[JohnW]

Half the problem with damage to housing here is that there are a lot of prefabricated buildings that are called 'mobile homes.' A lot of the snowbirds own them. They live in the northern part of the US but come down in the wintertime to escape the snow etc. There are a considerable amount of families living in these types of houses all year round though. These are, of course, unable to stand up to high winds such as are generated by a hurricane. Having said that, conventional dwellings are not built like British homes, most of them being just wooden framed houses. Mind you, they are built very quickly and less expensively than those in Britain. To my mind however, you would think that in a State which is prone to hurricanes they would try to build housing which would withstand the high winds.