Architecture, design and the Gull Lake Tornado

One striking aspect of the Gull Lake Tornado, was the fact that there were many homes with little or no damage, even while many trailers were badly damaged including being rolled over or being completely destroyed.

As an example, we saw a trailer with a roof over top, and with the roof anchored to the ground. The posts holding the roof are attached to concrete slabs in the ground to give firm support. This trailer was essentially untouched, while all around it trailers suffered extensive damage.

In my short review of the situation with George Harbottle, it was apparent that virtually no homes which were permanantly built on the ground were badly damaged, while many, many trailers were extensively damaged. It was also apparent that some of the damage to trailers resulted from their being rolled over and tossed around. Fixed permanent homes could not be tossed around in the same fashion.

Attention is often paid to the fact that trailer courts seem to "attract" tornados. But, observations at Gull Lake would suggest that trailers are much more susceptible to tornado damage, and that some design modifications (like anchoring trailers) might make them much less susceptible to tornado damage. This aspect needs to be better investigated, because it may be that guidelines or standards could be developed to significantly reduce the susceptibility of trailers to tornados.