Dive Brief:
- Hurricane Matthew headed up the eastern Florida coast on Friday, posting wind speeds of up to 150 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service. It is poised to be the most dangerous storm to hit the U.S. East Coast since Hurricane Sandy in 2005.
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Storm surges are the biggest concern, in addition to heavy rainfall, which are expected to cause significant flooding in coastal areas and inland. In Florida alone, 11 million people are in the storm’s path, CNBC reported.
- The hurricane will continue north to the Georgia and North and South Carolina coasts, slackening to a tropical storm by early Sunday morning. The NWS expects the storm will then turn out into the Atlantic.
Dive Insight:
Construction companies and home and building owners have been preparing for Hurricane Matthew all week. In Florida, which is taking the brunt of the storm as it makes landfall in the U.S., the industry has been especially proactive as the region’s recent building boom means plenty of active job sites.
Builders were advised to secure the sites to minimize damage to equipment and property as well as to prevent that same equipment and property from becoming a risk to nearby buildings and individuals. "Any construction equipment that essentially can become thrown around in a heavy windstorm needs to be tied down, needs to be removed from the site, needs to be protected," Justin Mihalik, president of the American Institute of Architects’ Disaster Assistance Program, told Construction Dive in May.
New construction isn’t the only concern. In Florida alone, up to 954,000 homes valuing $189 billion are vulnerable to damage from storm surges, according to CoreLogic. More than 620,000 additional homes in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia are also at risk, worth more than $137 billion in reconstruction value. Florida metros including Daytona Beach, Melbourne, Miami and Jacksonville are among the most at-risk for damage from storm surges. CoreLogic's damage projections do not consider the impact of wind, with gusts of up to 150 miles per hour reported as of Friday morning.
The storm reached the U.S. early Friday morning after devastating Haiti and the neighboring Dominican Republic, which are still reeling from the 2010 earthquake. Both countries are still rebuilding. So far, the NWS is reporting nearly 300 dead in Haiti following Hurricane Matthew and more than 28,000 homes reporting damage.
