Weather Channel star impressed with Chester facility

An appearance by Jim Cantore in any town is usually a sure sign bad things are about happen.
When the Weather Channel star shows up, locals are usually wise to head for the basement or a bathtub with a mattress. Floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, hailstorms—Cantore doesn't just cover them or talk about them, he practically participates in them, broadcasting from the front lines of weather disasters, putting himself in harms way in the process.
Cantore was in Chester on Tuesday, and for once, nothing bad happened. Quite the opposite.
Cantore, and a slew of other media members, were on hand for the unveiling of the new Institute for Business and Home Safety location.
Cantore said he had seen some similar facilities in the past, but nothing as comprehensive as what he saw in Chester. IBHS has the ability to construct multiple, multi-story homes indoors, then subject them to hurricane-force winds and other natural disaster-like conditions. Cantore said he came to see it for himself and share what he learned with Weather Channel viewers because the work to be done here will be important, he said.
"I want to let people know this is going on," Cantore said. "I want people to be safe. There is no reasons we can't build homes to stand up to natural disasters; 100 mile per hour wind gusts. That technology is available today. There is no reason we can't build a better mousetrap."
Cantore predicted that IBHS will do for home safety, what crash tests did for vehicle safety.
In some areas of the world, homes are already built to withstand the worst that Mother Nature can throw at them. Cantore said he was in Bermuda during the recent Hurricane Igor. Only about 60 people on the island had to seek shelter from the storm, and those only because they lived in low-lying areas that could flood, he said.
It was obvious from the Tuesday test demonstration that what is considered standard is actually substandard when it comes to resisting severe weather. Two homes were sitting side-by-side in the test lab. One home was built to conform with standard specs, the other was "fortified." Cantore was out of his element a bit, since he was out of the elements. Like the rest of the media, he watched water and wind pelt the houses from a safe observation area. His enthusiasm wasn't dampened, though, as he looked into the camera at one point when the wind was only blowing at 70 miles per hour and said he was "ready for more action."
The fortified home had scarcely a shingle missing by the end of the test. The standard home lost shingles and siding and a window during initial stages of the test and blew away entirely when the wind speed hit 96 miles-per-hour.
"What is now considered fortified should be standard," Cantore said. "The price difference is only about three to five percent and you are talking about big loss savings down the road, and most importantly, personal safety."
That is imperative, Cantore said, in the event of a tornado hitting at night, which is common. There may not be a warning sign, in that case, to seek shelter.
The United States has so much to lose from weather, Cantore said. Wildfires in the west, tornadoes in middle America and hurricanes and thunderstorms on the gulf and East Coast make it imperative that houses and buildings be better built.
"That's why it's great to have a place like this," Cantore said. "I'm glad the insurance industry and others stepped up to make this great place happen."