Tornado shelter-seeking behavior and shelter options among mobile home residents

Nearly half of fatalities due to tornadoes in the United States during the past 20 years were mobile home occupants. This high-risk population is instructed to leave their home when a tornado warning is issued and seek shelter in an underground shelter or nearby sturdy building. If such shelter is not available, they are told to go outdoors and lie in a ditch or depression. Our field work on tornado hazards has suggested that underground shelters or sturdy buildings are often not available to mobile home residents, whether they are located in mobile home communities or on private rural lots. Tornado safety rules and preparedness programs for mobile home residents were developed without knowledge of the existing shelter options for mobile home residents and the actual shelter-seeking behavior of this population. We surveyed 500 mobile home residents who had recently experienced tornado warnings in two states in the Deep South and two states in the Midwest to determine (1) the shelter-seeking behavior of mobile home residents and (2) the tornado shelter options available to mobile homes residents. The data were analyzed and compared by region and by demographic features such as race, age, gender, education, family structure, previous experience with tornadoes, and residence in parks vs. rural lots. Results provide an assessment of the tornado shelter-seeking behavior and shelter options of mobile home residents in the most vulnerable regions of the United States for use in improving tornado safety and preparedness programs.