For nearly half of the Americans who die from tornadoes, the last view they have of this world is the disintegrating interior of their mobile home.
Mobile home residents recognize the legendary vulnerability of their dwellings in wind storms. However, when the tornado siren starts blowing or the Weather Channel screen turns red, few are willing to gather the family and leave their mobile home to run outside into a severe thunderstorm with heavy rain, lightning, hail, and flying debris to lie down in a water-filled ditch to await a tornado.
While conducting the first study in Georgia and Alabama in 1994, we were surprised by the common occurrence of cars or pickup trucks that remained upright with little damage near mobile homes that were destroyed and the mobile home occupants killed. After careful thought, it did not seem so surprising. After all, a modern car has a low center of gravity, a streamlined form, a protective interior, and is designed to encounter strong winds and protect occupants in case of a roll-over and other crashes. Our preliminary estimates showed that a door-handle-height wind speed of about 120 mph is required to tip a car, compared to perhaps 80 mph to tip a mobile home.
Following our surprising observations after the 1994 tornadoes, we embarked on a systematic survey of the effects of tornadoes on cars and pick-ups. We collected data on vehicles parked outdoors at homes with F1, F2, or F3 tornado damage ~.
Not surprisingly, this sample of 180 vehicles showed that the percentage of cars moved or tipped tended to increase with increased home damage (and inferred wind speed). Surprisingly, at homes with F3 damage (158- 206 mph), fewer than half (46%) of cars were moved by the wind, only 15% were tipped over by the wind ~. These results are now under review for publication.
Underground shelter is always safest ~.
Makes sense to me. I might even DRIVE into a ditch.