Final answer:
Hurricane damage mitigation involves strategies such as strapping down roofs, strict building rules, boarding up windows, and land-use laws, all tailored for different types of hurricane-induced damages.
Step-by-step explanation:
To effectively mitigate hurricane damage to buildings, various strategies have been adopted that correspond to specific types of damage. For example:
- To prevent roofs lifting off homes, it's recommended to eliminate eaves and strap down roofs.
- In the case of damage to manufactured homes, more strict building rules were enacted to improve their resilience to storm conditions.
- To protect against wind-borne debris, homeowners are advised to board up or shutter windows prior to a hurricane event.
- Flooding (inland and surge) can be mitigated by limiting building with land-use laws to prevent construction in high-risk flood zones.
The impact of hurricanes can be grave, as seen with Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, where the failure of storm levees due to inadequate construction led to catastrophic flooding. Similarly, Galveston, Texas, implemented significant changes like constructing storm walls after a devastating hurricane in 1900. Ecosystems with protective vegetation, such as mangrove forests, have also been shown to significantly reduce the impact of flooding.