The College of Engineering’s Wall of Wind is now part of Epcot in the Walt Disney World Resort.

The College of Engineering’s Wall of Wind is now part of Epcot in the Walt Disney World Resort.

“Storm Struck: The Tale of Two Homes” is a new attraction that simulates hurricane weather for fun and education. Before entering the attraction, tourists are handed 3-D glasses to watch a video demonstrating how the project came about.

Featuring the University’s “RenaissanceRe’s Wall of Wind,” the attraction is designed to help people learn about the risks of natural disasters, according to stormstruck.com.

Audiences can also team up to build storm proof houses and even create their own mini-storms at the end of the attraction.

In the video, The Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore explains how the Wall of Wind works as it destroys a small house.

Leslie Chapman-Henderson, who helped create the experience and is president of The Federal Alliance for Safe Homes, as well as a member of the Board of Governors of the International Hurricane Research Center, explains FIU’s involvement.

“I thought that a small part of FIU’s Wall of Wind would be perfect for our pre-show video to give audiences a demonstration to something similar as to what they will be experiencing in ‘Storm Struck,’” Henderson said.

The man behind the “RenaissanceRe’s Wall of Wind” is Stephen P. Leatherman, chair professor and director of IHRC. Leatherman’s Wall of Wind is the only one of its kind.

‘’Until you actually do it, you don’t know how these building materials and construction techniques will actually stand up,” Leatherman said in a Miami Herald article in 2006.

This wall of giant fans with wind speeds of over 100 mph was created to continue the revolutionizing of South Florida’s construction in houses and buildings.

The six-fan prototype Wall of Wind was funded by the Florida Department of Community Affairs and RenaissanceRe Holdings in Bermuda.

“The Wall of Wind will give us information to come up with better building designs and [construction] techniques,’’ said Arindam Gan Chowdhury, FIU’s lead wind engineer and researcher, in the Miami Herald article.

“We want families to know that there are things they can do when they confront natural disasters, that luck is not the best tool that they have available to them,” Henderson said during the “Storm Struck” grand opening.