MH Flipped Over

[throgmartin]

I have heard and seen it this with tornadoes but never a common wind not generated by a storm. Absolutely crazy. 

Glad the people are OK, specially their dog. But dang, what a loss. Their coach was totaled by the insurance company. I seen their update and I guess they bought a 2023 Dutch Star. You would think a 47,000 lb coach would win against a 100 mph wind when stationary. That wind current had to catch that coach at just the right place to flip it. God Bless those people and hope they have better luck with their new DP.

Here is the story and pictures. There are links below that story on their website to more updates. I read the first one but not the others.

Our Motorhome was Destroyed – MnM Go!

 

[Agpopp]

This is pretty unbelievable.  I wonder if the air was in or out of the bags. 

[jacwjames]

I saw this on IRV2 early last week, I would have not that a strong wind could do this.

I have a buddy who lives in Las Cruz NM (east of where this happened) and he's always taking about the high winds.  I sent him a link, he was not surprised as he sees reports of this type of thing pretty often. 

[Martinvz]

Having lived in an area with high wind at times, I have seen vehicles blown over when the wind gets funneled just right (or wrong). But a motorhome if that weight, never (yet).

We passed through that area exactly a year ago and the wind at times was really unpleasant. 

[Robert92867]

I passed westbound thru Van Horn on March 9, 2023. The weather was calm.  However,  My RV and toad were struck by lightning in June 2009 near Van Horn.  I lost a windshield from a rock thrown up near Van Horn in 2011.  I had 2 tires blown out in Guadalupe River St. Park on Christmas Day 2022.  That area has become my "Bermuda Triangle".  Unfortunately, in winter I have to travel I-10 to avoid snow, otherwise I take I-40.  I also have taken to ty-wrapping my awning down to structural points, in fear of freak wind gusts that seem to be more prevalent these days.

"Don't mess with Texas" has become my Mantra.

[Tom Cherry]

Having watched, in a rear view mirror, a 22 - 24 ft Receiver hitch Travel Trailer get out of control and in 3 or 4 oscillations....as in swerving to one side and then back, and then flipping and taking the Dodge Durango SUV with it, I wonder about the wind phenomen...  Would it be possible for some swirling and crazy vectoring burst to lift one side and then the other and finally the rocking caused a pendulum effect and finally a large burst caught the MH in a semi raised position and the momentum just flipped it over.  My physics is rusty and I was never much of a theoritician..... But here is what NASA says....

Newton's First Law of Motion states that a body at rest will remain at rest unless an outside force acts on it, and a body in motion at a constant velocity will remain in motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an outside force.

position I wonder if there are any videos that have recorded swirling, gusty winds....where the direction and intensity constantly change....and their impact or damage on a stationary object like a car, OTR or large sidewall area object.  The sheer force on the sidewall (large area) coupled with back and forth oscillation....and perhaps some uplift can reek havoc.  Having done some commercial roofing projects and having a vague understanding of "wind lift" and fastener performance.....as well as watching some experiments that Factory Mutual ran or a group of us... wind lift or the venturi vacuum effect can do some unbelievable things.  

The constant rocking or hammering of gusting or swirling winds on the sidewall as well as the counteractive (recovery back) movement or weight force that would be pushing the MH to try to compensate and then get it back in a neutral position can be a powerful force....  It MIGHT take a NASA engineer to calculate the various vectors and their intensity or force.  

[FishAR]

I got hit with 60 mph crosswind on I 10 in the florida panhandle going home last year. Full of fuel and water, towing my silverado.

No warning from accuweather or weather.com. No where to pull off. I got pushed off the road by it 2-3 times, moved me 3 ft at least. I didn't even consider pulling off on the shoulder, raining so hard at times you could barely see and I would have got rear ended.

Very scary. Got to a rest area and parked. 5 minutes later it was over. 8 minutes later my phone started going off with weather warnings "shelter in place". Yeah, thanks a lot.

