A reasonable question. I got the answer from the horse: Floriduh is a wet state (very high water table). So burying power lines is flat out not a "go".What kind of surprises me is that given how much hurricane activity Florida general sees year after year they've not come up with more innovative construction techniques. I've heard that some places are finally getting around to burying phone and power lines after these big storms roll thru and leave people wthout power and communications for extended periods. Which I think is a great idea by why wait so long? I lived in a planed community that was large enough to have it's own zip code. It was built in the 70's and they started with burid utilities and that was in an area that almost never sees a hurricane. I just have never uderstood why these places almost guarenteed to have downed lines have waited so long. Now they have done some good things in making materials more durable so that they can handle debris flying at 200+ mph but it's so they can still build something the looks like a traditional home. I would love to see someone ddo something like a reinforced concrete structure that is domed shaped so that the wind never hits right angles and can just slide up and over it or around it. Maybe with thick concrete or metal walls surronding the property that can be raised and lowered as needed to deal with flooding. That's what I imagined when I was young and hearing about billions in damages every year, often in places still recovering from the previous years damage. Sure I know it would cost a hell of a lot but if in the end you didn't have to keep rebuilding it, wouldn't it be more practical?
The homes built after the radical changes made to construction specs are pretty darn tough. As an example:
My house has folding steel shutters good to 250MPH.
The roof is not put on "Main Cabin Masters Style" with a quick dot-dot-dot and done. Down here, there are nails in 2" disks. The disks are about 1" apart in every direction. Thousands of them on my roof.
The concrete block walls are tied by 8' bent rebar to the slab at 2' intervals. The solid concrete block walls are tied with 8' bent rebar to the roof beams. The roof beams are I-beams. Instead of a single nail (GA/TN/ME spec) the risers are affixed to the I-beams by triple steel straps 6" wide.
And so on. Post-Andrew specs are needed -- or you are gambling every year that the 00 will not come up on the Roulette Wheel.