicest thing Mother Nature could have afforded us was this beautiful weather... I slept like a baby. :)

Coming in to work today was fairly easy but it would have been treacherous yesterday. The county had already cleared the major arterials in my area, and for the most part, most folks were obeying the four-way stop rule.

Right now the challenge is finding gas stations, with power. I need to refill my generator for the evening, and second priority, my car.

Anyway, back to work... Try to be back later.

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Aessotariq Burg

Aessotariq

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Do you subscribe to the tornado theory for Brickell ? Or the wind-tunnel theory ?
you'll have to debrief me on that -- I've been out of the loop for, it feels like days... :D

Catastrophic structural failures on the high rise structures are very unlikely... As far as the windows are concerned, on new high-rises the glass itself is rated to withstand impacts of certain intensities, provided of course, they stay mounted. What will have to be evaluated is the quality of the installation, the inspection procedures, and other specifications. With all the construction going on, it's possible that debris from surrounding construction sites struck some structures, and as TJ suggested, new buildings without enough time to settle.

The Broward County School Board administration building is an older building that probably wasn't up to the latest code, grandfathered in. These will all be lessons learned and will contribute to an even much stronger and more stringent South Florida Building Code, already the toughest in the state, by far.

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up+down=midtown Whistle-Stop

up+down=midtown

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well i don't know about a tornado but i know for sure that wilma was stronger than anyone thought it would be it knocked down 2 palm tress in my house took down the avocado tree katrina left damaged and ripped a corner of my roof but left all the shingles,my neighbors roof is gone.

thank god it didn't rain because every house would of been flooded..

but ofcourse nothing disrupts looters which were out pass curfew and broke into many stores on miracle mile..until the cops came

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Aessotariq Burg

Aessotariq

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Then too, I'm sure that reports of damage are exaggerated. For instance, Metrorail was not 'blown down'. Rather, a piece of rail was blown off. And in another instance, Four Seasons lost twelve windows.

For the record, it was a parts of third rail that were damaged.. In other words, the conduit that supplies the trains with electricity was damaged. Those are basically just anchored to one of the "railroad" tracks. After that kind of repair is completed and the power comes back on, the system should be up in no time.

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Aessotariq Burg

Aessotariq

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Just thought I would add a gripe before I call it a night:

Every gas station should have a generator, or there should be strategically placed service stations that do have them. It's truly ridiculous that there is adequate fuel supply and no way to pump it.

Also, get rid of the red tape. Apparently, the counties have been having problems with certain deliveries from FEMA, because there have been communications delays in getting them signed off by the state. The counties are unable to make requests directly to FEMA -- they have to filter all of them through the State, who then has to forward that to the feds. And with communications the way they are right now, that is slowing delivery of ice and water dramatically. Devolve some of that downward and this will happen much more quickly. With that said, this is quite challenging work, and I know everyone is trying their hardest to get everybody taken care of. Good night, everybody!

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KendallKid Whistle-Stop

KendallKid

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Hang in there everyone. Ill be going down to visit my mom this thursday.

The CBD did have some wind damage as i stated previously the Wachovia building had its courtyard glass shattered. The thinking is though, that debris from nearby construction is what caused the damage. The Herald said that Biscayne is covered in glass.

Oh p.s. my mom will be riding public transit this week. i know some of you enjoyed my story and maybe u might have been curious.

U can see my story here

http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.ph...pic=7751&st=225

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Aessotariq Burg

Aessotariq

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I've had to do a lot of business-related travel this week, and I've been around both Dade and Broward counties.

Here's what I have noticed so far:

Broward County lost a LOT of traffic lights -- I wouldn't be surprised if the number is as high as what Dade lost after Andrew.. Many of their intersections are configured in the traditional span-wire style, where the signals are installed suspended from catenary cables. Most of these were either left dangling or were totally blown off. After Hurricane Andrew the state had established a policy that durable mast-arm signals would be installed at intersections for all state roads within 10 miles of the coast. Up to now, so far the county had only upgraded the signals for major intersections on state roads east of University Drive (the 10-mile boundary). Wishful thinking, but hopefully this will speed up the upgrade to mast-arms, which are obviously more durable and most aesthetically pleasing.

Miami-Dade County seems to have done better with its signal inventory (ignoring that most of them still don't have power). Most of them are mounted on mast-arms (the installation of which was accelerated by Andrew), so those generally remained physically intact. Some of them lost their visors but still appear secure. Just about every spanwire signal I saw had been damaged. In the three hours I spent in line waiting to get gas today, I found that most of the signals that had been on mast-arms were operational, although they were being ignored because police were still directing traffic.

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