March is Madness in Ohio, but not because the college hoops season is reaching its climatic grand finale, although we’re sure there’s plenty to be ‘upset’ about following a mammoth tornado that destroyed several mobile homes, killing three people. According to the National Weather Service, the half-mile wide tornado pummeled the area surrounding Indian Lake with punitive 150 miles per hour winds. When all was said and done, the twister traveled 31 miles, destroying countless homes, including a defenseless mobile home park that only mustered token sheet-metal resistance as the decimating winds inflicted twisted carnage that was returned to the earth as shredded metal graffiti – a cruel celebratory display of Mother Nature’s triumph over humanity’s negligent building practices that favored cost-effectiveness over commonsense and survival. Mobile homes are some of the worst structures to be during a tornado. Because they lack a solid foundation and sound interior walls, tornadoes have no trouble slicing and dicing through mobile home parks, often killing dozens in their wake.
The Inherent Dangers of Mobile Homes and Tornadoes
Affordable housing is a callous myth. Even insinuating exorbitant rental leases are remotely within the realm of possibility for hardworking Americans is nothing more than an insult to the backbone of the country’s economy – the working class. The fact that some ‘creative’ engineer even posited the possibility of converting a semi-trailer into the bare minimum requirement of what constitutes a dwelling is utterly baffling, let alone the fact opportunistic slumlords decided to maximize space by squeezing dozens of these pre-destined derelicts onto a crammed lot is beyond puzzling. Yet, here we are – living the American Dream or nightmare, depending on which side of the class divide you find yourself on. Inflation compounding domestic unrest and soaring building costs have exacerbated the affordable housing crisis, which has reached unprecedented proportions for a First World nation that supposedly prides itself on the prospect of upward mobility and the pursuit of happiness in the most powerful country on the planet.
Despite rampant disparity, our lawmakers and policy advocates do little to remedy the pernicious effects of impoverished living conditions in the world’s wealthiest nation. So often news commentators pontificate on the need for American aid anytime a hurricane obliterates shoddily-built stick homes housing the poorest of the poor in Third World Countries, yet our lawmakers – heavily lobbied by corporate interests with the promise of kickbacks through contracts – ignore the blight of dubious building practices saddling the working class. Affordable housing is only overshadowed by accessible health care in our country, although these issues timelessly play off one another again and again as Americans must endure the painful burden of systemic poverty brought onto us by duplicitous politicians. We don’t mean to lament the plight of the chronically marginalized class, but we will never demure our responsibility to provide cost-effective options for superior steel metal protection from tornadoes. After all, most of us live paycheck-to-paycheck, so we’re all one slip-up away from becoming destitute.
Mobile Home Tornado Protection
Derision aside, it’s time for our shameless plug, but we will never apologize for offering affordable mobile home tornado protection to the deprived masses who deserve the same steel protection as the upper crust that seemingly takes pleasure in providing us peons nothing more than crumbs from the tantalizing American Dream. Our aboveground stand-alone tornado shelters present the ideal remedy for storm-prone mobile home parks. There’s a common misconception about our aboveground models. When most people think of a tornado shelter, they envision a steel sarcophagus plunged deep beneath the earth’s surface. But despite what Hollywood Blockbusters might lead you to believe, an aboveground safe room offers the same steel protection as our belowground models.
Most importantly, they’re cheaper and take less time to install than their underground counterpart. And, of course, we’re cognizant of the barriers of pricing that place steel protection out of reach for most Americans. Steel protection doesn’t come cheap. Would you trust your family’s life in a cheap, inferiorly-built tornado shelter? Ironically, there is one benefit of safety in living in mobile home parks that are short on space. By combining financial resources with your neighbors or drumming up cash with some gentle goading from the park’s property manager, your community can easily finance an aboveground community tornado shelter that can protect more than 100 people from 250 mph winds and other chaotic weather events. Moreover, FEMA offers individual and community block grants and funding for storm-inflicted areas. To get started, pick up the phone and call your county’s emergency management office. They will point you in the right direction to secure safe room funding. Once your application is approved, contact us for your initial free consultation to explore which mobile home tornado shelter is suitable for you.
