I noticed we're told to get out of trailers because more deaths occur
in trailers than in permanent homes in tornadoes. I hear this over and
over. I checked the stats for years past and it seems to bear out.
However I noticed a trend in recent years that disturbed me. I noticed
the numbers getting more even. It seems almost the exact number , 50%,
get killed in mobile homes versus permanent homes in tornadoes. Why is
this happening? Mobile homes are surely not built any better , so does
this mean permanent homes are starting to be built worse or are the
data being collected in a different manner than previously?

In article , no-
says...
I noticed we're told to get out of trailers because more deaths occur
in trailers than in permanent homes in tornadoes. I hear this over and
over. I checked the stats for years past and it seems to bear out.
However I noticed a trend in recent years that disturbed me. I noticed
the numbers getting more even. It seems almost the exact number , 50%,
get killed in mobile homes versus permanent homes in tornadoes. Why is
this happening? Mobile homes are surely not built any better , so does
this mean permanent homes are starting to be built worse or are the
data being collected in a different manner than previously?




What's happening appears to be that you're unfamiliar with the data.
The following is the total number of deaths per year from 1975-2005, the
number in mobile homes (MH) in 1975-2005 and the number in permanent
homes (PH) in 1985-2005. Permanent homes weren't singled out until
1985. For 2006, the reports from 2 April are still preliminary, so we
don't have good info yet.

In the 1970s, ~25% of tornado deaths were in mobile homes. In the
2000s, it's been 50%. This is related to the increase in number of
mobile homes. The death rate per mobile home resident is about 15-20
that of permanent homes (MH make up ~7% of housing stock in the US.)

Year Total MH PH

1975 60 13
1976 44 18
1977 43 7
1978 53 15
1979 84 9
1980 28 11
1981 24 14
1982 64 20
1983 34 20
1984 122 43
1985 94 28 40
1986 15 7 3
1987 59 24 7
1988 32 21 6
1989 48 12 8
1990 53 7 25
1991 39 23 3
1992 39 21 12
1993 33 13 6
1994 68 24 12
1995 30 8 15
1996 25 14 8
1997 67 28 21
1998 132 64 46
1999 94 36 39
2000 40 29 4
2001 40 17 15
2002 55 32 15
2003 54 25 24
2004 36 11 21
2005 39 34 3


Harold
--
Harold Brooks
Head, Mesoscale Applications Group
NOAA/National Severe Storms Laboratory