OK City Data Center Built To Withstand Winds Up To 310 MPH, Says Contractor 139
dcblogs writes "The area around and to the southwest of Oklahoma City, where more tornadoes were striking Friday night, 'has perhaps the greatest frequency of tornadoes in the U.S.,' said John Snow, a professor of meteorology at the University of Oklahoma. About 95% of all tornadoes are below EF3 intensity, and only 0.1% achieve EF5, which is what hit Moore earlier this month. To build a data center capable of surviving an EF3, Perimeter Technology in Oklahoma City surrounded the raised floor portion of the data center with 8.5-in. reinforced concrete walls. The data center is in the middle of the building, and around it are offices protected by another 8.5-in. exterior wall. But there's another data center in Oklahoma City that may be able survive 310 MPH winds. The company, Devon Energy, isn't talking about its data center or even confirming that it has one capable of handling these winds. But a contractor has disclosed details."
It seems (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:It seems (Score:2, Insightful)
At last you yankees finally got the tale of the three little pigs right.
Just because a private company was smart enough to protect its own business by investing in appropriate infrastructure for its chosen location doesn't mean the rest of the area (let alone all us yankees) will follow suit. It's all risk assessment and budgeting, and most municipalities are always willing to short change the future residents and politicians for the sake of not being the ones who spent "all that money on something that will probably never ever be used or even adequately tested". If they don't envision themselves as being in office or up for election that far into the future they are more than happy to drop the future potential catastrophe into the laps of whomever ends up in their place.
Their (lack of) foresight always reminds me of the Monorail episode of the Simpsons.
Re:It seems (Score:2, Insightful)
1. Oklahomans don't really appreciate being called Yankees.
2. Otherwise, yep. It looks like 310 MPH is the new normal.
excellent pont (Score:5, Insightful)
if you have ever seen tornado damage in person, you stop coming up with these stupid ideas about windproof houses etc.
would your building survive a nuclear bomb blast? no? then it probably wont survive a direct tornado hit.
Re:Flying Cars (Score:4, Insightful)
One concern of mine:
310 mph winds != 310 mph debris slamming into the building.
Re: It seems (Score:0, Insightful)
We discovered insulation first.
It works both ways you know?
Doesn't look like it insulated you from alen's spot-on comment.