In the eerie silence of a neighborhood torn apart, stands a loud reminder of Melanie Hardegree's survival: her solid, concrete block home.
“I hate to even think about it now," sighs Hardegree. "This is my neighbor, Barry and Kathy’s home," she continues, pointing to an empty lot beside her. "It no longer exists, along with all the homes on this street that weren’t concrete block homes."
Hardegree lives on Montoya, a street in the Spanish Lakes Country Club community of St. Lucie County.
It's where an EF-3 tornado ripped through with 155 mph winds on Oct. 9, killing six people.
There were people in trees... there were… it was horrific. It was horrific," said Hardegree, choking back emotion.
Most of the homes around her are now obliterated.
"There’s still — there’s a pine tree over here that still has aluminum dangling," points Hardegree.
It's been four months since the unprecedented tornado outbreak that came ahead of Hurricane Milton, and the difference between her home and the ones no longer standing is evident.
"These were all manufactured or mobile homes?" asked WPTV's Kate Hussey, pointing to the now-empty lots.
"Yes, all manufactured homes," said Hardegree.
"Do you think that you would be standing here today if you didn't have the concrete block home?" asked Hussey.
"No, absolutely not," said Hardegree.
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"I think this is a battle that we're going to continue to face as a home-building industry," adds Jim Ayotte.
Ayotte is the chief executive officer for the Florida Manufactured Housing Association. He's been tracking the safety of mobile and manufactured homes for decades.
"We’ve done a good job. We’re not done yet," said Ayotte.
According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, no one was regulating the construction of mobile homes in the United States until 1976, when HUD established a series of building codes across the country to improve their safety.
Then in 1994, two years after Hurricane Andrew decimated 90% of all mobile homes in Miami-Dade county, HUD strengthened those codes again, and established three "wind zones," requiring homes be built to withstand certain wind speeds, depending on the wind zone.
“So the ultimate wind speed for a manufactured home in Wind Zone III is over 160 miles an hour, and in Wind Zone II it's 150 miles an hour," said Ayotte.
According to the latest HUD wind zone map, all of Florida falls within either Wind Zone II or Wind Zone III, with all of South Florida, up to St. Lucie County, falling within Wind Zone III.
Video provided to us by Champion Homes, a manufactured home builder in Florida, shows the construction of what they say are these stronger, more resilient manufactured homes.
"It's more strapping, it's deeper anchors. It's more rafters on the home. It's a much beefier, stronger home. It's a completely different home than what was built before," said Kyle Comino of Florida Value Homes, one of the most popular manufactured home dealers in the state.
We followed along with Comino and his crew to see for ourselves the delivery and installation of one of these newly constructed manufactured homes.
Ayotte said in 1999, Florida also enhanced their own statewide installation standards, which require what's called "tie downs" consisting of "anchors" to better secure manufactured homes to their lots.
"Your anchors didn’t go as deep as today," said Comino. "They’re deeper. They're more frequent. They go up the side wall. They don't just attach to the sub frame of the manufactured home."
Anchors now are now rooted at least two feet in the ground, but depending on the soil and type of anchor, could go as far as five feet deep.
Hussey poured over hundreds of pages of storm damage assessments the state of Florida published after major hurricanes and tornado events. We found those changes are working to strengthen the resilience of manufactured homes.
One report from Hurricane Michael shows post-1994 manufactured homes in Franklin County withstood even Category 4 storms, and out of the 3,583 mobile homes seriously damaged during Hurricanes Charley, Francis, Ivan and Jeanne in 2004, all of those were built before the strengthened HUD codes in 1994.
"It's amazing today when you see how homes are being built in factories. I mean, a far cry from what we saw 40, 50, years ago, these homes they just built, they're solid," said Ayotte.
WATCH: Report shows post-1994 manufactured homes withstood Category 4 storms
So why was Spanish Lakes left so vulnerable?
"Because that was built starting back in late 1970s — 1977, I believe," said Ayotte.
"We have a lot of those pre-1976 homes still out there," said Andrew Rumbach, a researcher with the Urban Institute. "These homes were never designed or built to last this long."
Rumbach himself has been researching the issue, and found more than 100,000 mobile or manufactured homes across Florida that were built pre-HUD code.
"They often are housing some of our most vulnerable residents who are most in need of resilience. And so I think there's a real opportunity to think about replacing those homes at little or no cost to the people who live there," said Rumbach.
