After every major hurricane of the past several years national focus has (ever so briefly) shifted to the challenge of better fortifying America’s most hurricane vulnerable coastal areas against future storms. Yet, according to a new study from the Institute for Business and Home Safety, huge swathes of coastal real estate remains structurally vulnerable to devastation.

Based on extensive surveying and analysis of the impact of Hurricane Ike on the Bolivar Peninsula of Texas in September 2008 and afterward, the report titled HURRICANE IKE: Nature’s Force vs. Structural Strength, outlines ecommendations for reducing future property losses in all hurricane-exposed Areas.

“More than $9 trillion of insured coastal property vulnerable to hurricanes sits along the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts from Texas to Maine,” the report declares . “ The number of coastal properties continues to rise, even though recent, challenging economic times have slowed that growth somewhat. In just the states of Florida, New York and Texas alone, there now is an estimated $5 trillion in combined insured property exposure."

With 50 percent of the nation’s population now livingwithin 50 miles of the coast, the report adds, “ the potential for increased storm-related deaths remains a concern. Lessons learned from Ike should be used to improve the ways in which homes and businesses are built in coastal zones, as well as to strengthen the standards used to govern the performance of construction.”

The report identifies three areas that need to be addressed to mitigate these vulnerabilities, each of which will require strong collaboration between the federal and state governments, as well as the private and public sectors.

One crucial concern, the report says, is that current elevation requirements in surge-prone areas are not high enough.

he National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and coastal communities, according to the report, must consider whether the use of the 1 percent annual probability of exceeding flood elevation is a prudent minimum value.

During the first 30 years of the NFIP, the report says, “the United States experienced a rapid increase in exposure to risk along the Gulf Coast due to the sheer number of new properties constructed and their high financial values. Furthermore, hurricane researchers agree that we currently are experiencing a period of increased hurricane activity in the Atlantic basin. Since the beginning of this period, numerous storms have made landfall in the US; these storms produced very large storm surges that affected broad sections of the Gulf Coast. Among these hurricanes are Ike, Ivan, Katrina, and Rita.”

“Most elevated coastal homes are wood frame structures, and the evidence is clear that it only takes a few feet of water above the Base Flood Elevation (BFE) to wipe out all homes built at or below the minimum NFIP requirements,” the report adds. “There essentially is no safety factor for homes in surge-prone areas other than additional height.”

The report further urges that NFIP should consider ways to encourage homeowners and builders to increase property elevation levels.

“Once a home has been elevated on properly anchored piles,” it explains, “ it is likely that the incremental costs of raising the structure a few more feet would not be that significant.”

This could be accomplished, the report suggests, by publishing both 1 percent and 0.2 percent probability of exceedance surge inundation maps that account for both still water rise and expected wave action and by incentivizing builders and homeowners to build above the 0.2 percent probability elevations.

The report also recommends that NFIP encourage communities devastated by hurricanes that are rebuilding to raise the BFE above the published 1 percent probability of  exeedance level.

The report also found that new research is needed to assess actual performance of roofing products and systems in order to improve material production and installation specifications.

“Roof cover damage continues to be the largest, most frequent source of non-surge failures and losses related to hurricanes,” the report says.

Consequently, the report recommends that the roof be the first place owners and builders address in order to reduce future losses. “Improving roof performance is critical to reduce wind damage and should be considered a primary point of investment for homeowners,” the report declares. “The basic elements of strengthening roofs have been well known for some time, including improving attachment of the roof deck, providing backup protection from water intrusion, and installing a high-quality, wind-resistant roof cover.”

A final key area that must be addressed, according to the report, is wind-driven water.

“Water intrusion,” it says, “ must be better managed through a combination of protective measures, informed choices about water resistant materials and more realistic testing.”

“When a hurricane strikes,” it adds, “ it is usually not a question of whether water will enter the house and the wall cavities, but how much water will enter, and how much damage will result from that water intrusion.”

The report closes by recommending that policymakers in all hurricane-prone states from Texas to Maine should:

• Determine the 0.2 percent annual probability of exceedance flood and wave enhanced surge levels (500-year return period and 10 percent probability of exceedance in 50-years) and adopt them as the locally enforced Base Flood Elevations for future developments and for rebuilding of destroyed homes and businesses in coastal counties/parishes and the second row of counties/parishes inland from the coast.

• Adopt a state-wide modern building code for both commercial and residential structures and assure that building departments in local jurisdictions and unincorporated areas enforce the building codes and standards.

• Enact requirements for inspecting and re-nailing roof sheathing as required whenever a roof cover is replaced. Requirements for re-nailing can be modeled after those given in IBHS retrofit guidance or in proposed changes to the International Existing Building Code Appendices.

• Develop and adopt within an “Existing Building Code” simple prescriptive provisions, which will allow the retrofitting of wood frame gable ends and the improvement of porch/carport anchorage without requiring specific engineering studies for most common residential structures.

• Provide training and cerrtification of inspectors, who evaluate the wind resistance of existing homes and light frame buildings to identify weaknesses. Provide owners with specific credible recommendations for strengthening activities that generate meaningful reductions in risks of hurricane damage.

• Provide assistance for low-income/at-risk populations to enable them to strengthen their homes against hurricane-related risks.

• Establish a program that promotes strengthening of homes in coastal counties (first three rows of counties from the coast) appropriate for their location so that they are better prepared to resist hurricane effects.