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 ...
“.install triple pain windows”:ouch.🤪
Good point.
Tornadoes destroy ordinary houses right down to nothing, just the same as with trailers. Don’t believe me? Go find the photographs of Mayfield Kentucky following the 2021 storms. Those weren’t trailers.
One of the towns hit the same night as Rolling Fork was Smithville, Mississippi.
The same town in 2011, was hit with an F5 with wind speeds up to 205 mph.
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