How forecasters will ride out Hurricane Irma

MIAMI — When it comes to riding out Hurricane Irma, forecasters will be among the safest people when the storm pounds South Florida over the weekend, an official said.

It's highly unlikely workers will have to evacuate the National Hurricane Center, a one-story building built in 1995 on the Florida International University campus in Southwest Miami-Dade County, spokesman Dennis Feltgen said. The center, which employs 65 to 70 people, will be full with workers and media personnel when Irma hits.

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Feltgen advised those who will stay at the center to be there by noon Saturday before the building is shut down.

"We would almost need an EF5 tornado (the highest tornado intensity) on top of us to take this building totally out and that's not going to happen," Feltgen said.

Among the building's safety features are: poured concrete and rebar walls, inner walls and hallways that protect individual rooms and a new roof that was completed less than two years ago. 

If most of the building is down, the safest place to be are the bathrooms, but that only would happens if Irma rips off the entire roof, Feltgen said. If evacuation is needed, the only place to go is a shelter just yards away on the FIU campus, he said.

The center's main concern are the dozens of satellite dishes installed on the roof. If the Miami operation loses its ability to track Irma the National Weather Service in Maryland takes over, Feltgen said.

"Public information won't miss a beat," he said. 

The National Hurricane Center's location has been rated the lowest for storm surge, a "Zone E." Employees aren't concerned about riding out the storm there, but they worry about their home and families, Feltgen said.

"We're never concerned about having to work," he said. "You have the anxiety of this is your own backyard, this is your house, this is your family."