Finding ways 

 To survive 

 The storm 



Photo bv Spencer Rogers 



The pilings on this Carolina Beach building weren 't sunk deep enough to 

 withstand the temporary erosion caused by Hurricane David 



Family preparedness plans are just 

 one step in the process of hurricane 

 planning. Coastal communities and 

 the state also have a large investment 

 in North Carolina to protect. What do 

 they need to plan for the next big one, 

 the one everyone says is long overdue? 

 Is there a better way to build a storm- 

 resistant structure, evacuate a com- 

 munity, predict flooding or estimate 

 erosion? Sea Grant researchers have 

 been looking for answers to these ques- 

 tions and more to help North 

 Carolina's coastal towns prepare and 

 plan for hurricane. 



• Survivability was the key word in 

 Jerry Machemehl's research work for 

 Sea Grant two years ago. Machemehl, 

 formerly an associate professor of 

 marine science and engineering at 

 North Carolina State University 

 (NCSU), set out to design a coastal 

 structure that could withstand the 

 battering and brutal forces of a 

 hurricane. But first, he looked at how 

 buildings were being built and found 

 many weak areas. 



Building codes 

 and construction 

 standards in North 

 Carolina changed 

 after the deva- 

 stating storms of 

 the late 50s and 

 early 60s. Coastal 

 property owners 

 got the message 

 when Hazel left 



only five of 357 Machemehl 

 buildings on Long Beach intact. New 

 homes were elevated on pilings to clear 

 storm tides and setback from the 

 shoreline to prevent undermining by 

 erosion. "Building codes were 

 strengthened and upgraded," 

 Machemehl says, "but they were 

 basically minor improvements. The 

 codes were still not designed for beach 

 construction for the forces found in a 

 coastal environment." 



During his project, Machemehl did 

 a survey of homes along the North 

 Carolina coast and found that only 10 



percent of the homes were strong in 

 several areas he determined to be 

 vulnerable to wind and water damage. 

 He also learned first-hand about some 

 of these more vulnerable areas when he 

 surveyed the damage left by Hurricane 

 Frederic in Gulf Shores, Alabama in 

 1979. Machemehl made the following 

 suggestions to strengthen coastal con- 

 struction: First of all, build the house 

 above the storm surge level and sink 

 the piles deep enough for strength. 

 Bolt piles securely to the floor struc- 

 ture and cross-brace the piling struc- 

 ture on the sides not facing the ocean. 

 Last, yet most importantly, tie the 

 whole structure together, all the way 

 from the ground to the rafters, with 

 metal connectors. 



Machemehl's work is reflected in the 

 state building code and has been repor- 

 ted in journals, but his major contribu- 

 tion has been in defining those weak 

 spots in coastal construction. He hopes 



that not only will property owners 

 follow his suggestions when building, 

 but that architects, engineers and con- 

 tractors will refuse to build anything 

 less than a "survivable" structure. 

 "You can't build anything that can 

 survive a two-hundred year storm," he 

 \ says, "but you can build a structure* 

 that will survive many of the forces 

 found along the coast in lesser storms." 



• Spencer Rogers has seen a lot a 

 changes in coastal construction and 

 design over the years. As Sea Grant's 

 coastal engineering specialist, he's 

 aware of the forces man must battle 

 just to have that place at the beach. 

 Erosion and storm damage are the 

 worst. 



Erosion eats away, on the average, 

 about three and a half feet of coastline 

 each year. "If a structure is to have a 

 useful life on the beach," Rogers says, 



Continued on next page 



