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Their light frames, thin walls, and often-times cheap construction makes them very difficult to repair, so mobile home demolition may be your best option. The bare minimum that a mobile home is expected to withstand is winds up to 70 miles per hour. In wind-prone zones, a mobile home must be built to withstand up to 100 miles per hour or 110 miles per hour, depending on the official government designation. Debris and damage from multiple mobile homes on Bradley Lane is seen following severe weather Wednesday, December 14, 2022, in New Iberia, La.
Do not hide underneath your mobile home or stay inside your home, as the tornado can pick up the home and drop you from a tall height. Instead of going with your first instinct, head to the closest tornado shelter. Most mobile home parks in tornado-prone areas have one large enough to fit everyone.
How Much Wind Can A Mobile Home Withstand?
The entire home shook and we ducked and huddled together. The door flew open and I look outside while we are interlocking arms to make sure we try to stay together. All I see is rain and what appeared to be smoke swirling around. My friend’s dad ran out from the bedroom, and slammed the door and asked if we were alright. It was still so calm and then the sirens started to go off. It was so faint to the point I thought I had lost my hearing.
The visibility was really poor at this point but I could still see the flashes. It lasted for about 45 seconds but it seemed like a lifetime. I looked out my right windshield and noticed the vines growing along the fence were starting to blow around kind of funny. A moment later, just like that, all around me was wind and it got real dark. The wind was going in a way that I've never seen before.
Tornado in Louisiana that threw mobile home into road, killed 1 person was EF-3 with 150 mph winds
Even manufactured homes that are affixed securely at first can become dangerous as the hardware rusts, Chapman-Henderson said. Two weeks later, if I recall correctly, KOA -the local radio station- acknowledged with chagrin that they had missed the storm entirely. It had been so dense with hail that it showed up on radar as solid- just like the earth itself.
Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Find out if the park or community center has a tornado shelter. Alternatively, try and find a friend with a permanent home nearby and enlist them to open their doors to you in case of a tornado. Figure out your route and how long it takes you to get there so that you are prepared when the time comes. But since that’s the situation we find ourselves in, it’s important that every mobile home owner is aware of the precautions and safety tips.
Can a mobile home collapse?
“There have been trailers picked up and turned on top of each other and just a very large debris field from the trailers,” Martin said. “HUD needs to get with the modern times and update their wind-load requirements,” said David Roueche, an engineering professor at Auburn University. The path of the Theodore tornado includes portions within the City of Mobile’s jurisdiction.
I opened my eyes and moved part of the ceiling truss that had concussed me. I felt warmth on my wet head coming from a small cut. I walked into the kitchen, kicking debris out of the way, and got an undisturbed glass from my counter and chugged a full glass of water. It came back to me slowly as I stared into the darkness of my living room, where I could see the moon peeking through the clouds through the holes in my ceiling, and even then it felt unreal.
Frustrated, I jumped in my car and headed home. It was odd because with the rain, I figured the atmosphere had stabilized some. Anyway, I pulled in and it was lightly raining. My neighbor, wearing a pink bathrobe, nodded towards the carport, in a manner that said "it's right there", I waved and said “thanks” and that I'd return it in the morning. I unlocked the door, grabbed a hoodie and turned the lights on and went to assess the damage with the saw in hand. MOBILE COUNTY, Ala – Mobile County Public Works will pick up tornado debris within its rights-of-way in limited areas, as approved by the Mobile County Commission on Thursday, April 7, 2022.
This was the 90s before camera phones were a thing. The tornado tracked closer and the praying got louder. I expected to hear a train like sound but it sounded more like a fighter jet that was very angry. Somehow, some way it "jumped" our house and continued on for a short time behind us.
The tornado traveled about 4 miles in seven minutes, destroying two grain dryers at a farm and flipping an 18-wheeler onto a roadway. The tornado eventually ended at the city limits of Church Point, where a large tree fell on a home. Forecasters said the tornado picked one mobile home off its pilings and threw it 50 yards onto a highway, destroying the structure. Of the three people inside the home, one was killed and two were hospitalized with "significant injuries." This is not the first time that a house is lifted off the ground by a tornado and carried over some distance with its occupant inside, without them being killed. It is, however, the longest distance ever recorded for such a case, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
For almost every part of the country, there’s a minimum wind resistance of 70 miles per hour. This is for Wind Zone I, which is “normal” wind areas. However, the minimum wind resistance in areas that are known for hurricanes and tornados changes. While high winds can still be extremely damaging for most home styles, it’s good to know that most mobile homes still have some degree of resistance built into them. Sure, it might not be much, but it still will be able to give homeowners some peace of mind. Figuring out your details, though, can be a bit much.
I had my phone in my hand so of course even though I was freaking out and praying to God thinking that I probably wouldn't live I decided to try to video what I could. I could see the semi that was behind me had blown over top of me and landed next to the carport. I was about 6 or 7 years old, living in Lincoln, NE, and ready to end the school year.
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