Published: April 4,2017
The tornado death toll for 2017 has risen to 27 after an EF1 destroyed a mobile home and killed one person Monday in Union County, South Carolina. This happened a day after another EF1 tornado killed two people in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, Sunday morning.
Most of the fatalities from tornadoes so far this year occurred during a Jan. 21-22 outbreak that killed 20 people in the South. The other four additional tornado-related deaths were in Illinois and Missouri on Feb. 28.
(MORE: Tornado Central)

(MORE: Most Active Tornado Year Since 2008 as of Mid-March)
This week's tornado deaths in Louisiana and South Carolina illustrate the extreme danger of being inside a mobile home during severe weather, including tornadoes and even damaging straight-line winds.
Reinforcing this is the fact that 18 of the 27 tornado-related deaths this year, or about 67 percent, have occurred in mobile homes.
That toll could have been even higher had an Arkansas family not gone into a storm shelter during a tornado in early March that destroyed their mobile home. The National Weather Service (NWS) said the damage to the mobile home was "likely not survivable."

(National Weather Service - Little Rock)
The NWS says that nearly 40 percent of all tornado deaths have historically occurred in mobile homes. Residents of these types of homes should abandon them in favor of a sturdy building during severe weather. This alternative structure should be a part of a severe weather plan that is identified well in advance.
(MORE: The Future of Tornado Warnings)
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