Are manufactured and modular homes really hurricane and tornado magnets?

Storm Magnets?

Are manufactured and modular homes really hurricane and tornado magnets?
No. Sure, you hear on the news all the time that "A Trailer Park Was Wiped Out Today," but if you listen a little longer you will hear of other things that got damaged as well.
No matter how well you have anchored your home or what kind of foundation it is on, you can't escape damage from flying debris. Slam a riding lawn mower/motorcycle/small car/a girl and dog named Dorothy and Toto at high speed into the side of any house and you are going to have damage.

One of the reasons you probably hear of so many manufactured homes being damaged is that there are SO MANY OF THEM. Especially in parks and communities where there are so many compacted into an area. When you have an area of stick or site built homes close together and a storm hits, you will hear of a lot of damage then, too. See the picture below:

Basically, from the floor up, manufactured and modular homes are built the same way as site built wood frame homes.
When Bill went through his setup class he saw some pictures of a home that went through Andrew. The frame, piers, ground anchor system and the floor of the house was still there intact. Everything above that point - was gone. As you can see from the above picture, any type of home can suffer this type of damage. That's why storm cellars are storm CELLARS.

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