Temporary trailers to trigger faster hurricane evacuations

<p>This hurricane season, more New Orleans metropolitan residents are living in travel trailers and mobile homes, which means more face greater danger.Trailers are considerably less sturdy than single-family homes so city officials and the Federal Emergency Management Agency say people should

make evacuation an important part of hurricane preparedness. There may be instances where we have to evacuate people from trailers when we're not evacuating the city, said Terry Ebbert, homeland security director for New Orleans, during a briefing last week on hurricane preparedness. FEMA officials said trailer and mobile home residents may be required to evacuate before tropical storms or Category 1 hurricanes - storms between 74 mph to 95 mph.Travel trailers make up most of the temporary housing in the New Orleans area. To date, 54,265 travel trailers have been distributed versus 2,789 mobile homes statewide. FEMA spokeswoman Rachel Rodi said trailer residents should always pay attention to weather reports. Someone who feels threatened by an approaching storm should evacuate quickly, said Rodi.</p><p>Wind vulnerabilityA travel trailer with an aluminum or metal siding exterior does not provide much security during a storm, experts say.Doyle Miller, spokesman for Indiana-based recreational vehicle manufacturer Jayco Inc., said the company's two main types of travel trailers have either a wood framework with metal siding or a fiberglass-laminated wall covered with compressed foam, an aluminum framework and a fiberglass outer skin.Sid Johnson, Jayco director of marketing, said the company has not tested its travel trailers for storm resistance.These units are built as trailers and are designed to be light and mobile - they're not built on foundations like a single-family home, said Johnson. Most RV trailers are equipped with stabilizer jacks. Using the jacks to stabilize the RV in a level position tends to significantly mitigate the likelihood it will blow over.The bottom line of that is they would not be able to withstand more wind than a car or truck could, said Johnson.The Causeway Police close the Causeway Bridge to travel trailers in sustained winds of 55 mph.Johnson said fiberglass-laminated units are more resistant to flying projectiles than aluminum siding trailers. Rodi said FEMA will not determine how much wind force a trailer can withstand before being compromised or its resistance to wind-borne debris because of liability concerns. There are no technical guidelines (for design wind loads) on travel trailers, said Rodi. Most local jurisdictions already have clear guidelines for when to evacuate. Since these trailers are getting local permits for their placement, local requirements for evacuation would continue to be in effect.</p><p>'Time will tell'Louis Savoye, director of code enforcement for Jefferson Parish, said there were various code enforcements for trailers immediately after Katrina but the Jefferson Parish Council later decided not to require a permit. A licensed electrician and plumber must handle installations. It would have been an impossible situation to have trailers meet the structural requirements for various building codes, said Savoye. We had to allow FEMA, Shaw and the manufacturers' guidelines determine the installation of the trailers.Savoye said some trailers can be strapped down or bolted into concrete. Whether a bolted trailer will hold up better, only time will tell, Savoye said.FEMA contracted The Shaw Group of Baton Rouge to install the trailers. Shaw spokeswoman Stephanie Dixon said Shaw oversees all installations even if the job is subcontracted to another company. All trailers are strapped and anchored for stability and mounted on cinderblocks - all according to the manufacturer guidelines, said Dixon. Rodi said the trailers are anchored with steel straps that connect to four-corner anchors and these guidelines are passed on to Shaw officials.</p>