Joy Hampton
Staff Reporter
CLAREMORE —
In Oklahoma, we know about tornadoes. Located in Tornado Alley, Oklahoma has one of the highest occurrences of tornadoes in the nation. And while early warning means fewer deaths related to those tornadoes, fatalities are still inevitable.
Historically, mobile homes are one of the most hazardous places to be during a tornado.
“There are 4,712 mobile homes in Rogers County,” said County Assessor Scott Marsh.
“Half the deaths in this country from tornadoes now are in mobile homes,” said Dr. Thomas W. Schmidlin of Kent State University, Department of Geography, who has been studying fatalities related to tornadoes for over 15 years.
A search for the deadliest tornadoes reveals the top 25 deadliest tornadoes occurred during the first half of the 20th century or late in the 1800s before the advanced warning systems we have today. Tornado warnings save lives by allowing people to take shelter before the storm hits.
But what about the person caught off-guard, without safe shelter? What about people living in mobile homes in isolated portions of the county?
Schmidlin said safety is relative. The key is to find the safest place to shelter you can under the circumstances.
For years, it was believed that anyone in a mobile home or in a vehicle should get out and take cover in a ditch.
“The recommendation actually has been changed,” said Schmidlin. “There had never been any research to show that a person is safer in a ditch.”
In the Catoosa tornado 16 years ago, most of the fatalities were people in vehicles hit when the tornado crossed the interstate. But even in cases such as Catoosa, a car might be better shelter than no shelter at all if the person is wearing a seatbelt.
Video taken from a patrol car during the Catoosa tornado shows large hail and debris hitting the roadway violently while many cars sit out the storm safely despite that in other cases deaths did occur in vehicles. The chances for survival inside those vehicles may still have been better than outside on the ground.
And in most cases, Schmidlin believes a vehicle is better shelter than a mobile home. He made his case in Washington D.C. last summer. As of July 2009, NOAA and the Red Cross have issued new guidelines.
According to Volume 2 of “Aware” a newsletter published by NOAA’s National Weather Service, the new guidelines advise staying inside your vehicle under certain conditions.
“For mobile home residents who don’t have a shelter nearby, get in the vehicle and buckle in,” said Schmidlin. “You can then go someplace better.”
He urges people to seek shelter whenever possible during a tornado, but said that his research has indicated that most mobile home residents will not get into a ditch.
“Nobody does it,” said Schmidlin.
There are several hazards someone without shelter faces. There may be water in the ditch, downed power lines, large hail, flying debris, and strong winds.
“Getting in the vehicle and buckling in puts you into a safer position than you would have been staying in the mobile home,” said Schmidlin.” Being in a car is not the best place to be, but it’s better than being in a mobile home, and it’s better than being outdoors.”
Vehicles are designed to protect drivers and passengers in a catastrophic accident while traveling 60-70 miles per hour, said Schmidlin. Modern vehicles are equipped with safety glass, roll over protection in the roof, sidebar protection in the doors, and seatbelt harnesses to keep people from rolling around inside the vehicle.
“They have a padded interior whereas the mobile home is not designed to roll over,” said Schmidlin. “When the mobile home comes apart in the wind, it breaks into deadly pieces of wood, metal and glass. Cars are heavy and they’re low and they’re streamlined. They’re designed for the wind. It takes more wind to tip a car over than it does to tip or destroy a mobile home even if that home is tied down.”
When evaluating where to seek shelter, a person has to consider the relative risk, said Schmidlin.
Most times a strong wind will pick up a person before it will pick up a 3,000 pound vehicle.
“The people who got out of their cars were much more injured than those who stayed in the car in the Moore/Oklahoma City tornado of May 3, 1999,” said Schmidlin.
That cluster of tornadoes also raised the question as to whether it was better to take cover beneath an underpass.
An older underpass with big girders and beams that allow people to get out of the wind might be a good choice of cover. In the case of the tornado in Moore, the underpass was smooth with no cover from the wind. Instead of offering protection, it seemed the wind accelerated through the underpass.
“Get to a sturdy building or get underground,” said Schmidlin. “It’s best to take shelter in a frame house or basement, but lots of people don’t have that.”
Schmidlin said his research indicates there are times people have been killed when there was a car or pickup sitting in the driveway.
“They’d probably have still been alive (if they sheltered in the vehicle),” said Schmidlin. “Go to the safest place you can. Even if you can’t drive to a sturdier place, you’ve probably gotten to a better position (by buckling up in the car).”
