As Floridians deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, experts warned of the unprecedented devastation the storm could bring, particularly to areas like Tampa that were still recovering from Hurricane Helene.
One such expert is Aris Papadopoulos, a 9/11 World Trade Center survivor and founder of the Resilience Action Fund. Affiliated with FIU’s Extreme Events Institute, Aris has been a strong advocate for improved building practices and greater community resilience against natural disasters. His recent documentary, Built to Last – Buyer Beware, filmed in Tampa, uncovered critical vulnerabilities in the city’s construction, revealing that luxury apartments are often more at risk than low-income housing.
In our interview, Papadopoulos sheds light on how construction technologies are falling short, shares methods to help Florida rebuild safely and efficiently, and offers insights on protecting communities from future catastrophic events.
Innovation & Tech Today: What construction technologies could make buildings in Tampa more resilient to hurricanes, and where are we falling short?
Aris Papadopoulos: We already have proven technology to build homes and buildings resilient to natural hazards, including wind, water, fire, and geo-seismic. What we need is to apply these on a broader scale. South Florida adopted world-class practices for high winds after Hurricane Andrew that have proven to work over the last 25 years. However, these have yet to be adopted in central and northern Florida and other hurricane-prone Gulf Coast and Atlantic states.
The reason is the unwillingness to pay the initial higher cost and the lobbying by homebuilders and the lumber industry to keep the standards low. So, in Tampa, they’ve continued to build wood houses and apartments that we know won’t survive a Cat-4. They also continue to allow buildings to go up without enough elevation from the water level. It’s all focused on making short-term profits rather than benefiting in the medium/long term. And who pays the price after the developers and builders have left? The consumer.
So, we need to educate the consumer to demand “above code” houses and to prioritize renovations that increase the hazard resistance of their homes. Because, in the future, vulnerable homes will lose value. We also need to educate consumers to make their homes resilient first before they spend on green and smart features. Otherwise, everything will end up in landfills.
I&T Today: Are there new technologies or methods that could help Tampa rebuild both quickly and safely after Hurricane Milton?
Papadopoulos: Adopt South Florida’s wind code and require a minimum elevation of 10 feet above sea level for new/rebuilt buildings. New technologies that 3D-printed houses and factory-built resilient panels for onsite assembly should be encouraged and fast-tracked. There are companies in Florida that have started doing this on a small scale, but now is the time to encourage them and others to ramp up while state and local governments reduce regulatory obstacles.
I&T Today: After Hurricane Helene, infrastructure failures were a major issue. What solutions would you propose to strengthen systems like sewage and power grids in Tampa?
Papadopoulos: The sewage treatment plants in St. Petersburg shut down because they flooded and released millions of gallons of raw sewage into neighborhoods during Helene. These plants need to be rebuilt and elevated in the future so they don’t flood. It will cost tens of billions, but if people want to continue living in low-elevation areas, they’ll have to pay higher sewer fees. Power lines will need to be relocated in water-tight piping underground, again, a costly solution that will raise power rates.
I&T Today: What are the biggest mistakes cities make in their rush to recover, and how can Tampa avoid these pitfalls?
Papadopoulos: Cities rush to get back to normal, often meaning that they just patch up or rebuild the same as before, with little resilience improvement. If they haven’t already debated and created a blueprint on where and how they will rebuild, they can’t focus after a major disaster. This needs to be done years before when things are calm. However, we already have the wind blueprint in South Florida. Tampa should finally adopt this and also require that rebuilt and new buildings have a minimum elevation of 10ft above sea level.
I&T Today: Looking forward, what broader policies or technologies should cities like Tampa adopt to better withstand the growing intensity of hurricanes?
Papadopoulos: Cities need to stop using probabilities to gamble with nature because they’re losing badly. Probabilities, like 100, 500 years, events are human guesses using limited data and backward, not future-thinking. Financial people use these to make money bets. But when we build something that’s intended to last for generations, we should assume the hazard is 100% certainty and mitigate against it. In other words, the entire hurricane coast should assume a building will be hit by a Cat-5.
Also, governments, including Tampa, need to stop using affordability as an excuse to keep standards low. Consumers pay a lot more for insurance, repairs, and rebuilding because we’ve placed them in vulnerable houses. It’s a false economy that also burdens public resources with more emergency facilities, staffing, and response/recovery costs. Finally, governments need to be more upfront with existing homeowners and potential buyers on the risks of different neighborhoods and types of houses. We’ve had a “buyer beware” system.
Fortunately, since October 1st, 2024, a new law went into effect in Florida that requires sellers to disclose the flood history of their properties to prospective buyers, or they can be sued. Only a few other states have this, but we need it across the country. Call it “Truth in Resilience,” like we have “Truth in Lending.” Fortunately, real estate sites like Realtor.com, Redfin, and now I hear Zillow are adding hazard risk information to listings. A helpful move towards more data democracy. This opens buyers’ eyes as to the hazards a location faces, but not how well the house was built. Hopefully, buyers will ask questions and do more detective work. We all need to become more “resilient-smart” to survive in the new Age of Disasters.
