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National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program (NWIRP)

National Advisory Committee on Windstorm Impact Reduction (NACWIR) 

Meeting Summary

July 31, 2017

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 

Gaithersburg, Maryland 

MEETING PARTICIPANTS

NACWIR Members:

Walker Ashley Northern Illinois University

John Boudreaux Assumption Parish Office of Homeland Security and 

Emergency Preparedness

Wanda Edwards RCI, Inc

Katherine Grieg New York City Office of Recovery and Resiliency

Forrest Masters University of Florida

Kishor Mehta Texas Tech University

Walter Peacock Texas A&M University

Tim Reinhold, Chair Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety

Donald Resio University of North Florida 

Donald Scott PCS Structural Solutions

Kevin Simmons Austin College

Thomas Smith TLSmith Consulting, Inc.

Windstorm Working Group (WWG) 

Dana Bres Department of Housing and Urban Development 

DaNa Carlis National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Marc Levitan National Institute of Standards and Technology

Chungu Lu National Science Foundation

Ted Mansell National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Jacqueline Meszaros The Office of Science and Technology Policy

Shirley Murillo National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Long Phan National Institute of Standards and Technology

Mike Uhart National Aeronautics and Space Administration 

Jonathan Westcott Federal Emergency Management Agency 
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NIST Staff

Jason Averill Division Chief, Materials and Structural Systems Division

Joannie Chin, DFO Deputy Director, Engineering Laboratory

Tina Faecke Program Analyst, National Earthquake Hazards Reduction 

Program 

Steve Potts Program Analyst, NWIRP 

Members of the Public

Eric Haefli State Farm

SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION

I. Opening Remarks

Dr. Joannie Chin, Deputy Director of the NIST Engineering Laboratory (EL), and Designated 

Federal Officer (DFO) called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m. She welcomed the members of 

the NACWIR, the WWG, and the public, then turned the meeting over to Dr. Tim Reinhold, 

Chair of the NACWIR. 

Dr. Reinhold stated that the Committee will review and edit the draft document titled 

“Assessments and Recommendations on: Trends and Developments Affecting Practices of 

Windstorm Impact Mitigation and Priorities of the National Windstorm Impact Reduction 

Program’s Strategic Plan.” This draft document was based on the work done at the June 27 and 

28 NACWIR meeting, and subsequent revisions sent by Committee members.

II. Summary of Discussions

Reinhold noted that 5 people sent in forms with the voting information he requested regarding 

recommendations vs. suggestions. The results were that objectives 5, 11, and 14b in the draft 

document are the only three that had several votes for making it a suggestion, instead of a 

recommendation.

Reinhold also noted that he received edits from 4 people on the draft document and another just 

came in. He will walk through the document with the Committee to see if there’s any 

disagreements. He stated that the Committee needs to spend some time at this meeting 

discussing the recommendations/suggestions that came in with responses.

Reinhold asked to have the document on the screen for people to see. Edits were made to the 

draft document in real time.
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III. Planning for the August 23-24 Committee Meeting

Following edits to the Assessments and Recommendations document, the draft Agenda for the 

August 23-24 meeting at NIST was discussed.

Reinhold noted the Committee is close to wrapping up 1) trends and 2) strategic priorities, two 

out of the 5 areas assigned to the Committee by Congress. Reinhold stated that at the next 

meeting, the Committee can finalize this part of the report. He described the structure of the next 

meeting as consisting of the following:

• Most of the first day will be focused on presentations from the 4 NWIRP agencies on 

Program activities and accomplishments, to help you evaluate the effectiveness of the 

Program.

• In each presentation block, there will be:

o about 1 hour for the presentation, 

o time for questions/answers, and 

o time for initial Committee discussion of activities going on with agencies.

• After the individual agency presentations, there will be time for a discussion of overall 

effectiveness.

• On the second day, Dr. Levitan will give a presentation on the coordination between 

different agencies.

• The remaining 2/3 of the second day will be reserved for report preparation. The 

Committee will also have time to finalize the first part of the report that we’ll be working 

on.

Levitan noted that at the last meeting, there were two requests from Committee members for

presentations from participating agencies:

1) From the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on manufactured 

homes, because of the disproportionate risk of fatalities, and 

2) From the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to learn about the technical 

and other challenges associated with pinging of cellphones to locate disaster survivors 

after large events like Hurricane Katrina.

Levitan is working with WWG members from HUD and FEMA to identify appropriate speakers.

Reinhold asked for additional requests. 

• A Committee member indicated that it might be important to get more information on 

injuries and fatalities during events. 

• Levitan indicated that he had just met with colleagues from the National Institutes of 

Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) at the Natural Hazards

Workshop earlier in July. He briefed them on NWIRP and the draft Strategic Plan, and 

discussed research and data collection needs related to windstorm fatalities and injuries. 

• A Committee member asked if we could reach out to them and see if someone can give a 

presentation at the meeting to see what the current activities are. Specifically, the 
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Committee would like to hear what information they collect. It would be good to know 

the different ways that injuries and fatalities occur, so we can evaluate vulnerabilities, 

and focus research into reducing vulnerabilities. 

• Another Committee member suggested that if we have time on the agenda, it would be 

useful to discuss future research efforts on injuries and how we design buildings. 

Reinhold suggested that it would be worthwhile to find someone who can tie the work of the 

NOAA and CDC together, since NOAA reports fatalities and injuries through its Storm Data 

program. 

Levitan said he will reach out to CDC to attempt to identify a speaker.

Reinhold indicated that he would compile comments from the meeting, and any additional 

comments Committee members send within the next two days, and send a revised draft to the 

Committee the following week. 

IV. Adjournment

Meeting adjourned at 3:15 pm.