{"id":2274,"date":"2015-01-07T19:38:04","date_gmt":"2015-01-08T01:38:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.manufacturedhomepronews.com\/industryvoices\/?p=2274"},"modified":"2015-01-07T19:38:04","modified_gmt":"2015-01-08T01:38:04","slug":"the-manufactured-home-windstorm-story-not-told-lives-saved-with-proper-installation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.manufacturedhomepronews.com\/industryvoices\/the-manufactured-home-windstorm-story-not-told-lives-saved-with-proper-installation\/","title":{"rendered":"The Manufactured Home Windstorm Story Not Told ~ Lives saved with Proper Installation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jasper County Mississippi was one of three counties targeted by one or more EF2 tornadoes over the weekend of January 3rd<\/sup>. Thirty-Three homes were destroyed in these weather events. This is certainly tragic, and news. Of course the media outlets focused on the \u201cmobile home community\u201d where six of the homes were destroyed. These six homes were all reported by local media as \u201cmobile homes.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

First, why did the news media focus on the 6 ‘mobile homes,’ vs. the dozens of conventional houses that were destroyed. Is that media bias?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"tornado-southern-plains-houses-damaged-nbc-news=credit-posted-industry-voices-mhpronews-\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The NBC news report on this previous southern tornado incident – shown in the photo above- includes these comments:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>For three days this week, dozens of twisters raked across the South and Plains, killing 38 people and destroying hundreds of homes<\/span>.\u201d<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So why didn’t the Mississippi news media in this recent incident focus on the dozens of conventional houses destroyed? Why did their coverage focus instead on ‘mobile homes’ destroyed?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"conventional-house-left-roof-flies-off-mh-right-hurricane-wind-test-manufactured-home-livingnews-credit=nbcnews-today-show-(2)\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Manufactured Home on right was the least expensive home in that market area,
\nwhile the conventional house on the left that loses its roof and suffers major damage
\ncost about 4-5 times as much as the MH.
\nStill photos credit: NBC News\/IBHS Hurricane Wind Test video. <\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

To be fair, it is entirely possible that all six of these older factory built houses reported by the MS media were in fact \u201cmobile homes;\u201d meaning pre-June 15, 1976 houses built in a factory. There have been no mobile homes built in the U.S. since June 15, 1976! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The likelihood that all 6 of those MH’s were ‘mobile homes’ is limited. Perhaps 20%-25% of the factory-built houses in use in the U.S. today are truly \u201cmobile homes,\u201d meaning built pre-1976 federal construction standards. Those national safety and construction standards are proven to make modern manufactured homes (MH) as safe or safer than conventional construction, so long as they are properly installed. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Those federal standards, commonly called the HUD Code for manufactured homes, upgraded the homes and turned pre-code ‘mobile houses’ legally into ‘manufactured homes.’ <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cManufactured homes\u201d isn’t just a nicer, fancier or newer name for a mobile home. The new name reflects an improved way of building the homes to make them stronger, safer and better! That’s good for consumers and for the MH industry too.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"tornado-OK-5-20-2013-manufactured-home-posted-mhpronews-com\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Why is one house crushed and the neighboring one damaged but structurally
\nintact? Many times the answer is proper MH installation.
\nMoore, OK May 5, 2013. that destroyed hundreds of conventional houses,
\nas well as dozens of mobile and manufactured homes.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But even a good product has to be properly used. A good manufactured home has to be properly installed. In some areas, manufactured homes didn’t have state or federal standards installation until the last decade or so.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"12MSdamage-weather-com-industry-voices-mhpronews-\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo above from recent MS tornadoes. Notice that the home, even though it rolled,
\nsomeone could have survived inside it. Do you see any anchor straps on this house?
\nIn fact, even without straps, there were no deaths in this incident. Credit – Weather Channel.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"anchoring-manufactured-home-credit-miami-herald-posted-industry-voices-mhpronews-\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What is likely is that these six homes in the MS incident had improper or no tie down installations. Why do I say that? Simple! Because the community owner’s manufactured home was clearly unmoved in that same tornado, as the same news video footage revealed. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The home that survived that MS tornado had relatively minor damage and was reported as still very much livable. It was apparently ‘tied down.’ So what about the others right next to that properly installed home?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Here are the most reasonable scenarios on the 6 \u201cmobile\u201d or manufactured homes that were destroyed:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n