Can yurts handle hurricanes?
There’s a two-part answer to the hurricane question: • One can never know for sure what will happen in an extreme situation like a hurricane. We do know that yurts do well in high winds, partly because they are circular (and therefore the wind goes around the yurt, with no corners to catch the wind). The other factor is the amazing strength and flexibility of the integrated roof and wall structure (the whole structure being held in tension between the central compression ring and the encircling tension band). I heard a story about a fabric yurt in Japan surviving a tornado in Japan that damaged nearby houses. The only thing that happened to the yurt was that the skylight bubble blew off, which I’m told is a design feature to allow for pressure release when a vacuum is created inside, thereby keeping the yurt from imploding. • If you live in an area prone to hurricanes, you may want to go with a wooden yurt instead of fabric. Although it’s unusual, I’ve heard a couple of stories about f
