Online Damage Report

May 2016 University of Florida Tornado Report

Fallen palm tree found in front of Buckman Hall after the high intensity winds at the University of Florida

University of Florida’s Wind Hazard Damage Assessment Teamhttp://windhazard.davidoprevatt.com/

PI: David O. Prevatt, Ph.D., PE, dprev@ufl.edu

Contributing Author:David B. Roueche, PhD Candidate

Graduate Students:Allan M. Gutierrez

Arpit BhusarSiddhesh RahateGabriel Ayabe

22 May 2015

Wind Hazard Damage Assessment TeamEngineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment

University of Florida29 December, 2015

Executive Summary

On 20 May 2016, UF’s Emergency Management reported a series of wind-related damage during a midday thunderstorm that traveled from west to east across campus. Damage reports indicated trees down over a 0.7 mile long path, extending from near University Ave at the Old President’s House to Sisler Hall in the east.  The WHDAG received a report at midday through the Jacksonville Weather service, prompted us to mobilize, conduct a forensic investigation and capture the available damage information. Our students utilized forensic engineering training and wind engineering knowledge to evaluate evidence of a tornado touchdown on campus.  Our evidence suggests that an EF0 tornado may have formed and caused damage to the roof canopy at the Students rec center pool east of Ben Griffin Stadium. Workers reported pool chairs were picked up and rotating above the pool before being thrown to the other side.  Fortunately, the damage was limited to downed trees, and damage to vegetation with minimal structural damage, and no injuries. 

The event was instructive and tested our resourcefulness in response to a damaging wind event.  Students communicated with the Jacksonville Weather Service, who confirmed that a couplet at 6,000 ft radar scan suggested some circulation in the atmosphere at the time of the damage.  PhD Candidate, David B. Roueche, led the 3-person investigation team, while simultaneously other students located maps and data and was able to populate the UF campus where damage occurred.  Our team relied upon timely information from the UF Emergency Department, and first-person interviews with UF workers at the pool who kindly provided photographs of the damage.  By the time the WHDAG team were on site most of the damage had already been cleaned up, reflecting the need for forensic engineers to immediately mobilize to verify perishable evidence.

It is our opinion that an EF0 tornado occurred causing damage to the pool area.  We could not confirm whether the tornado indeed tracked across campus from the President’s Mansion to Sisler Hall.

This natural wind event is instructive for the campus community, as it served as a reminder that severe wind events, including tornadoes, can occur anywhere, sometimes with little warning. Injuries were prevented because people were able to protect themselves from wind-borne debris and missiles, and falling trees and windows.  Knowing what to do in an emergency is important.  Severe weather alerts should be responded to immediately with safe actions, including moving away from windows and doors into small interior rooms on the lowest floor of structures if in the path of an oncoming tornado.

The WHDAG continues to document damaging wind events and to publish our findings to affected communities.  It is our belief that through Engineering, Education and Community Engagement we will best prepare our society to live more resilient lives in the face of natural wind hazards.

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Wind Hazard Damage Assessment TeamEngineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment

University of Florida29 December, 2015

About the Wind Hazard Damage Assessment Team

This report was prepared from online sources by University of Florida civil engineering students in Prof. David O. Prevatt’s Research Group. The study is done in parallel to our experimental research seeking to understand and quantify the strength of tornadoes and their impact on vulnerable wood-framed residential structures. Compilation of this information is part of student learning objectives in forensic engineering and post-disaster damage investigation.

The students gathered the information in this report from available sources, including the University of Florida Division of Public Safety and University of Florida Emergency Management.

Please visit our website, http://windhazard.davidoprevatt.com , for additional information, and to download previous damage reports, and filed survey results conducted by our group. Dr. Prevatt and his colleagues have published several papers on recent violent tornadoes that struck Tuscaloosa, AL, Joplin, MO, and Moore, OK. His group has also inspected damaged structures and compiled reports on tornadoes that occur in Florida. Information is also available on the research at www.davidoprevatt.com. Your questions and comments on any aspects of our work are most welcome. Please direct your enquiries to PhD Graduate Student, Mr. David B. Roueche, NSF GRFP Fellow, who can be reached at david.roueche@ufl.edu. The Group is seeking to a Webmaster to manage the website and Recruitment Leader for the upcoming year. Interested UF students (in any field) should contact Dr. Prevatt.

The Wind Hazard Damage Assessment Team was created through support from the NSF Award #1150975. Its mission is to train university students interested in building construction, engineering and architecture in the forensic engineering and techniques for post-hazard damage surveys and data collection. The team has surveyed damage after several Florida tornadoes and continuously monitors the prevalence of tornadoes worldwide. Ultimately the Damage Assessment Team hopes to inspire upcoming engineers and building professionals in hopes to change the paradigm of widespread catastrophic damage to houses in tornadoes and other extreme wind events.

