Nature’s Fury, as they call it, can describe any natural disaster or storm that can cause serious damage to the surrounding area and to human constructs. An earthquake can rattle a city and damage roads, a volcanic eruption spreads lava and ash, and a tornado or hurricane may blast apart buildings with strong winds, hail, and more. In particular, hurricanes form every year in the Atlantic Ocean and strike the Caribbean and the American east coast, most of all Florida. Meteorologists are always hard at work studying these storms to better predict them and make evacuation efforts more successful. But the buildings and roads cannot be evacuated, and thus need to be built to endure a hurricane’s fury when that storm arrives. This means surviving flood waters, hail, strong winds, and flying debris. Levees and high foundations can resist flood waters, but what about winds? This is where hurricane impact doors and hurricane resistant windows are used. Such hurricane impact doors and impact windows have a special glaze system to endure strong air pressure, and won’t shatter easily during a hurricane. This can make all the difference.
All About Hurricanes
It is abundantly clear that hurricanes are quite powerful, and it is essential to install hurricane impact doors and high impact glass windows to minimize the damage when they arrive. There is no way to redirect or disrupt a hurricane, but many studies allow meteorologists to study these storms and predict their paths and arrival time. In the 20th century, overall, a total of 158 hurricanes struck the United States, and Florida alone was hit with 57 of them, while Texas experienced another 26 on its coast. Even smaller-scale hurricanes bring strong winds and flood waters, and the largest can totally devastate a coastal city or community. In fact, some hurricanes are known to spawn tornadoes during their lifetime. Back in 1992, Hurricane Andrew passed over Miami, and that mammoth storm spawned 62 tornadoes during its lifetime.
Weather trends suggest that now, in the 21st century, hurricanes are even more powerful than ever. This may be due to climate change and a general warming of the world’s oceans. Hurricane Irma, which formed in 2017, may act as evidence of this. Irma is the single most powerful Atlantic hurricane on record, and this devastating category 5 storm contained seven trillion watts of energy and boasted 185 MPH winds. It devastated 90% of the buildings on Barbuda and left 60% of the people there homeless. It is fully possible that a hurricane of this magnitude may strike again, son contractors along coastal cities are using specialized hardware to make buildings resistant to storms. That includes hurricane impact doors and hurricane proof windows.
Glass and Hurricanes
For any large building such as a skyscraper or hotel or apartment, the windows and sliding glass doors are a vulnerability during a hurricane. Strong winds, wind-blown debris, and differences in air pressure may blast those windows apart, scatter glass shards, and allow rain and wind to get in the building and cause damage. But it’s not an option to simply omit all the windows and doors, so those windows and sliding doors will be made with high impact glass. Construction crews are typical customers for these wholesale products, and they will install those windows and sliding doors into any new building.
A business professional who buys an older building will inspect all of its hardware, and that will include the windows and doors, too. Old or worn out windows and sliding door systems can be removed and replaced with the newest hurricane-proof models, which will most likely be be a great investment should a hurricane ever strike the area. How might this work? Glass with a glaze system of +105/-130 can endure winds over 100 MPH, such as in a typical hurricane, and not shatter from stress or air pressure differences. Solid debris such as windblown objects may bounce right off those windows without breaking them. All this prevents the need for window repair after the storm, and prevents devastating winds and rain from ravaging the building’s interior. This can make such hurricane impact doors and hurricane windows an excellent investment.
