Experiencing Severe Weather in a Mobile Home

Fear is the mind killer. I read those words long ago in a cheap paper back novel. I can't even remember which one, but I know they are true.

I moved into a mobile home in Florida during the calm of winter after an exceptionally calm summer. It was an economic decision mostly. I bought the place for all of $5000 and with a monthly lot rent of only $300, it's the most affordable living option in the state. We rationalized our decision with dreams of saving for a house and our home's proven track record of survival.

Hurricanes are a fact of life here but the home we purchased has already survived nearly 20 of them and there's enough warning to get to another state in any case. What we forgot to factor in were the severe storms that Florida is prone to outside of hurricanes.

I've lived in Florida for 22 years and I consider myself to be somewhat of a veteran when it comes to storms but I have never had the gut wrenching fear I had today, sitting in my mobile home during one of Florida's "Routine" summer storms. It appeared out of nowhere, water flooded the yard and I found myself sitting in the middle of my living room floor holding a battery powered radio to my chest, partly for comfort and partly for better reception, listening to a happy announcer talk about Hail, flash floods and this weekends car sales. I switched stations, sent up a prayer against tornados and thought "God hates mobile homes'.

I have never, ever been so afraid in my life. I couldn't think of any actions I could take in the event of a tornado to protect myself or my two-year-old little girl sleeping in the next room. All I could think about was the news casts on TV with the man next to a pile of rubble saying "it sounded like a freight train."

Now that it's over I have my mind back. I know there's a shelter for storms two blocks away and there's a well built shed with a concrete foundation right outside my door, had I really needed it. My home is still sound but I don't think I can ever think of it as safe again.