Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Deaths In South Amplify Extreme Danger Of Manufactured Homes During Severe Weather
The Weather Channel ^ | March 28, 2023 | By Niki Budnick

Posted on 03/28/2023 9:01:56 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer

Severe storms in the South that killed at least 21 people in Mississippi and Alabama highlight the dangers of being inside a mobile home or manufactured home during severe weather.

Many of the dozens of homes destroyed in the storms were manufactured. In the hardest-hit community of Rolling Fork, Mississippi, 24% of housing units in the county are manufactured homes according to the Census Bureau.

To really drive it home, the National Weather Service says you are 15-20% more likely to die in a manufactured home than a permanent home during severe weather.

The danger is magnified in the southeastern United States, according to Stephen Strader, an associate professor at Villanova University.

Strader specializes in what he calls "disaster geography," or studying the effects natural disasters like tornadoes have on society and our environment. Most of the manufactured homes in the Southeast exist outside of the typical mobile home parks you would see in other parts of the country.

“They're isolated on different plots of land by themselves or maybe with one or two other homes,” Strader said. “What that means is they're 20, 30 minutes away from the nearest shelter. So, if the (tornado) warning is 13 minutes away, and you're 20 minutes away from your shelter, it's the middle of the night. You have two kids, you have to get them out of bed. Your car may not want to start… (things) just start stacking up.”

(Excerpt) Read more at weather.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: housing; mobilehomes; tornado; weather
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-44 next last
To: PrairieLady2

Building garbage houses and selling them for a high price is common in Virginia. They get away with it because MOST people who buy them don’t intend to live there for more than a few years. And they tend to be impressed with the stainless steel appliances and granite countertops, what’s behind the walls, they couldn’t care less about.


21 posted on 03/28/2023 11:19:09 AM PDT by brianl703
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: IYAS9YAS

I still marvel at the power of the Jarrell Tornado, there was literally nothing left but the slabs.


22 posted on 03/28/2023 11:21:55 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

Tornado Country - James Gregory
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=456383448263831


23 posted on 03/28/2023 11:27:48 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ConservativeMind

New manufactured homes are built to the same wind standards as site-built homes.

“In areas prone to hurricane-force winds (Wind Zones II and III) of the HUD Basic Wind Zone Map, the standards for manufactured homes are equivalent to the current regional and national building codes for site-built homes. Manufactured homes are designed to withstand wind speeds of 100 miles per hour in Wind Zone 2 and 110 miles per hour in Wind Zone 3.

In addition, federal regulations for manufactured homes require the involvement of design and quality assurance professionals during construction to verify that the home is built correctly. Conventional residential construction does not require all of this...A 2014 Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) test found that manufactured homes performed better at high winds than traditional-built homes when any attached structures are properly installed. It also suggested that improperly installed attached structures like carports and patio roofs, are what cause about 80 percent of the damage in manufactured homes.”

https://www.manufacturedhousing.org/safe-storm/#:~:text=Manufactured%20Homes%20are%20as%20Safe,codes%20for%20site%2Dbuilt%20homes.

Manufactured homes built before 1976 and/or trailers are different. But I don’t think the idiots writing the article know that.


24 posted on 03/28/2023 11:28:21 AM PDT by Mr Rogers (We're a nation of feelings, not thoughts.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Mr Rogers
But I don’t think the idiots writing the article know that.

They are trained to incite, but not to enlighten.

25 posted on 03/28/2023 11:31:57 AM PDT by null and void (While our enemies are on a war footing, we are pussyfooting!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: KarlInOhio

I’m reminded of the episode of “King of the Hill” in which Luanne’s trailer (or her mom’s) was blown over by a tornado.


26 posted on 03/28/2023 11:37:56 AM PDT by CFW (old and retired)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer
The anti-gun, wokester author of this article is eminently stupid.

Evidence:

"To really drive it home, the National Weather Service says you are 15-20% more likely to die in a manufactured home than a permanent home during severe weather.

Translated: You're 80-85% safer in a 'permanent' home than in a manufactured home in a tornado. Asinine.

Try telling that to these folks:


27 posted on 03/28/2023 11:38:49 AM PDT by logi_cal869 (-cynicus the "concern troll" a/o 10/03/2018 /!i!! &@$%&*(@ -)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: spokeshave

Oh, C’mon, you are just daring Gawd to get you! Why not just paint a target on the roof?

Trailers attract high winds — and flying cows.

Any such without a storm cellar within running distance are living in the wrong place. :)


28 posted on 03/28/2023 12:22:44 PM PDT by bobbo666 (Baizuo)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

Manufactured and modular are the the same thing to regulatory agencies...


29 posted on 03/28/2023 12:24:36 PM PDT by mewzilla (We will never restore the republic if we don't first secure the ballot box.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator
I still marvel at the power of the Jarrell Tornado, there was literally nothing left but the slabs.

Wow. I had to look that one up. The outbreak lasted 7 hours and Jarrell got winds over 260 MPH. Wow. Just. Wow.

