Many acts of nature are very powerful and may prove devastating to property around the world. These acts of “nature’s fury,” as they call it, may range from earthquakes to blizzards to volcanic eruptions to hurricanes and tornadoes. To keep people and property safe, geologists, meteorologists, and more are working tirelessly to study and track these acts of nature to better predict and understand them. No one can prevent a hurricane form forming, but modern meteorology makes evacuations easier when a hurricane’s location and timing can be predicted accurately.
Meanwhile, buildings cannot be evacuated out of the way like people can, but engineers may design them to better endure natural disasters. Many buildings along California’s San Andreas fault are designed with specialized foundations, and flood-prone areas often feature elevated foundations on buildings. Meanwhile, the Caribbean and American east coast often get hurricanes, where levees and high impact windows and high impact glass systems can help keep the interior of buildings safe. Choosing hurricane proof windows is a fine idea, and windows and doors manufacturers may offer wholesale hurricane glass doors and windows to construction crews. A crew ordering from local windows and doors manufacturers will invest properly in that building and make it safer from storms, and this prevent expensive damage. These windows and doors manufacturers offer newer and better glass door and window models with specialized frames and glazes.
On Hurricanes
These are among the most powerful and energetic storms in the world, and they often form over oceans and may move over land before dissipating. In the United States, Atlantic hurricanes are being carefully tracked, studied, and logged, and some general trends have emerged. In the 20th century, 158 hurricanes overall made landfall on the United States, and 57 of them hit Florida in particular (Texas also gets a lot of hurricanes along its coast). Even smaller hurricanes may boast powerful winds and heavy rain that may devastate property, and some hurricanes are also known to create tornadoes, too. Back in 1992, Hurricane Andrew in particular spawned some 62 tornadoes during its lifetime.
Meanwhile, meteorologists and other experts believe that now, in the 21st century, hurricanes are becoming even more powerful and frequent than ever before, and this may be partly due to climate change and warming ocean water. The year 2017 serves as evidence of this trend, when records were broken. In that year, an incredible 10 storms in a row formed into full-blown hurricanes, a feat not seen since all the way back in 1893. That year also saw the formation of Hurricane Irma, the most powerful Atlantic hurricane on record. During its lifetime, this enormous storm contained seven trillion watts of energy, and it had winds at 185 MPH for 37 hours. This hurricane devastated the island of Barbuda, destroying or damaging 90% of the buildings there and leaving 60% of the population homeless. And it is quite possible that storms of this magnitude may strike again in the near future, so engineers and construction crews must be ready.
Making Buildings Safer
While levees and specialized foundations may protect from flooding waters and heavy rain, windows and doors manufacturers will provide construction crews with wholesale supplies to make buildings safe in a storm. After all, a building’s sliding glass doors and its windows are vulnerable points during a hurricane, but it’s not really an option to simply omit them for safety’s sake. Instead, specialized windows and sliding glass doors may be installed, and when someone purchases an older building, they may inspect all the hardware present. Old or weak windows should be replaced with newer models made of high impact glass, and the same is true of sliding glass doors.
How does this work? These windows and glass doors may have tough frames that withstand strong winds, and the glass itself is coated with a glaze to resist winds and wind-blown debris alike. Glass with a rating of +105/-130 may endure winds stronger than 100 MPH, and such windows may also allow debris to simply bounce off of them. Otherwise, shattered windows may scatter sharp glass everywhere, and winds and rain may get into the building and devastate it with expensive damage. High impact windows and doors, by design, prevent that, so they can act as a fine investment.
