April is typically a busy month for tornadoes. On average, more than 150 twisters touchdown in the United States every year. Known as a seasonal transition month, lingering cooler air masses and warm fronts invading from the south produce ideal conditions for tornadoes. These colliding air masses create atmospheric disturbances ripe for tornadic activity, especially in the deep south. A peninsular state, Florida, experiences a diverse subtropic climate riddled with heavy rainfall and lofty supercells that can create tornadoes. On Saturday, one such line of storms created a brutalizing twister that easily tossed aside parked cars as fleeting motorists struggled to find safety. If a tornado can throw a two-ton object through the air, imagine what it could to unprotected property and those left in harm’s way. Investing a steel panelized storm shelter from U.S. Safe Room gives your family more than a fighting chance against severe weather.
April Tornados No Stranger to Sunshine State
Florida is a favorite target for Mother Nature. Along with flash flooding and the yearly threat of hurricanes, Floridians must also contend with high-risk tornadoes. Florida has the highest frequency of tornadoes per 10,000 square miles as an average of 68 twisters hit the state every year. Jettisoning out from the rest of the continental US into warmer tropical waters invites prevailing tornadic activity almost any time of year. Many Floridians are woefully unprepared to handle the persistent threat of tornadoes. Southern bound tornadoes often strike the dead of night when most people are sound asleep. Dotted with thick foliage and tree lines that stretch across a bounty of flatland, tornadoes can easily sneak upon unsuspecting residents with impunity.
Residential Structures Remain Vulnerable to Killer Storms
Already saddled with disadvantages in geography, storm beleaguered residents must also ride out killer storms in inferior construction. Did you know that more 800,000 people in Florida live in a mobile home? That’s nearly 10 percent of the total population! Trailers and mobile homes can be some of the worst places to be when a tornado strikes. Without a sturdy foundation or even a basement to escape to, mobile homes can be a death sentence for those in the direct path of a tornado. Most mobile homes cannot even withstand windspeeds of 70 miles per hour. With even the weakest of tornadoes topping 100 miles per hour, a mobile home can offer little more protection than a RV or pop-up tent. Unfortunately, many residents have found themselves in poor economic shape due to no fault of their own. We are all at the mercy of the world economy and the outlandish real estate market. While we could never shame someone for their impoverished surroundings, there is a practical solution that would require the help of the entire community. A community saferoom could provide guaranteed protection for the entire mobile home park or community. By spreading the financial burden to the entire community, a mobile home park could offer steel-rated protection to those who would otherwise be destitute and prone to severe injury or death due to a tornado.