IMO - staying in a mobile home during a hurricane

[janette]

One of the sadest stories from the 97 tornado in Jarrell, TX were a family that left their mobile home to go to a friends house. After the tornado the mobile home had survived but the house didn't. The only people who survived in the subdivision were underground and I think there were only 3. Sometimes there are no guarantees.

 

[piratesmate]

Did anyone else see footage on some of the "newer" mobile homes?

I was watching CNN yesterday morning & they were talking about how the new codes required a different kind of "strap" to hold them down.

Unless they mixed up their voiceover & footage, it looked like those straps did hold - however, the homes were still basically destroyed. It looked like parts of the base/walls were still there, but the roofs were gones, debris was inside - I don't know how anyone could have survived in there.

It's all so sad.

 

[NCRedding]

I read that before one of the last hurricanes to hit the Outer Banks--maybe Isabel last year, the police were telling people that if they chose not to evacuate, to please take a permanent marker and write their name on the forearms, so that their body would be more easily identified. I often see interviews afterward where the person says "I just wanted to see what it was like--I had no idea how awful it is" I wish they would broadcast these before the hurricane hits, so that other people can be made aware.

As to mobile homes, etc. I do real estate closings, and cringe everytime I see the prices people will pay for these homes--in our area, you could buy a site built home for very close to what a mobile home will go for--I don't see the point!! In fact, in our county, 65% of the new home starts (permits issued for 2002) were for mobile or modular homes.

 

[PamOKW]

Some of the good news about the mobile home destruction was that the storm hit in August. Many of these homes belong to snowbirds who, luckily, were at their "other" home. One park that was destroyed the reporter said all or almost all of the residents had gathered for shelter in the clubhouse. Only 10% of the park residents were in Florida so it worked out. If the park had been full they felt it would have been a major tragedy since every home was destroyed.