It’s part of the reason that tighter building codes — mandatory in places such as South Florida — were not put in place for most of this region until just 11 years ago. “We’re learning painfully that we shouldn’t be doing those kinds of exemptions,” said Don Brown, a former legislator from the Panhandle who now sits on the Florida Building Commission. The acres of flattened homes showed how contractors cut corners amid the patchwork of codes Florida had at the time. But it wasn’t until 2007 that homes built in the Panhandle more than one mile from shore were required to follow the higher standards. He said engineers will be asking how old the destroyed and damaged buildings were and under what version of the Florida building codes they were built.

Source: National Post October 14, 2018 19:30 UTC