Many Rogers County communities are adding or upgrading storm sirens.

Verdigris anticipates sirens will be operational within days, and Inola just received $74,312 in grants to upgrade the community’s alert system.

But what happens after the siren sounds?

Many Rogers County residents have no place to take shelter from a storm. There are no public shelters in Rogers County. Mobile home dwellers are particularly vulnerable.

There are 4,934 mobile homes in Rogers County, according to Deputy Assessor Vernetta Bowman.

“The statistics will show most fatalities from tornadoes occur in cars and mobile homes,” said meteorologist Tom Bennett. “You’re actually safer to get out of your car or mobile home and get into a ditch during a tornado. You have a better chance of surviving in a ditch.”

Due to increases in rural populations, Bennett said Oklahomans may see more frequency of damage and a greater amount of impact from tornadoes.

“It’s not that the tornadoes are changing, it’s that the landscape is changing,” said Bennett.

Bennett is co-owner of Jim Giles Safe Rooms, a company that manufactures above-ground, steel-reinforced safe rooms as an alternative to below ground shelters. Mobile home dwellers are among his customers.

Bennett said residents of mobile homes are also in greater danger from straight-line winds. While a normal home might lose shingles, a mobile home can suffer devastating damage from high winds. Most storm sirens do not sound for straight-line winds.

ECONOMICS OF SAFE SHELTER

Some states require mobile home parks to provide a shelter for residents, said Bennett, but Oklahoma is not one of them.

Rogers County does not require mobile home parks to provide shelters either, according to Planning Commission Director Magan DeLozier Green.