[Dr4Film]

I have driven that road from El Paso to Carlsbad with my Windsor towing a 30-foot cargo trailer. However, we did not stop at Guadalupe Mountains NP as did the owners of the Dutch Star. I would imagine that those canyons can funnel winds down through them in such a way that winds that are 30-40 mph can turn into 80-100 mph.

Glad to hear that they were made whole after such a unfortunate situation.

[jimc99999]

I saw that as well, and I wonder if their weird single-wheel trailer helped flip the MH. With a single wheel it can't swivel in all directions, so it could act as a sail and add a significant twisting force from the hitch.

[96 EVO]

Too bad! With that big empty lot, they had their choice which direction they could point their coach.

I guess they were thinking the same as the rest of us..... Nothing other than a tornado is going to move this coach!

Wonder what the gust reached to do that.

[scottjo02]

In my previous mechanical engineering life, I did wind load calculations on oil derricks. I did a calculation on this rig based on side wind as an overturning moment and 43k lb. dead weight along centerline of the coach to the opposite dual wheel centerline as he resisting moment. I came out with 131 mph wind when the two moments were equal. However the variable is the formula used to get wind load per square foot. Google says to use 0.00256 times the velocity squared which is what I used this time. In my old days I think we used 0.004 times velocity squared which would give 105 mph wind. Who knows. It was a great wind and a very unusual event. Comments welcome. 

[Guest Ray Davis]

Powerful gusts might start a rocking motion.  If I tried turning it over I would try rocking it first,  with lots of help.

I wish we could have seen them turn it right side up.  I wondered if it would come apart in the process but it still looked pretty good in the picture.

From now on I'll park facing into the wind or the other way, if I can remember.   The problem with wind from the rear is it'll take your door off.

Don't mess with Tex or mother nature.  😄

[Tom Cherry]

6 hours ago, scottjo02 said:

In my previous mechanical engineering life, I did wind load calculations on oil derricks. I did a calculation on this rig based on side wind as an overturning moment and 43k lb. dead weight along centerline of the coach to the opposite dual wheel centerline as he resisting moment. I came out with 131 mph wind when the two moments were equal. However the variable is the formula used to get wind load per square foot. Google says to use 0.00256 times the velocity squared which is what I used this time. In my old days I think we used 0.004 times velocity squared which would give 105 mph wind. Who knows. It was a great wind and a very unusual event. Comments welcome. 

As a Graduate Engineer, but not a Mechanical/Aerospace one (assuming that was your field), my hat’s off to you,  In my past life, I did a lot, and I mean a lot (> $25 Million over 20 years) of commercial roofing, new and tear offs and replacement,  I also ended up with “Resource Conservation” or the property insurance and spent a lot of time at UL and Factory Mutual test labs.  They can generate tornado and hurricane conditions and test different roofs for wind life as wells as foundations and construction.  I totally agree with you.  It was a freak set of circumstances or the perfect storm,  I think the shear (brute) force of the side wind along with the gusting and “quartering” winds that were present under the chassis, had an uplifting vector and the MH flipped.  I posted earlier….and wonder about some pummeling or rocking and then the chassis recoiling and shaking back,and forth and then at a critical moment, when it was leaning (in the direction it flipped), a large gust hit the side and that just rolled it.  All that to say….unless there was a video and there was some wind data as to gusting and also direction….even a “Rocket Scientist” can’t say for certainty what happened.

Thanks for yiur comments….

[Bruce S]

Back in October 1981 we were slowly crossing the Mackinaw bridge in Michigan in a high wind condition.  I didn't realize why the traffic was crawling so slowly and then to my surprise a trucker came up and blew by us on the shoulder.  I thought what is this guy doing?  Then about 10 vehicles ahead he slowed down and matched the speed of a class C RV which was bouncing on 2 wheels while trying to cross the bridge.  The wheels that came off the ground were about 18" in the air.  When the trucker broke the wind the RV settled down and was finally able to get across.  I estimate the winds at least 60mph.  After witnessing this near disaster I blessed that trucker for his quick thinking.  I never forgot this incident and have since heard of at least one small car complete with driver that was picked up and thrown off the side of that bridge over the years.  I would never take that bridge on a windy day.

