Hurricanes Offer Lessons for Builders

A federal engineer examining the lessons from Hurricane Sandy says findings after the October storm closely track the disaster of Hurricane Katrina seven years earlier.

John Ingargiola says elevating generators and pumps is a good idea, but enclosing elevated foundations that might be hit by waves or wave-borne debris is not.

People at the National Hurricane Conference in New Orleans also learned Monday that while elevating homes on piers reduces flood danger, it requires extra work to protect slab foundations lifted out of the ground.

Erin Ashley works for URS Group Inc., a contractor that did damage assessments after Hurricane Isaac struck Louisiana last August. She says inspectors saw numerous houses that looked fine but had cracked slabs because they were raised without enough permanent reinforcement.