Originally published at: Rare happy ending to "Florida man" story - Boing Boing
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From Gail Sherman…
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You know, I saw this and honestly if those anchors go deep enough and those straps are strong enough, it sounds like a good idea for keeping a roof on a house. Sure, I am sure it won’t work in every scenario, but it certainly might be a tool. Have anchor points put into the yard (tubes in concrete that are flush with the ground so you can mow over them). Then have a kit in the garage that has anchors that insert into the tubes and you can attach the straps.
Certainly I think this idea is worth testing. Maybe this was a fluke, or his house encountered winds that wouldn’t have ripped his roof off anyway. But if it turns it out it works, get some subsidies out there to get at least all single story homes a kit.
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What I really want to know is if after he secured those straps, did he utter the magic words…“That’s not going anywhere!”
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Well dumb luck certainly won the day for some Floridians, including that guy who insisted on riding out the storm in the little sailboat that he lives in at Tampa Bay. He briefly obtained some minor folk hero status for that but of course went and did this:
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Normally hurricane straps are metal bits inside the roof, but whatever works!
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On the one hand, I admire his ingenuity and work. On the other hand…
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Don’t worry, inhabitants of Marineville, we’ve got this covered.
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Maybe just start building real houses made of brick, iron and mortar, and no more plaster, cardboard, wood and plastic. Two weeks ago we had a 140 Km/h storm, only some plants were damaged and some trees too, but houses, not a single one. It is so basic that there is even a kid´s tale about it → the three little piglets.
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Here in the Uk we don’t really get much in the way of hurricanes. We get the tail end of some from the USA, but greatly diminshed, for the most part. That said, I live on the side of a hill - Stonebreaks Hill in Oldham, and my wife has reinforced the field-shelter for her horses with straps. It works. The previous structure couldn’t stand the wind. The local Cricket Club built an extra structure in brieze-block to house their groundskeeping equipment. A severe storm last year blew the flat roof clean off. They have replaced it, and it has now withstood equivalent winds successfully, without straps. It probably has internal metal straps this time. When I studied architecture, one of our tutors had the career-crushing experience of having an entire housing estate that he designed lose their rooves in a high wind. It’s not just the high wind - resonance is a factor too. That’s why those tall metal chimneys have those spiral projections.
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A cargo net might work better.
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Somewhat OT but this was the first thing to come to mind:
Wonder what you would build with to scare a storm? 
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