Metal Roofs, Metal Buildings And Tornadoes
By Shawn Zuver, editorial/content director
As I began my morning workout today, I flipped on the television and was instantly met with the shocking site of what I later learned were the remains of a strip mall in Virginia. Contents from a number of stores were flung around the parking lot, along with twisted clumps of what had previously been the roofs and walls of the structure.
It’s now reported that three tornadoes touched down in Virginia on April 28, 2008. The video footage that I saw on cable television news showed only a small part of the damage that led the governor to declare a state of emergency in the affected areas.
Dozens of homes were damaged or destroyed and 200 or more people were injured. Thankfully, at this time, no deaths have been reported and hopefully that statistic will remain the same. Still, homes were ripped apart by the tornadoes and some were lifted completely from their foundations. People’s lives were upturned along with the many cars that were scattered about like a child’s discarded toys, with belongings strewn all over their neighborhoods and beyond.
Sadly, tornadoes, hurricanes, typhoons—whatever type of high wind event you can name—are not rare occurrences in many parts of the world. In fact, they’re quite common in some areas, especially during particular seasons. While Virginia isn’t exactly a familiar home to tornadoes, they are surely no strangers to people in the Midwest and Plains areas of the U.S. each spring.
How do the Virginia tornadoes relate to metal construction and why am I calling attention to them here? Well, let’s go back to the strip mall that I mentioned at the start of this column. The roof that I saw twisted and torn from its original position atop the mall appeared to be a metal system. While metal roofing offers many benefits to building owners, it’s just not realistic to expect it to stand up to forces of this magnitude. Likewise, virtually every other type of roof system met with the same fate, though most of those will end up in a landfill instead of being recycled like the metal panels.
That same strip mall was framed with a metal building system, as evidenced by the tapered steel columns that were shown in the news video. There was no obvious damage to the framing, based on the limited view that I was afforded by the video. And, based on reports I’ve seen from past disasters, I would expect that the steel framing would have performed well in this type of disaster.
Like all natural disasters, this one will allow investigators an opportunity to see how installation techniques and construction products—including metal products—performed and how they might be modified for future use. Experience, particularly a disastrous experience like this, is very useful in making advancements in construction. So, while this was clearly a tragedy that will change some people’s lives forever, hopefully some future good can come of it.
On DesignandBuildwithMetal.com, we have information on damage assessments that were conducted following other natural disasters: Hurricanes Charley and Ivan; Hurricane Katrina; and the Oklahoma City 2004 Hailstorm. For more information on RICOWI (the Roofing Industry Committee on Weather Issues, Inc.), go to www.ricowi.com.
Shawn Zuver is editorial/content director for DesignandBuildwithMetal.com. He has been covering the metal construction industry, including residential and non-residential construction, since 1985. To contact Shawn, call (419) 581-2051 or email shawnz@designandbuildwithmetal.com.
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