[throgmartin]

6 minutes ago, Bruce S said:

Back in October 1981 we were slowly crossing the Mackinaw bridge in Michigan in a high wind condition.  I didn't realize why the traffic was crawling so slowly and then to my surprise a trucker came up and blew by us on the shoulder.  I thought what is this guy doing?  Then about 10 vehicles ahead he slowed down and matched the speed of a class C RV which was bouncing on 2 wheels while trying to cross the bridge.  The wheels that came off the ground were about 18" in the air.  When the trucker broke the wind the RV settled down and was finally able to get across.  I estimate the winds at least 60mph.  After witnessing this near disaster I blessed that trucker for his quick thinking.  I never forgot this incident and have since heard of at least one small car complete with driver that was picked up and thrown off the side of that bridge over the years.  I would never take that bridge on a windy day.

Bruce, It was a young lady driving a Yugo that got blown over the Big Mac bridge. It was 1988 or 89 I believe.  I forgot the depth where her car landed but 150 ft sounds familiar. It took a week for divers to recover the car and her body. I seem to also remember speed was an issue. Right after that the State set new policies in place. Above a certain wind speed they would close the bridge. I do not know if they still have this but they used to have escorts for drivers who were scared of crossing. Being a Michigander I have been over that bridge a 100 times. Never in a coach. Biggest vehicle I ever drove over the bridge was a hearse. That was back when I was a mortician in my very young days and worked for my former father in law who owned the funeral home. I was transporting a body and was meeting up with another mortician from a funeral home on the opposite side of the upper peninsula. I had to go across the bridge to St. Ignace because the other mortician was scared to death of crossing the Mighty Mac. The bridge can be intimidating to some drivers and more so in the winter.

They recommend driving slow during high winds while crossing the bridge. I know from being a pilot, speed in rough air can be minimized by slowing down.  I apply the same principle when driving my coach. If it is windy, I peel 5 mph off my speed. If the coach is still being pushed around I will peel another 2 - 3 mph off. If it doesn't improve at that point I find a place to park and ride it out. Little hard to do that in an airplane. I climb or descend to find some clean air if I hit a lot of ongoing turbulence or slow the plane and push through.

[Bruce S]

3 minutes ago, throgmartin said:

Bruce, It was a young lady driving a Yugo that got blown over the Big Mac bridge. It was 1988 or 89 I believe.  I forgot the depth where her car landed but 150 ft sounds familiar. It took a week for divers to recover the car and her body. I seem to also remember speed was an issue. Right after that the State set new policies in place. Above a certain wind speed they would close the bridge. I do not know if they still have this but they used to have escorts for drivers who were scared of crossing. Being a Michigander I have been over that bridge a 100 times. Never in a coach. Biggest vehicle I ever drove over the bridge was a hearse. That was back when I was a mortician in my very young days and worked for my former father in law who owned the funeral home. I was transporting a body and was meeting up with another mortician from a funeral home on the opposite side of the upper peninsula. I had to go across the bridge to St. Ignace because the other mortician was scared to death of crossing the Mighty Mac. The bridge can be intimidating to some drivers and more so in the winter.

They recommend driving slow during high winds while crossing the bridge. I know from being a pilot, speed in rough air can be minimized by slowing down.  I apply the same principle when driving my coach. If it is windy, I peel 5 mph off my speed. If the coach is still being pushed around I will peel another 2 - 3 mph off. If it doesn't improve at that point I find a place to park and ride it out. Little hard to do that in an airplane. I climb or descend to find some clean air if I hit a lot of ongoing turbulence or slow the plane and push through.