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Wind Hazard Damage Assessment TeamEngineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment

University of Florida29 December, 2015

TIMING OF WIND STORM EVENTAt 11:04 AM, the WRUF-TV Weather team estimated that thunderstorms moving northeast across Florida would be impacting the University of Florida campus by 11:24 AM. At 11:19 AM, radar from the National Weather Service station at Jacksonville, FL indicated that there were rotating winds aloft, approximately 6,000 ft above ground level. At 11:26 AM, UF Public Safety was reporting trees downed near Buckman Rd on the University of Florida campus. As the storm moved past Gainesville into Keystone Heights, gusts of 45 mph were confirmed (via Jeff Huffman).

Figure 1: Estimated arrival times of strong thunderstorms for various locations within Gainesville, FL.

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Wind Hazard Damage Assessment TeamEngineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment

University of Florida29 December, 2015

Figure 2: Relative velocity snapshot from radar at NWS Jacksonville at 11:19 AM, measured at 6,000 ft above ground level. Green indicates winds traveling towards radar (left to right), red indicates winds

traveling away from radar. Wind speeds going opposite directions in close proximity indicate rotation.

DAMAGE SURVEY BY THE UF WIND HAZARD DAMAGE ASSESSMENT GROUP (WHDAG)

At 1:47 PM, the UF WHDAG received word of the reported damage and quickly mobilized three members – Associate Professor David O. Prevatt, PhD candidate David B. Roueche, and undergraduate Gabriel Ninomiya – to conduct a survey of the damage. The focus of the survey was on the location and orientation of damage, with the objective of evaluating whether a brief tornado had touched down on the UF campus, or whether the damage had been caused by straightline winds only. With this goal, the team looked for evidence of damage being caused by winds moving in an opposing direction to the overall storm motion, which can be an indication of the rotating winds occurring in tornadoes. The team documented the damage with geo-located photographs and hand sketches to place the damage in context of its surroundings. The team also interviewed personnel who had observed the damage when available. The survey was completed by 3:45 PM.

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Wind Hazard Damage Assessment TeamEngineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment

University of Florida29 December, 2015

Figure 3: Left – Gabriel Ninomiya and David Roueche interviewing UF employees who had witnessed the damage at the pool. Right – Gabriel Ninomiya and David Roueche document damage to a tree near Buckman Hall.

SUMMARY OF OBSERVED DAMAGE

The following maps give an overview of the damage observed on the University of Florida campus. The entire extent of the reported damage was approximately 0.7 miles, initiating at the Old President’s House and concluding just beyond Sisler Hall.

Figure 4 Map showing affected locations of damage from high wind speeds on May 20 th 2016 in University of Florida. The pool area is shown in more detail in Figure 5. Numbered circles refer to trees

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Wind Hazard Damage Assessment TeamEngineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment

University of Florida29 December, 2015

that were downed by the storm, with arrows depicting direction of tree-fall.

Figure 5: Overview of pool area showing location of roof damage and movement of lounge chairs in relation to general path of the storm.

SUMMARY OF TREE DAMAGE

Six trees were observed to have fallen during the wind storm event, the locations of which were shown in Figure 4. Descriptions of the trees are provided in Table 1.

Table 1: Summary of downed trees on the University of Florida campus

Tree Number Location Direction of Fall Tree Type Tree Diameter

1 Old UF President’s House NE Pine ~ 20 inches

2 Old UF President’s House NE Oak ~ 32 inches

3 Old UF President’s House NE Pine ~ 24 inches

4 Fletcher Drive at Thomas Hall NE Oak ~ 20 inches

5 Buckman Hall NW Palm ~ 18 inches

6 Sisler Hall NW Oak ~ 18 inches

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Wind Hazard Damage Assessment TeamEngineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment

University of Florida29 December, 2015

Figure 6: Photographs of the six trees felled on the University of Florida campus by strong winds.

Tree 1 Tree 2

Tree 3 Tree 4

Tree 5 Tree 6

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Wind Hazard Damage Assessment TeamEngineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment

University of Florida29 December, 2015

SUMMARY OF DAMAGE TO STRUCTURESA few structures on the University of Florida campus were damaged during the high wind event. At the old President’s House, no damage to the canopies and lawn furniture on the back porch was observed, but one shingle may have been damaged by the wind (Figure 7 and Figure 8). It could not be confirmed however whether the lifted shingle was due this wind event or some prior event.

