Hearing about the damage that the latest hurricane to hit the USA and that many people lost their homes,I don't understand why.Is it because of the construction of these homes ? What are the homes constructed from ? Are they wooden homes ? Are they brick homes ?

[Edited so title of thread wasn't in CAPS LOCK.]

I think it's because it was a strong storm and, coupled with Bonnie which had at least one tornado spin off it, there really hasn't been a hurricane go the route Charle did in a long time.

Also, a lot of the damage was in (surprise) trailer parks which are notoriously unstable in extreme weather.

Are you saying that these homes are not constructed to withstand strong winds ?Strong winds are commonplace in some parts of the USA, and the houses built in these regions must be built to withstand these winds.
So I ask again ,what are these houses built from ?(in the UK ,houses are built from brick,which are less affected by strong winds than other types of houses )

These homes are built cheaply and are found throughout the US. The actual chances of a catastrophic eventtaking out your entire trailer park like what happened ith this hurricane is very small.

These hurricanes and such are NOT commonplace. These hourses are mainly aluminum and wood. Brick is expensive - in fact, in the town where I grew up not one houe was made entirely of brick. Most of the houses in the US are done with wood.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6379-2004Aug16.html

Talks about how building codes were made stricter after Hurricane Andrew. Also how building codes cannot be applied retro-actively, so only new homes built after the codes were put in place need to follow them.

cwm if such a storm were to go through a site of 'mobile homes' in the UK, which is what I understand trailors to be, then the result would be the same, chaos. One only has to look at the damage caused during 'the big storm', horrendous, roofs blown off etc.

"Most of the houses in the US are done with wood" was the information I was looking for,thank you.

Hurricanes are common in the Gulf of Mexico and the southern Atlantic Ocean from about June to September. Florida gets its share. It's not uncommon for even a tropical storm with winds under hurricane strength of 74 mph to cause damage.
Florida is on the Continental Shelf extending a hundred miles or so in any direction -- it's very stable and not subject to earthquakes.
But, the highest land point is about 33 feet (10 metres) above sea level, if I remember correctly. I lived there for 5 years; first in Tampa for a year and then in the "Panhandle" for 4 years. We had hurricanes in some part of the state every year or every other year. In a normal year they did not do much damage, except for Camille in 1969 (1968?).
I was there for that one. It came ashore in Gulfport, Mississippi and destroyed everything in its path. It beached large ships and changed the shape of the coastline.

Mobile homes don't withstand hurricanes well. Neither do brick homes. With the high water table and a soil of sand it's difficult to construct a foundation for brick unless you can dig to bedrock. If you have a well-constructed wood home, you have a better chance of surviving because wood structures "give" a bit in high wind and seas... brick does not "give"; it either stands or falls.

Mobile homes should be built on a concrete foundation and anchored and reinforced against wind to survive. Insurance companies won't insure the more flimsy "park it on a pad" mobiles because of the inherent danger from wind damage.

By the same token, most mobile home owners know the danger and plan accordingly.

This one couple decided to wait it out in their mobile home that had extra anchors... they were both killed.

My aunt and uncle down in Cape Coral didn't have electric for a while, and they still can't use the water and all that. Fortunately they didn't have to evacuate as did Ft. Myers.

Here in NJ...RAIN. Neverending rain. Mom had to put pots down on the floor because our roof leaks. Quite annoying.

My first wife and I visited my former in-laws years ago when they lived on Sanibel Island, just west of Ft. Meyers. It's a spit of land barely above water in calm weather. There are mobile homes owned by retirees; my in-laws were retired and loved living within walking distance of fishing in the Gulf of Mexico.
We fished, my father-in-law and me, just before dawn --- my father-in-law's favorite time. It terrified me to wade out into water in the dark, not knowing what manner of creature lay in wait, with just a propane Coleman lantern on the beach in case I became disoriented and wandered further into the Gulf thinking it led to safe land.
A storm brewed up later in the morning and dumped sufficient rain to make us walk knee deep in water to the island's coin-operated laundry to wash and dry our clothes.
We left a day or so later as another storm was brewing.
Since the only way on or off the island for vehicles was a causeway toll bridge that barely cleared the water, we left early. We were NOT hardy pioneers and worried about the in-laws when we reached dry land. They were ok...nothing to worry about.
Today, after Hurricane Charlie, we wonder if anything survived. We can only pray that everyone got off the island.

Having experienced Hurricane Hugo in 1989, I can fully understand how a brick home, or wood, or aluminum, etc. would have a hard time withstanding winds in excess of 200 mph. In addition, hurricanes spawn multiple tornadoes within the storm that exacerbates the damage. And if you are unlucky enough to be in the path of the storm surge it really doesn't matter what your home is constructed of because whatever the material I doubt it is water proof. But the fact is the is no good reason to die in a hurricane. There is plenty of advance warning so when they tell you to leave, leave!!

I stayed during Hugo and huddled against the storm, walked in the calm eye until the winds starting picking up and went back in to ride out the second half. It was a once in a lifetime experience. If ever presented with the situation again, I will go inland to a nice cozy motel.

I think a lot of us "Tornado Alley" dwellers would fair pretty well on the coast. At least you DO get warning in a hurricane! Earlier this summer some of the strongest tornados in Nebraska history cut a swath across the southeast corner of the state. Fortunately, this storm system steered south of the major metropolitan areas, and did most of it's damage across crop land, with not many dwellings in the way. Except for Hallam, a town about an hour from me, which was left with only one or two intact buildings. But they had only minutes of warning, not days.

Still, only one woman died. To me it seems completely senseless that with so much time, anyone would have died in Florida during the hurricane.

As for the original question, I think the main difference regards not the building standards in the US, but the force of winds common to the US as opposed to the UK. I read on a UK weather site that "winds as strong as 90 miles per hour have been recorded in Bristol" and it doesn't sound like that happens all that often. Hurrican Charley brought 145 mph winds to Florida's coast. The storm that hit hallum had winds gusting above 110 mph, and that was just the storm cell itself. The storm spawned multiple tornadoes and the one that hit Hallam was a class F4, which means the winds were more than 200 mph. I doubt even the sturdy brick UK homes could survive that.

Okay I live here in florida. The houses here have special codes to do the best they can. In other words they have to be built as string as they can. yes a brick home can hold up better than a wood home. But not everyone can afford brick. Here in florida it cost about $25,000.00 just to put brick on a home. It isnt cheap. Trust me I know I am building my own house right now. Which is brick because of hurricanes. But even if the house is built great that doesnt mean it can with stand 150mph winds. Thats like saying a brick house or a wood house can hold up if a tornado goes through it. IT WONT!! Down where the hurricane hit is alot of trailer parks. We all know those arent going to stand up in 75mph winds much less 150mph. But anyways say hello to frances cause she will be here in florida come sat night sunday morning.

At least you guys didn't get Hermoine and Gaston... (Anyone else keep thinking of "Beauty and the Beast" when they hear about Gaston?)