Even the homes built to Florida's latest standards may soon be outdated, too.
Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows storms are getting stronger and costlier, causing tens of billions of dollars more in damage now compared to 10 years ago.
In 2024, natural disasters in the U.S. caused a combined $182.7 billion in damage, according to NOAA. In 2014, natural disasters in the U.S. caused a combined $25.4 billion, $157.3 billion less.
"So there is a little bit of a gap right now with our new housing, with what the new requirements are for the Florida building code. Our industry will catch up. I mean, we have to, as you know. I mean, storms are getting more severe than ever," said Ayotte.
"Make it so that manufactured homes have to build the houses so that the roofs, the structure can withstand stronger winds," Brandi Smith told WPTV.
Smith's mother, Debra Kennedy, was one of the six killed by the Spanish Lakes EF-3 tornado. It picked up her manufactured home and threw it into a nearby tree.
“I still have breakdowns constantly," Smith said.
Not only was her home built pre-HUD code, but Smith said it also didn't have the proper tie downs. Smith said the main reason was its cost, which averages between $1,000 - $3,000 for the installation of tie downs for older pre-HUD code homes.
"Maybe we should buy the tie downs, give grants for that instead of grants to rebuild," said Smith.
WPTV researched the issue and found the state does allot $2.8 million dollars toward its Mobile Home Tie Down program, which is run by the Gulf Coast State College in conjunction with the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
Yet Program Manager Jennifer Shaw told Hussey there's currently a years-long waiting list, with over 120 mobile home parks still pending service.
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"To me, that sounds like a signal that maybe the program could deserve some more funding," said Rumbach.
"Is there a way to move around some funding so we can expand the current $2.8 million budget for that program?” Hussey asked Republican State Rep. Toby Overdorf.
"I’d love to say yes," replied Overdorf.
Overdorf, though concerned about this year's budget deficit, agreed to look into the issue.
"We may not be at the same levels of funding that we’ve had over the past years, so it is something that is a concern, and I appreciate what your station and yourself are doing to bring this to light and it certainly is a possibility that we could," Overdorf told Hussey.
"We’ve also found hundreds of thousands of mobile and manufactured homes across the state that aren’t up to HUD code, and this widening gap between the strength and resilience of current manufactured homes and the intensifying strength of future storms," replied Hussey. "Can something be done to mitigate that?"
"I think we need to continue to look at ways we can in fact strengthen the homes, whether it be through programs for additional tie downs, additional ways we can do some improvements with those homes," said Overdorf. "At the same time, we’re recognizing a lot of these people in these homes may be on a fixed income."
"You have to walk a fine line between affordability and safety," added Comino.
That's the caveat: Comino worries increased regulations will increase manufactured home prices.
A 2024 Manufactured Housing Institute study found 70% of residents cited affordability as the key driver for choosing manufactured housing.
"Once you start regulating these homes too much, then you're ending up with a site-built structure, and the cost for that is substantially more than this," said Comino.
"How do you find a middle ground where these homes are safe in these natural disasters, but also are still affordable for those on fixed incomes?" Hussey asked Ayotte.
"That’s a tough issue," replied Ayotte. "It would be, in my dreams, if we could find some low-cost financing out there so people could actually buy homes that are more substantial."
WPTV brought that and the other issues plaguing the industry up to HUD. A representative told us the agency has been working on multiple grant programs and potential strengthened regulations, and told Hussey the issues are something the agency recognizes they "need to take a look at."
HUD representatives also told Hussey they are working with researchers like Rumbach of the Urban Institute to potentially create a nationwide change.
Meanwhile, Overdorf said state legislators will also look into all possible solutions, including the My Safe Florida Home program, as a potential option.
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"Potentially there’s programs that might be able to help out with that," said Overdorf.
Hardegree said she just hopes the unmistakable warning of empty lots around her speaks loud and clear.
"It's not a question of 'should we do this.' It’s a question of we have to do this. These are your constituents. These are people that you have taken an oath to represent and protect and to serve and that needs to be the priority," said Hardegree.
HUD also said they do have a conference planned for this summer to discuss this exact topic: looking at strengthening manufactured home standards and possibly re-drawing the current wind maps.
One possible solution discussed by Rumbach and HUD to increase safety without decreasing affordability is creating tax credits for manufactured housing builders who create more climate-resistant buildings.
Already, there are tax credits for builders who focus on energy-efficient homes.
