In this episode of Disaster Discussions our guest host Dr. Ian Giammanco sits down with Dr. David Roueche from Auburn University to discuss where we are in our effort to reduce the damage caused by extreme winds. The two discuss the success story of the modern building codes used along the hurricane-prone coast but also the lack of progress in areas which primarily deal with the impacts of severe convective storms, including tornadoes. During this Disaster Discussions we also delve into what damage modes in tornadoes are the greatest threat to life safety, how different building attributes can act as damage amplifiers leading to even more damage, and the vulnerability of manufactured and mobile homes to tornadoes.

On this episode, meteorologists and wind engineers head to Bamberg, South Carolina to survey tornado damage after a January severe weather event. Join the discussion to explore an example of the operational application of wind engineering during a tornado survey from John Quagliariello and Matt Gropp with the Columbia, SC National Weather Service office. IBHS’s Ali Merhi joins the conversation as well to share research perspectives from the ground as IBHS builds its partnership with local NWS offices and the broader weather enterprise.

As we celebrate just over one year of our Disaster Discussions Podcast, our staff chose their Top 5 favorite episodes of our podcast so far. These conversations stood out to us as informative and engaging, and we invite you to go listen to each episode in its entirety! Thank you to all of our listeners for making this year plus of our podcast a success. We're looking forward to bring you more insightful interviews from a variety of guests across the industries served by IBHS!