were coordinated with Jim Donley of FEMA Region VII and Chris Hudson of FEMA Headquarters Mitigation.
URS was tasked with assessing the damage in Greensburg and with classifying the tornado using the Enhanced Fujita tomado damage scale. The methods used in conducting this work are described in the section titled Study Methodology.
No attempt was made to compare the tornado wind speeds experienced in Greensburg with any building code design wind speeds. Most of the buildings in Greensburg were designed and constructed to older building codes, such as the Uniform Building Code (UBC), although a few newer buildings may have been designed and constructed in accordance with the International Building Code (IBC). Regardless of the code used (IBC or older code such as the UBC), there are currently no design guidelines in the IBC for catastrophic wind events of the magnitude experienced by Greensburg (although there are high wind provisions in the building code for hurricane-prone areas), so a building code comparison was judged to not provide any useful or concluding information.
The work also included developing three recovery advisories that the community, or any community that is impacted by a tornado, can use as reconstruction guidance. One tornado risk advisory was developed to provide the community with a better idea of how the risk of tornadoes in Greensburg might compare with other areas of the country and how that risk might affect decision-making about shelter locations, design, and construction. A second tornado risk advisory was written to provide storm shelter design criteria describing the design concepts important for tornado events. The third tornado risk advisory was written to provide residential sheltering guidance to residents who want to create a safe refuge inside their home. These advisories will soon be available on FEMA's website.
2025-FEFO-00594-000007
