{"id":499,"date":"2026-05-14T17:31:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T17:31:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=499"},"modified":"2026-05-14T17:31:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T17:31:20","slug":"how-much-hurricane-force-wind-can-a-house-take-before-blowing-down-take-a-look","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=499","title":{"rendered":"How much hurricane-force wind can a house take before blowing down? Take a look"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n

How much wind does it take to destroy a house? Florida International University is trying to figure that out.<\/p>\n

Read more Amid brewing power struggle, Miami commission blocks mayor\u2019s $450M bond \u2014 for now<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Researchers put a manufactured house to the test this week by blowing a \u201cwall of wind\u201d at the mobile structure to see how much it could take.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The research was a collaboration between FIU, the University of Kansas and the University of Alabama. The hurricane-force test came from FIU\u2019s \u2018Wall of Wind,\u2019 an array of giant fans, each the height of a person.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The goal? To figure out if building code standards need to be updated to withstand hurricanes and tornadoes.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us to be able to make important code recommendations for change, we could really be saving lives and reducing losses and letting people stay in their homes,\u201d said Elaina Sutley, a principal investigator from the University of Kansas.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For hurricanes in South Florida, the story is the same. Whether for fear of structural failure or airborne debris, residents of manufactured homes are usually required to evacuate in advance of even the lowest category hurricane.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s wind experiment \u2014 with funding from the Florida Division of Emergency Management, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development \u2014 tested a manufactured home both under South Florida\u2019s mandatory building code, set to withstand 110 mph or more, and the mandatory minimum for Kansas, made to withstand 70 mph winds.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Each test blasted a new level of intensity at the home.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For the Florida standard, winds blew 130 mph at the structure, and then 150 mph. Assaulted by the two tests, most of the home\u2019s single-stack, gravity-supporting bricks, along with the front and back windows, caved in and blew out.<\/p>\n

Read more CubaNostalgia celebrates Cuban culture with a packed line-up of shows<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For the Kansas test, researchers cut around 40% of the house\u2019s anchors to the ground and hit it again, first with 110 mph, and finally 130 mph. The windstorm from the fans raged until the home eventually broke off from its remaining anchors, rolling completely over not once, but twice.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

While an entire home rolling away may be extreme, the unit was lost long before that. From a window that broke during the first test, water and airborne debris in a real hurricane would have taken over the interior.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if it didn\u2019t flip, [rain] will destroy the entire interior,\u201d said co-principal investigator Arindam Gan Chowdhury. \u201cWe will have a total loss of the structure and a family is uprooted, basically, and we… cannot put a dollar mark to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

According to a report on U.S. census data, there were around 7.9 million manufactured homes in the U.S. as of 2024, including 824,000 in Florida Researchers want to know how and why they fail in hurricanes.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

FIU will continue to collaborate with other universities to test hurricane conditions on manufactured homes. Two more experiments are in the works with the Wall of Wind.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want communities to be more resilient and to be safer,\u201d Chowdhury said. \u201cIt gives us a lot of satisfaction when we do research that can inform safer building codes, safer policies, safer practices, so people don\u2019t lose their homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Miami voters to decide this summer on even-year elections \u2014 starting in 2034<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FIU researchers used the Wall of Wind to test manufactured homes under South Florida and Kansas codes to find weaknesses and inform updated building standards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hurricane"],"yoast_head":"\nHow much hurricane-force wind can a house take before blowing down? Take a look - Florida Moving Chronicle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=499\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How much hurricane-force wind can a house take before blowing down? Take a look - Florida Moving Chronicle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"FIU researchers used the Wall of Wind to test manufactured homes under South Florida and Kansas codes to find weaknesses and inform updated building standards.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=499\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Florida Moving Chronicle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-14T17:31:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=499#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=499\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/482f60b6a0b7cc84b37966d78057552f\"},\"headline\":\"How much hurricane-force wind can a house take before blowing down? Take a look\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-14T17:31:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=499\"},\"wordCount\":566,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=499#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/89eb5cfbf4a95e55c3a3b9baa5d4eebb.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Hurricane\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=499#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=499\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=499\",\"name\":\"How much hurricane-force wind can a house take before blowing down? Take a look - Florida Moving Chronicle\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=499#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=499#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/89eb5cfbf4a95e55c3a3b9baa5d4eebb.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-14T17:31:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/482f60b6a0b7cc84b37966d78057552f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=499#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=499\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=499#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/89eb5cfbf4a95e55c3a3b9baa5d4eebb.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/89eb5cfbf4a95e55c3a3b9baa5d4eebb.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":674},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=499#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How much hurricane-force wind can a house take before blowing down? Take a look\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Florida Moving Chronicle\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/482f60b6a0b7cc84b37966d78057552f\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How much hurricane-force wind can a house take before blowing down? Take a look - Florida Moving Chronicle","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=499","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How much hurricane-force wind can a house take before blowing down? Take a look - Florida Moving Chronicle","og_description":"FIU researchers used the Wall of Wind to test manufactured homes under South Florida and Kansas codes to find weaknesses and inform updated building standards.","og_url":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=499","og_site_name":"Florida Moving Chronicle","article_published_time":"2026-05-14T17:31:20+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=499#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=499"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/482f60b6a0b7cc84b37966d78057552f"},"headline":"How much hurricane-force wind can a house take before blowing down? Take a look","datePublished":"2026-05-14T17:31:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=499"},"wordCount":566,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=499#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/89eb5cfbf4a95e55c3a3b9baa5d4eebb.jpg","articleSection":["Hurricane"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=499#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=499","url":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=499","name":"How much hurricane-force wind can a house take before blowing down? Take a look - Florida Moving Chronicle","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=499#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=499#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/89eb5cfbf4a95e55c3a3b9baa5d4eebb.jpg","datePublished":"2026-05-14T17:31:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/482f60b6a0b7cc84b37966d78057552f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=499#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=499"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=499#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/89eb5cfbf4a95e55c3a3b9baa5d4eebb.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/89eb5cfbf4a95e55c3a3b9baa5d4eebb.jpg","width":1200,"height":674},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=499#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How much hurricane-force wind can a house take before blowing down? Take a look"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/","name":"Florida Moving Chronicle","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/482f60b6a0b7cc84b37966d78057552f","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com"],"url":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}