Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Tuesday, May 31, 2011
(EVANSVILLE, IN) - Residents of Indiana trailer parks had warnings about last week’s string of tornadoes, thanks in part to a four-year-old state law.
The law requires all newly-installed or relocated mobile homes to be equipped with a weather radio.
Then-Evansville Representative Phil Hoy authored the law months after a tornado in the overnight hours in November, 2005, caught many Evansville and Boonville residents off guard. 25 people were killed.
The law does not cover already-existing trailers. Hoy says there's no way to tell how many mobile-home residents are protected because of the law, but says he's confident it has saved lives.
Hoy says he'd like to see legislators go a step further and require the radios to be hardwired into new trailers, and perhaps traditional homes as well.
He says it'd be an inexpensive step with a potentially life-and-death impact.
1340 AM WBIW welcomes comments and suggestions by calling 812.277.1340 during normal business hours or by email at comments@wbiw.com
© Ad-Venture Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.