Page 2 - Hurricane Code News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Hurricane andrew, leaving probably 60 to 70% of them not up to hurricane code. >> there's a fear that dike could forbreach. >> that's why we initiated the mandatory evacuation but of course the storm has shifted sort of the -- and there's always a major concern about the dike and so that's always the concern here. and that's why we issued mandatory evacuations. right now our major concern is can the substandard home with stand the velocity? >> what would that mean for your community? >> that we're homeless. it would mean that we would have

Stay. that plan better be in being in higher ground in this area. after andrew, building codes were changed. in south florida. we are told constantly the bill buildings here are a lot stronger. one thing is people should know is not every building was built after andrew. >> lot of the buildings were pre andrew but i will tell you the south florida folks got it right. changed the building codes. so new homes are built in a new hurricane code. when you retrofitted it there's a possibility to bring it up to standard. we had 48,000 homes here in florida that were retrofitted by money after '04 and...

What that was like. there is no known loss of life. we are waiting on the structural damage report, find out whether buildings went down or not. hopefully that wasn't the case. i should point out, the bahamas experience this regularly. they are experienced. many buildings are built to hurricane code. where we are, the largest population center in nassau, the capitol, another piece of good news, we are not going to get hurricane force winds here. we are going to get tropical storm force winds. there's still a danger that there might be flooding, but we are not going get the worse winds. the wor...

Though small changes, at the end, you don't get a lot of heads up on that. you have to be prepared for the worst. >> jon: people frankly aren't prepared for how terrifying they can be, especially if you are anywhere close to the eye, what do you say to those people who might be thinking of sticking around and waiting this one out? >> for some people, if you are in a structure that is built to hurricane code, it makes sense not to get on the road, you may drive right into it. for those who are in mandatory evacuation centers or in areas that are encouraged to be evacuating, there is a reason th...

Quarter. so if it's a little to the west of you, that's almost the worst thing 'cause that means you're taking this right across. >> gretchen: how did the rebuilding of mississippi, how will that come into play now, if in fact, there is storm surge or any damage? >> gretchen, if the winds pick up, it will be a huge difference because we lost 63,000 units of housing on the mississippi gulf coast. a lot of them built before world war ii. everything has been rebuilt according to the new hurricane code. it's much stronger. if the water rises, that still doesn't make much difference. you still get ...