Sunday's Deadly Tornadoes a Reminder of the Risks of Mobile Homes

Jeremy Redmon reports on the ubiquity of mobile homes in the state of Georgia—a fact of residential life in that state, and others, that introduces extreme risks when tornadoes touch down.

Georgia ranks fifth among states for its number of mobile homes — or manufacture houses — with 381,978, according to the Virginia-based Manufactured Housing Institute, a national trade organization. About 70,000 are in the metro Atlanta area, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Of those, at least 14,900 are not anchored.

So when deadly storms swept across South Georgia on Sunday, seven people died at a mobile home park in Cook County. Redmon reports, via information from the National Weather Service, that the "average annual tornado-related death rate in mobile homes is 20 times higher than in permanent homes." Moreover, "between 1985 and 2005, mobile homes were the most common location for tornado-related fatalities at 44 percent, followed by permanent homes at 25.3 percent and vehicles, 9.9 percent."