Prudence has been applied in various places over the years due to winds.  We love Michigan having lived most of our lives along the St. Clair river  and I'm glad they took the action they did but I have never crossed that bridge in an RV but have gone hundreds of miles around it due to that experience.  Confederation bridge to PEI is also closed to traffic under windy conditions, east coast ferries are parked and in places like North Carolina mountain passes there are highway warnings or closures we have seen due to trucks being tossed around.  I have also heard of people in RVs in desert areas having stopped their coaches and been sandblasted until their windshields were opague...  all part of the experience... 

[throgmartin]

I spent 42 years in Lansing. As a kid our annual family vacation was either Charlevoix, Beaver Island or the UP. There are some people who have no fear of bridges, mountains, etc. while driving and then there are others who get freaked out over them. I have several buddies who are retired airline pilots but are scared to death of heights. Everyone has their comfort zones with things. I never have made fun of anyone for their phobia's or fears. I have a couple of my own. I farmed for a few years and pushed cattle and horses around and worked around all kinds of livestock. But if I seen a rat I would go into a panic. Mice don't bother me but a Rat will make me run.  Explain that one. 🙂

[jacwjames]

We've cross the bridge a number of times over the years as one of my wives close friends in Midland MI and my family is in Northern Wisconsin so we usually across the UP. 

The first time we cross the bridge in our Class C my wife was scared to death, at the time we probably had one big dog and several small.  We carried kayaks on the top of the Class C and had life preservers so she pulled out one and put it on and sat on the couch with the dogs probably telling me she'd haunt me the rest of my days if something happened (not the first and last time she said that). 

Can't remember if it was windy or not but we made it across. 

I crossed it again in 2021 when I took a trip to visit my family, I believe the wind limits are still in place. 

[Guest Ray Davis]

3 hours ago, throgmartin said:

It was a young lady driving a Yugo that got blown over the Big Mac bridge. It was 1988 or 89 I believe.  I forgot the depth where her car landed but 150 ft sounds familiar. It took a week for divers to recover the car and her body.

Hard to imagine the terror she must have felt it gives me shivers thinking about it

Chris,  your exploits and life make mine seem so dull.   Keep it up. 

BTW  rats give many of us the creeps.  I live out / rural and trap them occasionally.  I have had them chew their tails off to escape, that sort of gives me the creeps too.  They are nasty critters but they want to live,  pretty much like the rest of us.

Edited April 18, 2023 by Ray Davis

[throgmartin]

2 hours ago, jacwjames said:

We've cross the bridge a number of times over the years as one of my wives close friends in Midland MI and my family is in Northern Wisconsin so we usually across the UP. 

The first time we cross the bridge in our Class C my wife was scared to death, at the time we probably had one big dog and several small.  We carried kayaks on the top of the Class C and had life preservers so she pulled out one and put it on and sat on the couch with the dogs probably telling me she'd haunt me the rest of my days if something happened (not the first and last time she said that). 

Can't remember if it was windy or not but we made it across. 

I crossed it again in 2021 when I took a trip to visit my family, I believe the wind limits are still in place. 

Speaking of bridges, the Sunshine Bridge in Tampa can give some people fear. It is much shorter then the Mackinaw but it is still a log way's down. Anyone remember when the Sunshine collapsed ? I forgot the year and how many vehicles were involved. I think a ship hit one the bridge supports. Cannot remember. That incident put the fear of God in some people crossing the Sunshine. I just drove over it a few months back. It is way up and way down over a small, short distance. It can also get very windy up there with wind currents coming off the Gulf of Mexico.

