Trailer parks and mobile homes are like steel coffins during a tornado. Without a solid foundation rooting them to the earth, mobile homes become easy targets for rampaging twisters. Park managers looking to optimize profit typically group these homes in proximity to one another, increasing the chances of death and destruction. Flimsy building materials make it nearly impossible to install safe rooms into these homes and a basement is obviously out of the question. As you could imagine, trailer park residents have little recourse when the tornado warnings begin to flash across their TV screens. Unfortunately, two residents in a Gaylord, Michigan trailer park learned the perils of living in these mobile death homes when a storm demolished the park Friday afternoon. Community safe rooms for trailer parks could’ve given these residents a fighting chance.
When Efficiency is Sacrificed for Integrity and Protection
As you can tell from the above footage, last week’s tornado reduced the once brimming park to a scattered wasteland. Early estimates indicate that 95 percent of the park was completely destroyed. Residents will have no choice but to slowly pick up the pieces and try to move on with their now disheveled lives. Densely populated parks, such as this one, increase the propensity for destruction and carnage. Scantly constructed exterior walls offer virtually no protection to spiraling windspeeds that seem to pick up speed and momentum as they descend on the unsuspecting park. Parks are often situated in large, open spaces, placing resident perilously close to harm’s way as twisters obviously prefer room to roam in storm prone areas. Mobile homes came into favor in the 1970s to alleviate some of the pangs of a rising affordable housing crisis. With composite and synthetic building materials coming into favor, these quickly furbished homes seemed like the ideal solution for those struggling to pay rent and unable to secure financing for a mortgage. But with this haphazard rush for efficient engineering came a sacrifice in strength and structural integrity. Mobile homes fair far worse than traditional brick and mortar homes during a tornado. Even a glancing shot from a storm can unhinge mobile homes from their fixtures while totaling the home’s foundation and threatening the occupants.
Community Safe Rooms for Trailer Parks Can Mitigate Storm’s Wrath
Why should safety and protection from Mother Nature once again come down to a question of the haves and have nots? At U.S. Safe Room, we believe that everyone is entitled to steel protection and the ability to ride out any storm. Survival should never come down to a question of economics. Community safe rooms for trailer parks could be the perfect solution for storm weary residents. While individual safe rooms and kits cannot be installed in a trailer without damaging the home itself, community safe rooms are a logical solution for the community as a whole. Similar in size to a traditional mobile home, these safe rooms can be easily or centrally located in any park, allowing easy access for the entire community. By banning together, residents could easily pitch in to pay for a community safe room for trailer parks for years to come.