How To
Tornado-Proof Your Mobile Home
First,
tie down your water heater.
By Torie Bosch
Posted
Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2005, at 3:59 PM ET
|
Concrete foundations are safest |
At least 22 people, including 18
from one Indiana mobile-home
park, died when a tornado tore through the Midwest
early Sunday. Recovery workers continue to search a
nearby pond for bodies. What can mobile-home owners do to stay safe during a
tornado?
Get out. So-called manufactured
homes—dwellings built in factories and transported to their final
destination—lack the structural support to keep residents safe during a
tornado. In a well-built standard home, a basement or interior hallway can
offer some protection during a catastrophic weather event. But the lightness
that makes mobile homes easily
transportable also means they aren't sturdy enough to stand up to a tornado's
winds. As many as half of all tornado-related fatalities occur
in mobile homes.
If you must be in a mobile home
during a tornado, it's best to stay in one that's not so mobile. The safest
manufactured home is one that's anchored to a concrete foundation like a
standard home. The next best thing to concrete is a semipermanent anchoring
system that uses rods or chains to attach your
trailer to beams that are driven into the ground.
Anchoring can be difficult if the ground is hard and rocky, and if the soil is
too soft then a powerful tornado could still rip your home from the earth. Even
with anchoring, a mobile home can be damaged in a
"weak" tornado (one with maximum wind speeds of 112 mph) that
probably wouldn't damage a standard house.
If your mobile home is on
private property, another option is to install an underground tornado shelter made of
concrete, steel, or fiberglass. These bomb-shelterlike structures cost anywhere
from $2,500 to $10,000. It's unlikely that you'll be allowed to build an
underground shelter if you live in a trailer park. Some parks do have community
shelters that double as laundry rooms, community lounges, or management offices
during the day. These rooms can be small, though, and often have glass windows,
which can splinter during high winds.
Most mobile homes are made of
lumber with metal or vinyl siding and metal or shingled roofs. There's not much
you can do to keep these materials from flying loose, but you can anchor down
outdoor structures (like swing sets or sheds) to keep them from becoming flying
weapons. It's also a good idea not to store heavy objects on high shelves. You
can use metal brackets to fasten furniture to the wall, and wires or cables to
secure large objects like water heaters. Don't think about boarding up
windows at the last minute—you won't have nearly enough advance warning to do
the job.
It's best to flee if at all
possible. Community siren systems aren't always effective—two alarms went off
before Sunday's tornado, but many residents said
they didn't hear them. Weather radios that
broadcast warnings from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
might be more effective. They work like alarm clocks, broadcasting a piercing warning tone if
severe weather is imminent. On average, the National Weather Service can alert
residents about 18 minutes before an anticipated tornado strike. That gives
mobile-home owners time to evacuate to a shelter or a sturdier house nearby.
Got a question about today's
news? Ask the Explainer .
Explainer thanks Harold Brooks
of the National Severe Storms Lab, Thomas W. Schmidlin of Kent State
University, and Bruce Savage of the Manufactured Housing Institute.