---
kind: "section"
citation: "42 U.S.C. § 15701"
title: "42"
title_heading: "The Public Health and Welfare"
number: "15701"
heading: "Findings"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/42/15701"
units:
  - "Chapter 148 — Windstorm Impact Reduction"
---

# §15701. Findings


The Congress finds the following:

- (1) Hurricanes, tropical storms, tornadoes, and thunderstorms can cause significant loss of life, injury, destruction of property, and economic and social disruption. All [States](/usc/42/15702.md?p=4) and regions are vulnerable to these hazards.
- (2) The United States currently sustains several billion dollars in economic damages each year due to these [windstorms](/usc/42/15702.md?p=5). In recent decades, rapid development and population growth in high-risk areas has greatly increased overall vulnerability to [windstorms](/usc/42/15702.md?p=5).
- (3) Improved [windstorm](/usc/42/15702.md?p=5) impact reduction measures have the potential to reduce these losses through—
  - (A) cost-effective and affordable design and [construction](/usc/42/300s–3.md?p=7) methods and [practices](/usc/42/17061.md?p=19);
  - (B) effective mitigation [programs](/usc/42/15702.md?p=3) at the local, [State](/usc/42/15702.md?p=4), and national level;
  - (C) improved data collection and analysis and impact prediction methodologies;
  - (D) engineering research on improving new structures and retrofitting existing ones to better withstand [windstorms](/usc/42/15702.md?p=5), atmospheric-related research to better understand the behavior and impact of [windstorms](/usc/42/15702.md?p=5) on the built environment, and subsequent application of those research results; and
  - (E) public education and outreach.
- (4) There is an appropriate role for the Federal Government in supporting [windstorm](/usc/42/15702.md?p=5) impact reduction. An effective Federal [program](/usc/42/15702.md?p=3) in [windstorm](/usc/42/15702.md?p=5) impact reduction will require interagency coordination, and input from individuals, academia, the private sector, and other interested non-Federal entities.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 108–360, title II, § 202, Oct. 25, 2004, 118 Stat. 1675.)

## Notes

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Short Title of 2015 Amendment

Pub. L. 114–52, § 1, Sept. 30, 2015, 129 Stat. 496, provided that: “This Act [amending sections 15702 to 15704 and 15706 of this title] may be cited as the ‘National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act Reauthorization of 2015’.”

### Short Title

Pub. L. 108–360, title II, § 201, Oct. 25, 2004, 118 Stat. 1675, provided that: “This Act [probably should be ‘this title’, enacting this chapter and amending section 1885d of this title] may be cited as the ‘National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act of 2004’.”