Archive for the ‘Structural’ Category
South Carolina: At least 30 people were injured when a floor collapsed at a party at Clemson University
Monday, October 22nd, 201810/20/1944: Two liquid gas tanks explode in Cleveland, Ohio, killing 130 people and injuring more than 200 more.
Saturday, October 20th, 2018Mexico Beach reduced to rubble in the aftermath of Michael
Saturday, October 13th, 2018“……..Mr. Foster, 60, and his 99-year-old mother had no car, no electricity. The food had spoiled in his refrigerator. The storm had ripped off large sections of his roof. He had no working plumbing to flush with. No water to drink. And as of Friday afternoon, he had seen no sign of government help……This was the problem that government officials were racing to solve on Friday, as desperation grew in and around Panama City under a burning sun. Long lines formed for gas and food, and across the battered coastline, those who were poor, trapped and isolated sent out pleas for help……”
Monterrey, Mexico: A shopping mall under construction collapsed Thursday, killing at least 7 and leaving another 9 missing
Friday, October 12th, 201810/9/1963, Italy: A landslide leads to over 2,000 deaths when it causes a sudden and massive wave of water to overwhelm the Diga del Vajont dam.
Tuesday, October 9th, 2018Hurricane-proofing a Nantucket hospital
Sunday, August 19th, 2018By Cynthia McCormick
The Cape Cod Times
- The 106,000-square-foot, 14-bed hospital is being built to hurricane design specifications established by Miami-Dade County
- Will allow the hospital to withstand Hurricane Irma-strength winds of 185 mph, rather than 150 mph as specified by Massachusetts building codes
- Massive 5-foot-by-5-foot concrete footings fortified by mesh
- Andersen Stormwatch windows
- A double-hulled exterior building shell will help the new hospital stand up to Category 5 winds
- Analog and digital phone lines
- Access to satellite phones
- The new Nantucket Cottage Hospital won’t even have a basement.
- The boiler room, currently located in the basement of the existing hospital, will be shackled to the flat roof of the new hospital, including two massive generators
- Electrical transformer switches will be located on the second floor instead of the first
- The fuel-pumping room is being built at grade level, but will have waterproof curbing like an inverted bathtub
- The six-over-six Andersen windows have multiple fastenings and have withstood objects hurled by hurricane-force winds in ballistic tests
- The shell of the building is constructed almost like two walls, with a water and vapor barrier between the inner and outer skin
- will have a larger capacity to go days without supplies
- will have enough food for seven to 10 days and generator fuel for many days
- will have 27,000 gallons of fuel on-site for the dual-purpose generators, more than three times the current capacity of 8,000 gallons of oil and propane
- The final cost is estimated to run about $120 million