At the Student Recreation Center pool, some corrugated metal roofing panels were blown off as shown in Figure 9. The panels were fastened to the tube steel frame with self-tapping metal screws. A few screws remained in place but most were not visible. Lounge chairs on the east side of the pool were also blown across the pool, moving opposite the general storm motion, and stacked against a fence on the west side of the pool as shown in Figure 9. During interviews, two University of Florida employees who witnessed the event stated the chairs swirled around before being tossed against the fence. They also stated that water in the pool was being sucked up vertically during the passage of the storm.

At Sisler Hall, a single pane glass window was shattered on the fourth floor of a stair well. A metal protective screen that had been covering the window appeared to have been punctured by debris, but it could not be confirmed whether this occurred during the storm.

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Wind Hazard Damage Assessment TeamEngineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment

University of Florida29 December, 2015

Figure 7: Lawn furniture and canopies behind the old President’s House remained undisturbed.

Figure 8: Possible damage to roof shingle atop old President’s House

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Wind Hazard Damage Assessment TeamEngineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment

University of Florida29 December, 2015

Figure 9: Top left – portions of the corrugated steel roof were uplifted and tossed to the side (Photo provided by UF Department of Emergency Management). Top right – several screws remained in place indicating they pulled through the panels uplifted by the wind. Bottom – lawn chairs tossed against the west fence after the storm passed over (Photo provided by the UF Department of Emergency Management).

Figure 10: Left – damaged window on the fourth floor of Sisler Hall. Right – irregular tear in the screen over the broken window, possibly indicative of debris.

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Wind Hazard Damage Assessment TeamEngineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment

University of Florida29 December, 2015

WIND SPEED ESTIMATES

Wind speed estimates in tornadoes are predominately made based on the observed damage, which can introduce uncertainty into the estimates. The Enhanced Fujita Scale (EF Scale) provides wind speed estimates for specific degrees of damage (DOD) to 28 common damage indicators (e.g., 1- and 2-story residential buildings, trees). For the snapped pine trees, the EF Scale estimates wind speeds of at least 88 mph. For the snapped oak, the EF Scale estimates wind speeds of at least 93 mph. For the uprooted oak trees, the EF Scale estimates wind speeds of at least 76 mph.

The shingle that was possibly damaged at the old President’s House could be classified as DOD2 for 1- and 2-story residential buildings in the EF Scale, which represents loss of less than 20% of the roof covering. The minimum wind speed expected to cause this damage is 63 mph, but this could be lower since it was only a single shingle that may have been damaged. The wind speeds required to lift the corrugated roof panels at the pool are difficult to estimate without knowing the condition and exact layout of the panels and their fasteners. Sisler Hall best fits the description in the EF Scale of a Low-Rise Building (1-4 stories), consisting of a flat roof, rectangular shape, and steel or reinforced concrete frame. Broken glass in windows is estimated to be caused by at least 83 mph wind speeds.

With these wind speed estimates however, it is important to consider what was not damaged in the immediate vicinity as well. At the old President’s House, while trees were snapped in the front yard, back porch patio furniture was not moved at all, and only a single roofing shingle may have been damaged. Damage was light across the O’Connell center parking lot with only palm branches downed. While a few trees were down between Fletcher Drive and Sisler Hall, there were many more that survived without even any obvious broken branches.

Given the entire body of evidence, the wind speed estimates given above are likely upper bound wind speeds. Trees have been observed to fall at wind speeds well below the EF Scale estimates, as was likely the case here.

TORNADO OR STRAIGHTLINE WINDS?

Evaluating whether weak tornadoes occurred or not can be very difficult when straightline winds were known to have occurred as well at relatively the same time. In the damage observed here, four of the six trees were oriented along the direction of storm motion, which makes the possibility that they were felled by a single tornado less likely. The most convincing evidence for a tornado is likely near the pool, where the motion of the chairs from east to west, nearly against the forward motion of the storm, suggests tornado winds may have occurred. The witness accounts also provide evidence of this. The two trees that were oriented pointing to the NW are also evidence for a tornado, as they contrast with the forward motion of the storm and the orientation of the other felled trees. The broken window at Sisler could easily have been caused by straightline winds, particularly if trees were nearby from which debris could be taken by the storm and used to fracture the glass.

Based on this evidence, our best estimate is that a brief, weak tornado quickly spun up and dissipated, but is likely only responsible for the damage at the pool and trees 4,5,6 and the window damage at Sisler

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Wind Hazard Damage Assessment TeamEngineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment

University of Florida29 December, 2015

Hall. The tornado would be rated EF0, the weakest intensity in the EF Scale, indicating wind speeds of no more than 85 mph, and likely 65 mph or less. As further evidence, either radar data or additional photographs, becomes available, this estimate may be revised to reflect the newest evidence.

