By Cheri Sicard
Can the wind be strong enough to blow over an RV? Yes, indeed it can. The video below by the team at Wandering Weekends catches a tow truck in the act of winching up an RV blown over by the wind.
The incident happened at Lake Lanier in Georgia. A sudden storm came up and it pushed the Imagine travel trailer, with slide, right over on its side.
Who are you gonna call when one of these freak accidents happen? A good tow truck driver, that’s who!
Thankfully nobody was hurt in the incident. The trailer, of course, sustained damage but while the video alludes that it does not appear to be totaled, that was a mighty big drop at the end and I would not want to see inside. Who knows how much internal damage this little incident caused.
In the video, the truck is able to pull the RV blown over by the wind back onto its wheels in an upright position.
Nonetheless, what happens in the short but fascinating video has to be considered a win and is definitely the first step towards fixing anything. Or moving on with life.
Have you ever experienced winds like this in your RV? Drop a note about your experience in the comments below.
##RVT1115
That’s a total!
I have seen a semi-trailer with 35,000 pounds of freight inside blown over by the wind.
Amazing. That’s some strong winds.
Bob, you are probably right, but in the 1950s my dad lost our travel / camping trailer. It went over on the door side and was righted in the same manner of the video and except for a mess inside only the door handle was broken. They can and did make RVs better and stronger back then. It can be done.
Say what? Unless you were in something like a Spartan the RVs built in the ’50s were very, very flimsy. They were much lighter than what we have today. One of the reasons you don’t see people retrofitting AC units to the roofs of RVs is that the roofs just weren’t very strong whereas almost all RVs today have walkable roofs. That’s just one example.
Tony, this was before Dad bought his Friendship trailer with the step down floor. The one that flipped was just painted gray flat metal skin – no graphics no name. It must have been heavy as dad had equalizer bars installed on a ’56 Plymouth. It had no a/c, exhaust fan, stove, bathroom, water tank or propane. It was all finished inside with varnished wood walls and ceilings and cabinets, with icebox. He put water in a 5 gal milk can under the sink with drain bucket. Looked a lot like a 1948 Mainline I found on the net – inside and out.. (5gal water in milk can made a real mess.)
Was it junked? Axles had to be bent or wheels when she came upright. Slide is screwed up. Too bad.
I guess thats why my park model is strapped to concrete
We had been in strong gusting winds once staying overnight at the top of a cliff along the Pacific Ocean. The wind was so strong we could feel the hard sides of the RV flexing as we tried to sleep that night. Frightened we might be blown over; I moved our tow vehicle diagonally to help block the wind hitting our RV directly and slept much better after that.
if they had cranked up the jacks there might have been less damage as they appeared to be busted when it came back down. 2 opposing wreckers could have used a strap over the top and let it down more gently.
I can’t imagine that it wasn’t totalled. The axles and wheels likely bent. They didn’t retract the stabilization jacks, so the frame was likely tweaked when brought back if it wasn’t already when blown over. The slide is probably trashed, out of alignment and inoperative. And it’s certainly a mess inside. I think I’d rather start over than try to fix all that. That’s why we have insurance.
Someone ask Dustin what he thinks.
Hi, John. I’ve sent your question to Dustin. Personally, and not knowing diddly about this, I’ll bet it’s totaled. And I wondered why they didn’t have another wrecker on the other side to help lower it more gently, rather than dropping it. But, again, what do I know? Have a great day. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
There are wreckers that would have used straps and just lifted it into place, but I think the real damage was done when it first went over.
Thanks, Kelly. I have no idea, but I’m sure both very hard landings took their toll, inside and out. Have a good night. 😀 –Diane you-know-who
It could be that the owners and/or the insurance company had already written it off before it was tipped back on its wheels. So the priority at that point was just getting it out of the campground instead of trying to save it. There may have been no point in paying for a second wrecker.
That’s true, John. Thanks. I hadn’t thought about that possible scenario. Have a great day. 😀 –Diane
Thanks for sharing. Ya, I would definitely say it’s totaled. Just from what little I noticed, frame, axles, slide out, structure. It’s totaled as far as I’m concerned. I would think the insurance would agree with me.
We live on Lake Lanier. Yesterday while boating, saw an upside down TT with bicycles still attached on back at Old Federal Campground. This was several days after the storm (winds of 70-80 mph). Don’t know why it’s taking so long for removal as I’m sure there are other campers who would love to have that spot right on a lake point..
I’d say totaled for sure. The inside has to be totally destroyed with the flipping back up on the wheel. All cabinets twisted as cheaply as they’re installed.
Some years back we were on I-74 on a very windy day that had my hands clamped to the steering wheel. We saw a pickup towing a travel trailer and as it exited from under an overpass as soon as the trailer exited the overpass it went over instantly. It then did a jack knife sort of thing, did not disconnect from the truck and the truck ended up with its tail in the air and nose on the ground. It happened so fast I don’t think you could count seconds.