I dont understand this.

[binny]

I honestly dont mean this as a slam to anyone I am trying to uderstand.

Why do they allow mobile homes in area that are prone to Tornadoes?

I know there is affordability issue, I get that, but there has to be a better alternative. It just seems like any time a tornado hits mobile homes are the ones that are totally devasted.

Yes, I know nothing is safe from a tornado it just seems that the numbers are much worse when you hear about mobile homes than you do with others and the damage is total and much more loss of life.


ETA:
Would it make any difference if there were less mobile homes available in these areas?

 

[gigglesnort]

probably because of the wide open spaces. it's easier to have a mobile home park there instead of a busy city.

 

[becker1123]

I think we're usually talking about rural areas isolated from cities. There isn't much in the way of jobs in many of these areas, so many people tend to be poorer and not able to afford anything other than a mobile home.

 

[Antonia]

And because it's the land of the free and the home of the brave!

You've gotta be brave to live in one of those things with a tornado coming. LOL

 

[C.Ann]

Probably the same reason that people build homes on the coast and take their chances with hurricanes - because they "can"..

 

[delilah]

We live relatively close to the area where the tornadoes hit on Sunday morning. (Actually, the tornadoes hit in Evansville, we live south of Indianapolis, but, in the same general geographic area). Every year, there are several storms that pass through the area that threaten tornadoes. Several over the past few years have hit within five miles or so of our home, and we have suffered tree, roof and fence damage.

I guess if mobile homes were not allowed in the area where tornadoes might occur, then, mobile homes would not be permitted in most of the places I have lived in my lifetime. I grew up in south suburban Chicago, and I remember the Palm Sunday tornadoes of 1965, when my sister was just 3 wks old. I remember when the Xenia tornado hit, because the storms actually extended through much of the upper midwest, from Illinois to Ohio. I lived in Gainesville, Florida, and a tornado passed down the median of the street where we lived. I lived in Columbus, Ohio for most of my young adulthood, which is less than an hour away from Xenia. So, we have eliminated Illinois, Ohio, Indiana and Florida as places that would be tornado safe.

Where I live now, there are a few mobile home parks, where the poorer families live. I am not sure where they would live if not where they are. The neighborhoods specifically are adjacent to other homes, not particularly in wide-open areas. With the tornadoes mentioned above, within a few miles of my home, the buildings destroyed were the YMCA, free standing buildings in strip malls, as well as some of the stores in the strip malls, lots of trees. My partner's home was destroyed by a tornado while it was being built, and he lives in a nice neighborhood with relatively expensive homes. With tornadoes, is is really luck that saves you. The recent tornadoes on Sunday hit about 2 am. I remember the storm--but I was deep asleep. I thought I had dreamt it the next morning. It is unfortunate that it happened, but, it could have happened to anybody who was in the path at the time--tornadoes are horrible devastating storms.

 

[aprilgail2]

I honestly dont mean this as a slam to anyone I am trying to uderstand.

Why do they allow mobile homes in area that are prone to Tornadoes?

QUOTE]

I feel the same way about mobile homes and hurricane areas..who in their right mind would live in a mobile home in Florida??

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

My grandmother lived in a mobile home in Florida. It is all she can afford and they come cheaper than apartments--even those that are supplemented.

However--after last years hurricanes, my dad decided to move her up to DC and she is in a nice apartment for those that are income limited. The trailer isn't what did it. She's disabled and her husband died and she just couldn't deal with the hurricanes much more on her own and my dad can only come and help out so much each year.

And if a tornado is powerful enough--it can remove a home from its foundation. So just b/c it is cemented to the ground...doesn't make it invincible to destruction from a tornado or a hurricane. We had buildings condemned and destroyed from the hurricanes last year while mobile homes are standing as if the storm was just a passing summer rain shower.

 

[Feralpeg]

Some mobile homes are absolutely beautiful. I believe people feel they are more afordable. I think it mostly comes down to playing the odds. It's like someone driving without a seatbelt. They think it just couldn't happen to them.

 

[C.Ann]

We had buildings condemned and destroyed from the hurricanes last year while mobile homes are standing as if the storm was just a passing summer rain shower.

----------------

This is what I found so surprising when I went to Florida last winter.. The news coverage made it sound like every mobile home in Florida had been blown away to never-never land.. My brother's area was very hard hit (he was in a traditional home that suffered minor damage) and I saw far more damage to traditional homes than I did mobile homes. It's just the luck of the draw, I guess..