Natural Hazards and Extreme Weather
47 articles in this category
Seismic Restraint of Sprinkler Systems – NFPA-13 versus FM Global Standards
Improperly protected sprinkler piping can move violently during an earthquake, resulting not only in extensive water damage to the interior of the building and equipment, but also result in a...
Antifreeze Solution in Fire Sprinkler Systems
A wet fire-sprinkler system must be protected from freezing when any portion of it is located in spaces with temperatures that cannot reliably be maintained at or above 40┬░F. Water-filled pipes must...
Update for Retrofitting Standing Seam Roofs with External Seam Clamps for Enhanced Wind Uplift Resistance
After our March 2016 article entitled “Retrofitting Standing Seam Roofs with External Enhancement Elements: Clamps," FM Global updated and revised their Property Loss Prevention Data Sheet 1-31,...
Tornadoes
Tornadoes can cause severe property damage with squalls that can have internal wind speeds of up to 300 mph. They can be extremely destructive due to the very high pressures. The land area affected...
Freeze-up Prevention for Fire Protection Equipment
Damage to fire protection equipment during winter weather happens in areas where freezing temperatures are common and where temperatures...
Antifreeze and Dry Pendent Sprinkler Protection
If the temperature can or will be below 40┬░F, the sprinkler piping or heads need to be protected against freezing. There are several methods of automatic sprinkler protection that should be...
Storm Surge
The major hazards associated with hurricanes are: storm surge and storm tide heavy rainfall and inland flooding high winds rip currents tornadoes For coastal areas, storm surge and large...
Hurricane Sandy and Emergency Preparedness
On Monday October 29, 2012 a Cat 1 (80 mph 1-minute) hurricane made landfall in Atlantic City, NJ. The storm had a very broad windfield with a 1,000 mile diameter of tropical storm force...
Fear vs. Prevention
Two years ago a leading article with a major head line in the USA Today stated "Fierce Hurricane Season Predicted." The article went on to say that an "extremely active" hurricane season was to occur...
Flood Protection
Recent studies have shown that anywhere from 10 to 25% of facilities can experience flooding. Flood maps can give an indication of the flood exposure for a facility. However, there could be errors in...
RMS Windstorm Model - Version 11.0 Secondary Modifiers Changes
Risk Management Solutions, Inc. (RMS) specializes in developing probabilistic models of catastrophes. These catastrophe (CAT) models are developed using detailed databases of highly localized...
Preparing for Winter Weather
A common misconception is that property losses due to winter weather only occur in regions where harsh winters are the standard. Actually, areas that don't usually have severe weather suffer larger...