5 May 2011

The Flat Rock Mobile Home

Posted by Dan Satterfield

I visited the site of one of the EF 4 tornadoes that hit North Alabama on Monday and came across this mobile home. At least it WAS a mobile home. The original trailer was on those blocks in the picture above and was blown across the road about 70 yards. Not all of the mobile home made it across the road because the metal base got caught by a pine tree. Most of the tree is gone but you can see below what the twisters 190 mph winds did.

Not much left of the rest of the home but the front door is still recognizable.

In severe weather, a mobile home is a death trap. Only around 10% of Americans live in one, but in most years over half of the deaths from tornadoes are in them. You will find very few meteorologists (including me) who do not support mandatory storm shelters for all new trailer parks. The people who lived in this one did the smart thing, and got out of it before the storm hit.

Whole families in Alabama lost their lives in them last Wednesday.