Why many homes and buildings in this Florida city still stand, even after Ian

Today, the Washington Post published an excellent article on how the post-disaster adoption and enforcement of modern building codes significantly reduced damages in some communities from Hurricane Ian. After Hurricane Charlie made landfall in the Punta Gorda area in 2004, FEMA deployed a Mitigation Assessment Team to conduct a forensic engineering investigation and make recommendations for reducing future damages. NGS’s Principal, Dr. Oliver, led this team, which produced the following report:
https://lnkd.in/e6FrRmAp

Though the article mentions the Biden Administration’s Initiative to Modernize Building Codes and Improve Climate Resilience https://lnkd.in/ev99iz6g, it fails to mention FEMA’s significant role in supporting the adopting end enforcement of modern natural hazard resilient building codes.

FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) has, for over four decades, required the over 22,000 participating communities to adopt and enforce flood resistant building codes. Additionally, in recent years, FEMA has also tied many forms of disaster assistance and many of its grant programs to community adoption of strong building codes. https://lnkd.in/epDCzi3y

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