(A story written and submitted by fellow Knight, Alex Tapia.)
The tourist areas surrounding the sea are undoubtedly exposed to receiving the attack of meteors of different categories and in recent times with stronger winds, it is most convenient to review the measures that have been taken and/or not taken to receive the onslaught of the hurricane, as well as the necessary adaptation to handle the abundant rainfall that accompanies them.
In recent weeks we have all had multiple news, videos and photos of what happened in the port of Acapulco where Category 5 Hurricane Otis attacked properties and infrastructure in that place. It should be noted that at the national level there is a certain disdain on the part of the authorities, industries and technicians towards the possibility of receiving a category 4 or 5 hurricane since seeing the level of devastation that occurred in that port in the first instance requires of places planned to provide shelters to the most vulnerable population, and not use public schools as their substitute; since these campuses lack appropriate elements for the safety of users; We can mention that the few existing regulations do not include other concepts; aluminum windows and provisions for construction with a panel system for the exterior cladding of buildings that resist the attack of average winds of 250 km/hr, in fact, we can say that the industry that manufactures aluminum profiles in the last 50 years has not bothered to produce efficient systems even for the onslaught of winds of 165 km/hr (standard test in some places),
Although we must mention that there are some coastal places in the world where exposure to high-power hurricanes is taken seriously, such is the case of Dale County in Miami, USA and throughout Florida, where the windows, security panels protections, doors and security bars are subject to regulations and use of approved systems, where it is required to show negative and positive pressures of each window to be used with documents that qualify the design to resist pressures, defining thickness and quality of the security glass to be used. taking into account that even after Hurricane Odile, the manufacturer Dupont put on the market a special membrane to reinforce laminated safety glass called Sentryglas, turning the glass into “safety elements” with lower deflection rates than with PVB so that overall with profiles suitable for their thickness and design can provide better protection to residences and buildings in coastal areas and the property does not have to be rebuilt.
Likewise, rainfall becomes very abundant until it exceeds the traditional design standards generally exported from CDMX, where 100 M2 is considered to be able to be handled with a 4-inch diameter pipe; It is necessary to adapt these standards, being fed back by real data, generating specific standards for the potential rain brought by hurricanes considering official data from the region.
All of us who live in potential risk areas, where a hurricane can show its powerful winds, must be aware of the weaknesses of our places of residence and environment, in order to adequately prepare ourselves for the next hurricane season with enough time, since in reality you never know . . . . if we will be in the path of a hurricane.
