Five Years After Tornado, Moore’s Stronger Building Codes Haven’t Hurt Market

Jacob McCleland wrote for KGOU about the way Moore, OK built resilience after a tornado, and the surprising outcome of stricter building codes. Support for this article was provided by the Weather Eye Award, an award given to distinguished local reporters by RiseLocal, a project of New America’s National Network.

Marvin Haworth walks through a house frame that’s under construction in the Seiter Farms development in Moore, Oklahoma.

“You see these hurricane clips right there? You see one at every rafter in the house. They’re all tied to the wall, so that rafter cannot be pulled loose from the wall,” Haworth says as he points toward the connection between the frame’s walls and roof.

Hurricane clips are metal straps that are often used in construction along the Gulf Coast to keep a roof attached to the walls during a hurricane. And home builders like Haworth are required to use them in Moore as part of the city’s building codes.