30 posted on 03/28/2023 12:25:11 PM PDT by IYAS9YAS (There are two kinds of people: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: mewzilla

For anyone curious about what Fedzilla thinks...

https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/housing/rmra/mhs/faqs


31 posted on 03/28/2023 12:25:54 PM PDT by mewzilla (We will never restore the republic if we don't first secure the ballot box.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: logi_cal869

The author’s LinkedIn page explains a lot.


32 posted on 03/28/2023 12:27:43 PM PDT by mewzilla (We will never restore the republic if we don't first secure the ballot box.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: mewzilla

I didn’t go there, but I’m not surprised.


33 posted on 03/28/2023 12:29:13 PM PDT by logi_cal869 (-cynicus the "concern troll" a/o 10/03/2018 /!i!! &@$%&*(@ -)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: PrairieLady2

I have a friend who says he never has to worry about losing his keys. He can cut through the wall with his pocket knife if he has to.


34 posted on 03/28/2023 12:35:38 PM PDT by aomagrat (Brains have been washed. Wheels have been greased. Fear has been mongered.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

Seeing videos like this at least restores some of my faith in humanity....

03-28-2023 Rolling Fork, MS - Tornado Relief - Cooking - Cleanup - Sound with Victim
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyfQCk7OXBo


35 posted on 03/28/2023 12:36:04 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

That doesn’t sound like a problem with manufactured homes. That sounds like a problem with living in the sticks. Doesn’t matter how the home is built, 20 minutes from shelter is 20 minutes from shelter.


36 posted on 03/28/2023 12:38:05 PM PDT by discostu (like a dog being shown a card trick)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

Aren’t **all** homes manufactured?

I don’t see why a factory manufactured home couldn’t be **superior** in design over an on-site manufactured home.


37 posted on 03/28/2023 1:19:58 PM PDT by wintertime ( Behind every government school teacher stand armed police.( Real bullets in those guns on the hip!))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wintertime

My father, an old school construction guy, always said that factory built homes are stronger than stick built because they need to be able to endure the delivery.


38 posted on 03/28/2023 1:23:55 PM PDT by bankwalker (Repeal the 19th ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

Well, as evidenced by various howls of outrage above, the danger does depend on the quality of construction either way.

But if one actually visits tornado sites, whether in person or, say, by drone, online, whatever is in “trailer parks” as of this decade definitely fares worse than houses in “conventional” neighborhoods. My wife and I took food to friends in Mayfield, KY, a few days after the December 2021 low end F4 tornado, and looped all around the town outside of the downtown business district, which was closed off. SOME homes directly in the path were completely destroyed, but usually one could tell, more or less, what had been there. Many still had at least some interior walls upright or leaning (very common). Brick-veneer homes tended to do better than not.* Manufactured and “trailer” homes were generally just piles of rubble, and often said rubble (pretty much everything but the foundation or slab) was mostly or completely removed from the foundation.

*The problem with brick and / or masonry is that if a wall does come down on you, you’re in big trouble. But, the interior portions of most of the brick homes still had “survivable” interior spaces. I was in a brick veneer home in an F3 as a 10 y/o, the home built around 1956. It lost much of the roof, and exterior walls were from warped / cracked to fallen inward, but, not through the floor into the partial basement where we were sheltered. The north end of the house looked “best”, but even there, the joints to the concrete basement walls / foundation were pulled over halfway loose.

*I conclude the weight of the brick helped keep the entire house above ground level from going airborne**, so, such mass CAN be helpful — there were survivable spaces in the interior hallway that ran much the length of the house. If the whole house does a “Dorothy”, the outlook isn’t good, regardless of how strong the walls are. OTOH, in the infamous “Candle Factory” in Mayfield, KY, a cement block wall collapsed on people. :-(

**In that F3 tornado, a neighbor had a very well built (”stick” construction) non-attached 2-car garage on a slab beside their (very nice) largish house. The house suffered moderate damage (still livable post-storm), but the garage got picked up as a unit and dumped into a pond in back of the house. In times when the water got a bit low and clear, from the right angle you could see the top of the roof, intact as far as could be seen, just below the surface.

My conclusion would be that a modern manufactured home VERY well attached to the foundation (say, heavy foundation bolts every 18” or so, to a real foundation or slab) might be survivable in a low end F3, but would not be salvageable. Any metal roof on any type structure would need likely 3x screws around all edges, to have a chance...


39 posted on 03/28/2023 1:34:27 PM PDT by Paul R. (You know your pullets are dumb if they don't recognize a half Whopper as food!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Paul R.

Actually, a few spots in the Mayfield tornado did get up to 188 mph, according to the NWS, so those spots got a very solid revised Fujita scale F4. Mostly right in the center of town....


40 posted on 03/28/2023 1:38:10 PM PDT by Paul R. (You know your pullets are dumb if they don't recognize a half Whopper as food!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-44 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson