Hurricanes disproportionately affect low socioeconomic households. Hurricane Ida forced 14,000 people out of their homes in one parish alone, causing $15B in property damage. Property damage has a domino effect that impacts local businesses and local crime rates due to forced displacement.​ According to the U.S. Dept of Commerce, hurricanes have a real, measurable impact on the GDP of affected areas - in the case of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, they lowered GDP growth by 0.7 and 0.5% in the third and fourth quarters of 2005, respectively. Further, this problem will only increase in severity and frequency due to the effects of global climate change. To address this broad space, we attempt to target the structural aspect of homes. Through our research, we discovered that roofs are the first part of the home to fail during a hurricane. Because of this, roofs are a very vulnerable part of homes that often need reinforcement to survive hurricanes.

Team: Tejaswini Ashnok, George Bourgikos, Katsuki Chan, Teddy Feldmann, Sean Jung