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Executive Summary I r On October 4,1995, Hurricane Opal made landfall on Santa Rosa Island, Florida, near Navarre Beach, at approximately 6:00 p.m. c.d. t. (central daylight time.) As a result of the damage caused by Hurricane Opal, President Clinton declared 15 counties in the Florida Panhandle and Lee County, on the southwest Florida coast, Federal disaster areas (see Figure 1-1). The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) deployed a Building Performance Assessment Team (BPAT) whose mission was to evaluate structural damage and recommend mitigation measures that will enhance the performance of buildings in future storms. The team was composed of engineers and building construction specialists from FEMA, the State of Florida, and the private sector (see the Appendix for a list of the team members). The BPAT conducted its evaluation in the area where most of the severe damage was concentrated: along a 200-mile stretch of Florida's Gulf of Mexico shoreline, between Pensacola Beach, in Escambia County, and St.Joseph Spit, in Gulf County (see Figure 1-1). The BPAT's observations focused on the performance of buildings during the hurricane, including both successes and failures. These observations and the BPAT's recommendations are documented in this report. Preliminary estimates by the insurance industry indicate that Opal may be one of the most costly natural disasters to affect the United States (ranking only behind Hurricane Andrew; the Northridge, California, earthquake; and Hurricane Hugo). According to State of Florida estimates, more structures were damaged or destroyed by the effects of flooding and erosion during Hurricane Opal than in all other coastal storms affecting Florida in the past 20 years combined. , , " Most of the structural damage associated with the storm appeared to have been caused by coastal flood forces - storm surge, wind-generated waves, flood-induced erosion, and floodborne debris. Wind damage along the coast was confined primarily to roof damage, sign damage, tree damage, and similar impacts and was judged by the BPAT to be less severe and less extensive than flood damage. Construction along and near the shoreline in the study area was generally governed by one or more of the follo,,~ng: . The Standard Building Code, enforced by local or county governments . National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) construction requirements - in identified Special Flood Hazard Areas - enforced by local or county governments . State construction requirements for structures seaward of the Coastal Construction Control Line, enforced by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection To participate in the NFIP, a community must adopt and enforce a floodplain management ordinance based on the Flood Insurance Rate Map (TIRM) issued for the community by FEMA. The communities in the study area include structures built before the adoption of the floodplain management ordinance and structures built after the adoption of the ordinance. The former are referred to as "pre-FIRM" structures, the later as "post-TIRM." Typical pre-TIRM structures in the study area are one-story concrete block or wood-frame structures built on slab-on-grade HURRICANE OPAL IN FLORIDA 1