For once we have a good sense solution. The domes are there and most
can stand up to the winds. Making them the focus of disaster
preparedness is obvious and can be readily accommodated even in the
ones already built. A little attention during design could readily
expand this usage.
In time we will have a network that is both utilitarian and visible.
This model can be applied to other forms of disaster also simply
because the domes are always well engineered to survive when nothing
else may be. Even a flood is going to do little to concrete.
At least emergency stores such as cots and the like can be
prepositioned.
It’s a sports
dome and a hurricane shelter all in one
By Lisa Hymas
There’s a lot of
talk these days about the need to become more
resilientand ruggedize our systems in order to better cope
in a climate-changed world. It’s nice to actually see a little
action on this front — in Texas, of all places.
Jay PhaganTexas’
first “hurricane dome” in Woodsboro will do double duty as a gym
and a shelter. We expect it’ll look more appealing once the
gale-force winds start blowing.
From the Associated
Press:
Most of the time, the
windowless building with the dome-shaped roof will be a typical high
school gymnasium filled with cheering fans watching basketball and
volleyball games.
But come hurricane
season, the structure that resembles a miniature version of the famed
Astrodome will double as a hurricane shelter, part of an ambitious
storm-defense system that is taking shape along hundreds of miles of
the Texas Gulf Coast.
Its brawny design — including double-layer cinder-block walls
reinforced by heavy duty steel bars and cement piers that plunge 30
feet into the ground — should allow it to withstand winds up to 200
mph. …
[A dome now under
construction in Edna, Texas,] is one of 28 such buildings planned to
protect sick, elderly and special-needs residents who might be unable
to evacuate ahead of a hurricane. First-responders and local leaders
will also be able to take refuge in the domes, allowing them to begin
recovery efforts faster after a storm has passed. … [The domes] are
being erected with help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Just how rugged are
these things? “The builders boast Mother Nature and the big bad
wolf could huff and puff together, and it wouldn’t be enough to
destroy the dome,” reports Fox 26 in Houston. We assume that’s
the Texan way to talk about climate change.
Lisa Hymas is senior
editor at Grist. You can follow her on Twitter andGoogle+.
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