Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Brock Long says that any housing built throughout the state any time after 2001 should, by law, have been built to withstand the winds of a Category 3 Hurricane.
Irma is currently Category 5, much stronger than a Category 3, but Long says those buildings that are built to code should at least help mitigate structural damage.
The FEMA Agency Directory says the main concern right now is that people may have too much faith in the five-day forecast. He says he never puts a lot of confidence in these longer-term forecasts, because a hurricane can turn.
However, he notes that this is what FEMA trains for and is prepared for -- in case of an emergency. He says more than 700 emergency staffers have already been deployed to Florida and are ready to assist with Irma -- even as others continue to offer aid with Harvey.
Long says "everybody needs to be monitoring this in the Gulf and up the East Coast and watching this very carefully."