Ms Harris said it was “by the grace of the universe” that the tornado – with winds of up to 210km an hour – did not kill anyone. However, the twister left dozens of homes uninhabitable; they are not built to withstand his power.
Homes on the East Coast are also not prepared for more frequent hurricanes or those on the West Coast for severe heat waves and wildfires. And homes across the country are ill-prepared for devastating floods.
As extreme weather events increase, the way the places we live, work and play are designed and built is more important than ever. And building codes, which set minimum standards for structural protection, are a tool that, if they take climate change into account, can save lives and property.
To find out how well building codes across the country are protecting us, The Globe and Mail interviewed dozens of engineers, architects, builders, researchers, meteorologists, inspectors and government officials, as well as stakeholders in the insurance and lending industries.
Reporters sifted through thousands of pages of documents and combed through nearly 1,600 proposals sent to national codemakers dating back 15 years to uncover efforts to improve building sustainability — and resistance to it.
The Globe’s months-long investigation reveals that Canada’s building code provisions are insufficient to counter our new climate reality, and are largely based on outdated or poor quality data that is not considered current or future climate change. The average annual rainfall totals reported in the latest edition, for example, rely on observations from 1961 to 1990.
The Globe also found that the independent panels that develop the National Building Code first received proposals a decade ago to include climate resilience in design and construction requirements. However, such adaptation measures have not been a priority, with the provinces and territories being targeted first on energy efficiency.
Although climate adaptation has begun to be addressed in policy, this has not yet been translated into concrete technical priorities for the 2025 national code – and we are unlikely to see resilience measures introduced until the 2030 version. This means that the houses we are building now will not be built to better withstand the severe weather events that we know are increasing across the country, setting us up for more destruction, more lives at risk and higher insurable losses.
The Globe’s analysis of the national code focuses on structures that are three stories or less and that occupy an area that does not exceed 600 square meters. Known as Part 9 buildings in the code, these include properties that house businesses, offices and low-hazard industrial sites. And, of course, they include most people’s homes.
Unlike larger buildings, those in the Part 9 category do not require design services or the signature of a professional engineer. But when natural disasters strike, they represent significant insured losses.
Water surrounds a house in Abbotsford, British Columbia, during the November 2021 floods, one of Canada’s costliest disasters in terms of insurance payouts. Darryl Dyke/The Canadian Press
Despite the building code’s critical role in public safety, several people interviewed for this story described how the slow and fragmented process of updating it has left us vulnerable. “One of the problems with codes and standards is that they’re just minimums,” said climate risk consultant David Lapp, a former manager of Engineers Canada. “It’s quite a difficult process to keep up with these changes … we’re seeing these events happen more frequently and more intensely, and the codes and standards are struggling to keep up.”
They also emphasized that the national codemaking process functions as a “black box” in which little information trickles down to the person or group who submitted a proposed change.
The federal government is taking steps to address data gaps and problems with the code development system, but critics say the effort is too little, too late and doesn’t match Ottawa’s climate change pledges.
The stakes are only going to get higher. According to Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc., a consulting company that analyzes weather and man-made disaster data, insured losses from severe weather events in Canada have increased from an average of $400 million annually in the early 2000s to an average of approximately 2 billion dollars in recent years.
Gregory Kopp, the lead researcher on Western University’s Northern Tornado Project, was on the scene after the 2021 twister in Barrie to survey the damage and determine the intensity of the tornado. He saw the torn pink insulation among the broken bricks, torn siding and ruined roofs.
It makes no sense, he said, to codify energy efficiency but then implement climate resilience measures that keep these energy-efficient homes intact. “If it ends up in the landfill,” he said, “it’s a no-brainer.”
A July 2021 storm hit Barrie with winds of up to 135 miles per hour. It wasn’t Barry’s first encounter with a tornado, and in the changing climate it certainly won’t be his last. Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press Western University’s Gregory Kopp demonstrates the function of hurricane straps that can protect a house’s roof from being blown off in a tornado. Learn more below about how straps and other reinforcements can help windproof different types of homes. Melissa Tate/The Globe and Mail
A hip roof, which is sloped on all sides, is more resistant to wind damage than a gable roof.
Gable roofs present major obstacles to the full force of the wind and are subject to large uplift forces.
Gable roofs can be reinforced with braces, which often consist of two-by-fours placed in an “X” pattern at either end of the roof.
Regardless of the type of roof, these galvanized steel straps help secure the roof to the walls.
Installing them on external walls can increase the stability of the building.
Its use can prevent wind-blown debris from breaking windows and entering the building.
They are used to connect structural elements to concrete.
Anchoring storage sheds and other outbuildings helps prevent them from becoming flying debris.
TREES AROUND THE PROPERTY
The distance between the building and each tree should be greater than the height of the tree when it reaches full growth.
Its use can prevent wind-blown debris from breaking windows and entering the building.
MURAT YUXELIR / THE GLOBE AND THE POST,
SOURCE: FEMA; AMERICAN GROUND ANCHORS
A hip roof, which is sloped on all sides, is more resistant to wind damage than a gable roof.
Gable roofs present major obstacles to the full force of the wind and are subject to large uplift forces.
Gable roofs can be reinforced with braces, which often consist of two-by-fours placed in an “X” pattern at either end of the roof.
Regardless of the type of roof, these galvanized steel straps help secure the roof to the walls.
Installing them on external walls can increase the stability of the building.
Its use can prevent wind-blown debris from breaking windows and entering the building.
They are used to connect structural elements to concrete.
Anchoring storage sheds and other outbuildings helps prevent them from becoming flying debris.
TREES AROUND THE PROPERTY
The distance between the building and each tree must be greater than the height of the tree when it reaches full growth.
Its use can prevent wind-blown debris from breaking windows and entering the building.
MURAT YUXELIR / THE GLOBE AND THE POST,
SOURCE: FEMA; AMERICAN GROUND ANCHORS
A hip roof, which is sloped on all sides, is more resistant to wind damage than a gable roof.
Gable roofs present major obstacles to the full force of the wind and are subject to large uplift forces.
Gable roofs can be reinforced with braces, which often consist of two-by-fours placed in an “X”
pattern at both ends of the ceiling.
TREES AROUND THE PROPERTY
The distance between the building and each tree should be greater than the height of the tree when it reaches full growth.
Regardless of the type of roof, these galvanized steel straps help secure the roof to the walls.
Installing them on external walls can increase the stability of the building.
Its use can prevent wind-blown debris from breaking windows and entering the building.
Anchoring storage sheds and other outbuildings helps prevent them from becoming flying debris.
They are used to connect structural elements to concrete.
MURAT YUXELIR / THE GLOBE AND THE POST, SOURCE: FEMA; AMERICAN GROUND ANCHORS
A hip roof, which is sloped on all sides, is more resistant to wind damage than a gable roof.
Gable roofs present major obstacles to the full force of the wind and are subject to large uplift forces.
Gable roofs can be reinforced with braces, which often consist of two-by-fours placed in an “X”
pattern at both ends of the ceiling.
TREES AROUND THE PROPERTY
The distance between the building and each tree should be…
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