In Charley’s Aftermath, Florida Builders Start Long Road to Recovery - 8/23/2004 - Real Estate House Home Condo

In Charley’s Aftermath, Florida Builders Start Down the Long Road to Recovery

Working with other associations and trade groups, the Florida Home Builders Association has helped to establish a Disaster Contractors Network to provide home owners with information and organize contractors who are able to assist with the reconstruction process.

Along with basic construction materials such as cement and OSB, contractors are expected to be in short supply as reconstruction efforts get underway. Currently, only contractors with a Florida license are allowed to do business in the state, and NAHB has forwarded to the HBA of Florida information about reciprocity agreements that will be useful if Governor Jeb Bush decides to fill the contractor shortage from outside of the state.

Just one example of the many ways in which the home building community in Florida has rallied to the challenge of restoring normalcy in the storm’s aftermath, the Home Builders Institute, the workforce development arm of NAHB, reported that students from its Project CRAFT training program in Avon Park were helping to unload food and water trucks as that community worked to get back on its feet.

While Bonnie delivered only a glancing blow with little physical damage along the Atlantic seaboard, Charley brought devastation to some 25 counties across the state and weighed in as the largest storm to hit Florida since Hurricane Andrew pounded Dade County south of Miami in 1992.

Charley was a category IV storm with winds of more than 145 miles per hour when it came ashore in the Port Charlotte area on the Gulf side of the state. It is responsible for at least 23 confirmed deaths and estimates of insured losses topping $11 billion. A preliminary assessment from about half of the affected areas as of Aug. 18 confirmed that 5,898 homes were destroyed, 10,378 sustained major damage, 9,655 minor damage and an additional 21,198 were affected.

President George W. Bush has visited the disaster area and has given the site a presidential declaration making victims eligible for low-interest federal loans to rebuild. Federal funds will be used to repair or replace public buildings on a cost sharing basis with state and local governments.

Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have begun the process of coordinating response activities and on Aug. 18 opened their Disaster Field Office (DFO) in Orlando. This facility will be the nerve center for all response and recovery operations. Volunteer agencies such as the American Red Cross have been on the ground since the initial onslaught of the storm. The Red Cross has opened 21 shelters and is providing thousands with meals and a place to sleep. It has 14 damage assessment teams in the field to count and classify the number of destroyed and damaged properties.

It appears from early, on-the-ground reports that homes built to the newer building codes performed well. Further investigations will be undertaken to fully document how well new residential construction withstood the storm.

Ken Ford, with NAHB’s Disaster Assistance Program, reminds builders that all communities can be disrupted by natural disasters and that potential risks should be assessed so that precautions can be taken before, during and after these emergencies. Only 199 out of the 3,069 counties in the U.S. have not been declared disaster areas by the President at some point in their history.

How Charley Stacks Up
Hurricanes and Their Associated Levels of Structural Damage — Since 1969

Data Sources:FEMA, Red Cross & CNN News

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