The answer, experts say, is no, although the office towers may take a significant beating, The Houston Chronicle reported.
Although Hurricane Rita, expected to make a powerful landfall on the Texas coast this weekend, will put a significant strain on the buildings, such structures are engineered to transfer the force of the wind load into the ground, said Reagan Herman, a University of Houston civil engineering professor.
At the minimum, she said, such buildings, scale models of which often are tested in wind tunnels before construction, are designed to guarantee the safety of occupants.
Extraordinarily strong winds might jeopardize buildings, said Lee Slade, executive director of structural engineering for Walter P. Moore & Associates, but even powerful Rita will fall short of creating such a menace.
Lateral bracing, special connections between beams and columns, even walls can direct the wind's energy into the ground, Herman said. During storms, stress on buildings also is reduced as windows break, lessening the structure's resistance to the wind.
Jerry Lea, a senior vice president with Gerald Hines Interests, noted that Houston's skyscrapers often are socketed into the ground.
Lea said that deep basements stabilize buildings to keep them from tipping over when stressed by high winds.
