Congressional Testimony (NHRI)

On June 26, 2008 Dr. David Prevatt from the University of Florida offered testimony on the National Hurricane Research Initiative Act of 2007.

This Bill introduced into the US House of Representatives proposes an extensive program of research to improve hurricane preparedness, and for other purposes. The major thrust of the Bill is to:
(a) improve hurricane and other severe tropical storm forecasting capabilities, including formation, track, and intensity change

(b) durable and resilient infrastructure
(c) mitigating impacts on coastal populations, the coastal built environment, and the  natural coastal environment, including but not limited to, coral reefs, wetlands, and other natural systems that mitigate hurricane wind and storm surge impacts

The emphasis of the Bill is to expand programs in studying hurricane science and preparedness and although the Bill mentions the interaction of hurricanes with engineered structures this is a relatively small part of the Bill. Dr. Prevatt pointed out that an important consideration in reducing hurricane losses is to increase the level of research on wind and water resistant construction as simply improving predictions of hurricanes will not reduce losses. The problem of loss reduction is complicated due to a large inventory of existing construction and much more research needs to be carried out regarding the possible loadings, resistances and failure of both existing and new construction.

Click on this link to read Dr. Prevatt’s written testimony (PrevattTestimony draft 4).