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the National Science Foundation for the financial support of this study under research grant 1150975. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

About the PI

David O. Prevatt is an Associate Professor of Civil & Coastal Engineering, in the School of Sustainable Infrastructure & Environment, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. He is a registered professional engineer registered in Massachusetts and in Trinidad and Tobago.

ReferencesPeer-Reviewed PublicationsPrevatt, D. O., Coulbourne, B., Graettinger, A., Pei, S., Gupta, R., and Grau, D. (2013). “Tornado of May

22, 2011 – Structural Damage Survey and Case for Tornado-Resilient Building Codes”, 47 p. ASCE/Structural Engineering Institute, Reston, VA.

Prevatt, D. O., Roueche, D. B., et al. (2011c). “Building damage observations and EF classifications from the Tuscaloosa, AL and Joplin, MO tornadoes.” Proc., 2012 Structures Congress, ASCE, Reston, VA, in press. Prevatt, D. O., van de Lindt, J. W., Graettinger, A., et al. (2011a). Damage study and future direction for structural design following the Tuscaloosa tornado of 2011 . University of Florida, Gainesville.

Prevatt, David. O., van de Lindt, J.W., Back, E., Graettinger, A.J., Pei, S., Coulbourne, W., Gupta, R., James, D., Agdas, D.; (2012) Making the Case for Improved Structural Design: The Tornado Outbreaks of 2011, October 2012 ASCE’s Leadership and Management in Engineering Journal

Prevatt, D.O., van de Lindt, J.W., Graettinger, A.,Coulbourne, B., Gupta, R., Pei, S., Hensen, S., Grau, D.(2011a) Damage Study and Future Direction for Structural Design Following the Tuscaloosa Tornado of 2011, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL (April 5, 2012).

Prevatt, D. O., van de Lindt, J. W., Gupta, R., and Coulbourne, B. (2011d). “Structural performance—Tuscaloosa tornado.” Structure Magazine, July, 24–26.

Vo, T. D., Prevatt, D. O., Acomb, G. A., Schild, N. K., & Fischer, K. T. (2012, October). High speed wind uplift research on green roof assemblies. Conference paper presented at Cities alive: 10th annual green roof & wall conference, Chicago, IL. Retrieved from http://windhazard.davidoprevatt.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/SUBMISSION-5R-1-Vo-et-al.-High-speed-wind-uplift-research-on-green-roof-assemblies.pdf

Wurman, J., Alexander, C., Robinson, P. & Richardson, Y. (2007, January). Low-level winds in tornadoes and potential catastrophic tornado impacts in urban areas, Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc. American Meteorological Society, DOI:10.1175/BAMS-88-1-31.

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Wind Hazard Damage Assessment TeamEngineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment

University of Florida29 December, 2015

Other Publications and Research ReportsPrevatt, D. O., Agdas, D., & Thompson, A. (2013). Tornado damage and impacts on nuclear facilities in

the united states. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Retrieved from http://windhazard.davidoprevatt.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Prevatt-2013-US-Nuclear-Power-Plants-and-Tornadoes_dop.pdf

Prevatt, D. O., Doreste, J., & Egnew, A. (2013). Online summary damage from the 31 May 2013 tornado in El Reno, OK. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Retrieved from http://windhazard.davidoprevatt.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/El-Reno-Tornado-31-May-2013-Summary-UNIV-FLORIDA.pdf

Prevatt, D. O., Kerr, A., Peng, X., Vo, T., & Doreste, J. (2012). Damage survey following the August 27th, 2012 tornado in Vero Beach, FL. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Retrieved from http://windhazard.davidoprevatt.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Damage-Survey-Vero-Beach-Tornado-Sept-7-2012-UNIV-FLORIDA.pdf

Prevatt, D. O., Roueche, D., Thompson, A., & Doreste, J. (2013). Online summary damage from the 20 May 2013 tornado in Moore, OK. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Retrieved from http://windhazard.davidoprevatt.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Moore-Tornado-20-May-2013-TORNADO-Summary-UNIV-FLORIDA.pdf

Prevatt, D. O., Roueche, D., Vo, T., Kerr, A., Thompson, A., Peng, X., & Egnew, A. (2013). Online/internet damage summary of the 15th May, 2013 North Texas tornado outbreak. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Retrieved from http://windhazard.davidoprevatt.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Summary-of-North-Texas-Tornado-Outbreak-on-May-15th_Final.pdf

Prevatt, D. O., Roueche, D., Kerr, A., & Peng, X. (2012). Summary of june 24, 2012 Lake Placid tornado. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Retrieved from http://windhazard.davidoprevatt.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/June-24-Lake-Placid-Tornado-Damage-Survey.pdf Engineering, Vol. 139, No. 2, February 1, 2013. ©ASCE, ISSN 0733-9445/2013/2-251–263. Appendix

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