 

[Guest Ray Davis]

Believe it or not, we have bridges here in Texas, scary ones too.   Take a look at this bad boy down in Port Arthur near the Gulf Coast.  Locals fear this bridge while others travel there just so they can feel the thrill.  It's called the Rainbow Bridge,  it got that name before it meant something else.  LOL  It clears the water by 177 ft.  I'm not sure my MOHO would make it up that incline, ok I guess it would, I'm not gonna try it tho.  Fortunately, there is a much newer bridge next to it only 143 ft    The Rainbow Bridge was built in 1936.   Its 177 ft clearance was to allow passage of USS Patoka, the tallest Naval ship at the time.  Patoka never passed under it tho.    However,  later on,  the height allowed passage of offshore drill rigs. 

 

Edited April 19, 2023 by Ray Davis

[throgmartin]

29 minutes ago, Ray Davis said:

Believe it or not, we have bridges here in Texas, scary ones too.   Take a look at this bad boy down in Port Arthur near the Gulf Coast.  Locals fear this bridge while others travel there just so they can feel the thrill.  It's called the Rainbow Bridge,  it got that name before it meant something else.  LOL  It clears the water by 177 ft.  I'm not sure my MOHO would make it up that incline, ok I guess it would, I'm not gonna try it tho.  Fortunately, there is a much newer bridge next to it only 143 ft    The Rainbow Bridge was built in 1936.   Its 177 ft clearance was to allow passage of USS Patoka, the tallest Naval ship at the time.  Patoka never passed under it tho.    However,  later on,  the height allowed passage of offshore drill rigs. 

 

Wow. That is a serious incline. Very interesting history Ray.

[96 EVO]

49 minutes ago, Ray Davis said:

  I'm not sure my MOHO would make it up that incline, ok I guess it would, I'm not gonna try it tho.  

 

 

Mine climbs like a billygoat 😉!

I took a wrong turn once, towed on the back, and climbed a gravel logging road, switch backs and all 😬!

It was steep enough, after unhooking, I backed down cause I wasn't sure it wouldn't roll if I got it sideways on the road!

[Frank McElroy]

On 4/18/2023 at 9:57 PM, Ray Davis said:

Believe it or not, we have bridges here in Texas, scary ones too.   Take a look at this bad boy down in Port Arthur near the Gulf Coast.  Locals fear this bridge while others travel there just so they can feel the thrill.  It's called the Rainbow Bridge,  it got that name before it meant something else.  LOL  It clears the water by 177 ft.  I'm not sure my MOHO would make it up that incline, ok I guess it would, I'm not gonna try it tho.  Fortunately, there is a much newer bridge next to it only 143 ft    The Rainbow Bridge was built in 1936.   Its 177 ft clearance was to allow passage of USS Patoka, the tallest Naval ship at the time.  Patoka never passed under it tho.    However,  later on,  the height allowed passage of offshore drill rigs. 

 

There are a number of freeway interchanges with very high one lane flyovers in Texas with speed limits of about 60 MPH.  I can't recall now if it was in Dallas or Houston but there was a traffic backup and we were stopped on the flyover.  These flyover interchanges are really banked such that my fuel gauge that was reading just under 1/4 tank went to empty with the low fuel light on.  My wife was upset about being stopped up so high and not seeing any guard rails out the windows.  There was no way I was going to tell her that the low fuel light was on.  I put the coach in manual level mode to tilt the coach back to level while we waited for traffic to start moving.

I have crossed the Mackinaw bridge a few times over 20 years ago.  I seem to recall it being a metal deck bridge with certain lanes paved.  I don't recall any issues except that RV's had lane and speed restrictions.  At the time we were in a Winnie class A tag axle gasser.

[lake49068]

We usually travel to my wife's hometown in NW Iowa in September from our home in South Central Michigan.   I find the route over the Mighty Mac a lot less stressful than I-80 around Chicago!  The bridge authority does a good job of managing the crossing during high wind conditions either by stopping traffic or providing an escort vehicle at a lower, safer speed.  Plus there is the opportunity to enjoy the UP.  Drive the bridge at a comfortable steady speed, put on the 4-ways and enjoy the beautiful scenery and parks after the crossing.