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PUBLICATIONS

Improving Windstorm and Tornado Resilience: Recommendations for One- and Two-Family Residential Structures

Published

Author(s)

Brian O'Connor, Karah Osburn, Jennifer Mitchell, Heidi Szabo, Marc Levitan

Abstract

The purpose of this fact sheet is to provide a brief overview of building envelope considerations and load path improvements to reduce damages to wood framed, one- and two-family residential structures when subjected to tornadoes rated on the Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale as an EF2 or less, and indirectly by tornadoes with a higher EF rating. Utilizing higher rated building envelope materials, providing opening protection, and improving the load path and connections can reduced the damages observed to one- and two-family residential structures. The information in this fact sheet can be applied to new construction or retrofit of residential structures in tornado-prone region of the United States. The tornado-prone region consists of the Continental United States east of the continental divide. Within this area, there are over 1,250 reported annually and there are potentially more unreported tornadoes in rural areas. This guidance is also available for download from FEMA at https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/fema_improving-winds….
Citation
FEMA Fact Sheet
Pub Type
Others

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Keywords

tornadoes, windstorms, resilience, Enhanced Fujita Scale, EF Scale, residential structures, houses, wind damage, load path, connections
Windstorm impact reduction, Structural engineering, Disaster and failure studies, Building damage and repair and Building codes and standards

Citation

O'Connor, B. , Osburn, K. , Mitchell, J. , Szabo, H. and Levitan, M. (2023), Improving Windstorm and Tornado Resilience: Recommendations for One- and Two-Family Residential Structures, FEMA Fact Sheet, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=936075 (Accessed April 25, 2024)

Created February 21, 2023, Updated February 22, 2023