In the movie "Twisters" one of the tornado chasing vehicles has four construction equipment sized augers (i.e. big screws) that it uses to burrow into the gorund and anchor itself in high winds.
A huge problem in tornado and hurricane territory is that mobile homes aren't well anchored, and tend to blow over or away in high winds, because they aren't well anchored to a foundation.
One partial solution to this problem would be to have similar auger anchors to hold mobile homes (or even RVs), which don't have adequate foundations themselves, firmly to the ground.
2 comments:
I think hurricane straps/anchors are required everywhere along the gulf coast, at least for the last thirty years. While there might be a fair number of crooked building inspectors in Texas, I doubt that the insurance inspectors have the same motivation. I doubt that any anchor will help you if a tornado decides to touch down on your house. Growing up in Missouri and living in Kansas I saw the effects of tornados a few times and they are unimaginably strong. A few psi times a whole bunch of in^2 will rock your world.
Good to know.
Post a Comment