HURRICANES & TYPHOONS
HOW RESISTANT ARE OUR WOODEN KNOCKDOWN HOUSES
ABSTRACT
Wind loads during a Hurricane or Typhoon are enormously powerful and can be deadly and destructive in particularly for wooden houses, since wooden houses are extremely sensitive to unbalance. It is therefore a prerequisite that wooden prefab houses be designed per the proper codes if such a house is to be built in a cyclone belt. Based on our 40 years of experience we guarantee your Prefab Bali House will be designed accordingly by applying the IBC 2018. For the USA the applicable amendments that are in force for the country where the unit will be built will be applied. Many other countries acknowledge the IBC 2018 Where necessary our designs will be upgraded to cyclone rating against a variation order for the extra costs to reinforce the standard structure.
FULL-SCALE OCCURRENCES WITHOUT MAJOR DAMAGE TO OUR UNITS (for pictures browse down)
♦ In September 2004 one of our buildings withstood Hurricane Ivan which struck the Cayman Islands
♦ In November 2009 a 2-storey unit designed and prefabricated by us lost only some roof tiles when the island of Sta. Lucia in the Caribbean was hit by Hurricane Thomas
♦ In early November 2013 the Philippines was hard hit by typhoon Haiyan. Our A-2 model sustained the 315 km/h (196 mph) storm
♦ In Early September 2017 many houses on the island of St. Maarten (Caribbean) were destroyed by the category 5+ hurricane "Irma". Structures and houses designed by our company survived this hurricane. If you haven't already read the Irma article on our home page you may read it < here >
♦ Mid-September 2017, Hurricane Maria struck the island of Guadeloupe. The unit that was supplied by us in early 2017 fully survived the ordeal without any damage.
The unit survived Hurricane Thomas
The unit survived Hurricane Maria
The unit survived Hurricane Irma
2013: Philippines
The unit survived Hurricane Haiyan
2017: Island of St. Maarten, Caribbean,
The picture was taken just after Hurricane Irma struck in 2017. Only minor damage occurred.
The hurricane-rated structure of the unit at the left (in the popular speech "The Watthey building"), was designed by our senior technical advisor in the year 1972 just after his University graduation. The building not only survived Hurricane Irma but 3 others as well. 
(A picture from 1972 just after the completion of the building).
FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO KNOW IN DETAIL ABOUT HURRICANES & TYPHOONS
All of our prefab wooden houses with destination "cyclone or hurricane belt" will be analyzed on cyclone wind forces per the United States governing codes and regulations, subject to local amendments and provided such analysis is mandatory for the location to build.
Wind loads during a cyclone, named a Hurricane in the Caribbean and a Typhoon in the Pacific, are enormously powerful and can be deadly and destructive. Refer to Hurricane Katrina which hit New Orleans very hard and Typhoon Hainan which played havoc in the Philippines. A mature hurricane or typhoon consists of bands of rotating thunderclouds and heavy rainstorms. Hurricanes only occur in the Northern Hemisphere and spiral in a counterclockwise direction around the center (eye) of the storm. Typhoons only occur in the Southern hemisphere and rotate in a clockwise direction. The wind speeds are highest in the eye. The whole storm system can consist of hundreds of thunderstorms and measure up to 1,000 km (over 150 miles) in diameter. To qualify as a hurricane or typhoon a storm must produce winds of over 33 meters per second (193 Mph, or 119 Km/h). Cyclones can be devastating, in particular when a structure has low stability.
The wind loads in the Hurricane or Typhoon belt depend on the Saffir-Simpson scale in which category such a storm is assigned. A category 5 storm may well reach a devastating wind speed of 155 mph (252 km/h). Per the IBC, the highest basic wind speed may occur in the Southern Hemisphere (Typhoon) measuring 170 Mph (276 Km/h). The Hurricanes in the Caribbean storm belt are mostly assigned to a maximum of a category 4 storm with a maximum speed of 145 Mph (235 Km/h). The Hawaiian islands are assigned to category 2 with a maximum wind speed of 105 Mph. Recent scientific studies, however, reveal that the Hurricane and Typhoon wind forces will increase considerably during the next decade due to global warming. In consequence and as per the scientific prediction we have arbitrarily increased the standard IBC wind loads by 10% for extra safety. The standard construction for our houses is based on a normal general highest wind load, however, the construction will be modified based on the results of our structural analyses for the hurricane or cyclone area where the house is to be built. We use special hurricane anchors in the structure when the design needs to withstand hurricane wind forces.
One of our cyclone-rated proven truss structures