A new video on the FEMA website features a two-family townhouse on Ocean Avenue in Sea Bright that emerged from Hurricane Sandy will almost no damage. (Click to enlarge)
What saves homes from destructive hurricane flooding? The builder of a Sea Bright two-family that came through Sandy with barely a scratch credits building above code standards, according to a new video produced by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
In the video, builder-homeowner Ray Guzman and architect Paul Damiano marvel at the minimal damage inflicted on the structure, at 1246 Ocean Avenue. Other than having lost some roof copper and having the fence knocked down by boats that floated into the yard, there was no damage, Damiano says.
The house, built in 2011, employed freeboard, the concept of building in extra height below the first floor to give it additional protection against a tidal storm surge. Instead of building to base-flood elevation plus one foot, as they would have been permitted under borough ordinance, Damiano and Guzman built to plus-two. Water came within six inches of the first floor, but it was not touched, they said.
The home was also outfitted with flood vents in the garage, which minimized pressure as water rose and permitted water to quickly drain away as the surged abated, Damiano says in the video, posted by FEMA last week.
The home’s windows were boarded up with plywood prior to the storm. It’s garage doors remained intact, unlike those of many nearby homes.
“The only cleanup needed was to remove the river muck from the garage floor,” FEMA says in a separate press release.
