Do you live in an area prone to natural disasters?

[heymisterk]

If so, how do you cope?

 

Here in NE Ohio, we have our share of blizzards and strong thunderstorms, but we can prepare for them. Twisters are rare compared to, say, Kansas or north Texas, but we do get them.

 

When I was in California a little while ago, I always had in the back of my mind that, at any given moment, the earth might start shaking, and there would be "The Big One" people talk about. I admit that I would be a little nervous about living in a fault zone.

 

My guess is that a lot of people prone to natural disasters cope the natural way: They just live their lives and don't think about it.

 

So, I am curious if you live in an area "at risk," and what - if anything - you do about it.

[CindyC]

Living in Miami, hurricanes are our natural disasters, but we do have time to prepare for them. Although there is only so much you can do then you just sit back and see what happens and access the damages. Hurricane Andrew was my first experience with a hurricane, it was supposed to hit Broward so it was a bit of a surprise for southern Miami even though we did prepare. Our house was in the north eye wall and sustained major damage. Luckily nothing structural. We were out of our house seven months while it was gutted and redone completely on the inside and given a new roof tiles.

 

What we do now is shutter up the house, bring in all things that could fly and hope it's a miss.

[grampa]

Just about anywhere is a potential disaster area. I live in Central California. I've felt numerous quakes but only one was strong enough to have any real effect and that wasn't near my home, I had travelled to the Central Coast in '89 for the Loma Prieta quake. So far no tornadoes, hurricanes and only a little flooding here. And no snow.

But the potential is there.

[Vega1]

North Texas... tornado alley.

 

Not much you can do to cope except try to be ready like have a safe room/area designated that the kids know to go to, have some extra supplies on hand, etc. But really, if an F5 is bearing down on you there's not a whole lot to do but hope and pray.

[kaleb]

I'm lucky. Montana is pretty safe except for Old Faithful blowing, which would destroy the entire continent I'm sure.

[milod]

In terms of location, my state is next door to Kaleb's - in fact I do an annual cowboy music benefit for a southeastern Montana settlement's community hall - so we're both pretty much in the same boat when it comes to Jellystone going nuts. It'd literally be the death of me, but I'm old anyway..

 

Blizzards and drought are just kinda taken for granted that they're like the change of seasons. There's an occasional flood that mostly destroys roads 'cuz people in my part of the state don't live where it's gonna flood.

 

Tornadoes are always a possibility, but folks are careful when they're flying around. When one hits, neighbors "neighbor up" and do what they can for whomever is affected.

 

Last year we had a wildfire that covered a quarter million acres in southeast Montana. That's roughly 400 square miles which is the equivalent of a quarter the land area of Rhode Island and some 80 percent of New York City's land area.

 

Our community center was designated their disaster shelter but folks handled it okay. After all only cowboys and Indians were affected, so city folks never heard of it, or losses of wildlife and livestock.

 

m

[kaleb]

In terms of location, my state is next door to Kaleb's - in fact I do an annual cowboy music benefit for a southeastern Montana settlement's community hall - so we're both pretty much in the same boat when it comes to Jellystone going nuts. It'd literally be the death of me, but I'm old anyway..

 

Blizzards and drought are just kinda taken for granted that they're like the change of seasons. There's an occasional flood that mostly destroys roads 'cuz people in my part of the state don't live where it's gonna flood.

 

Tornadoes are always a possibility, but folks are careful when they're flying around. When one hits, neighbors "neighbor up" and do what they can for whomever is affected.

 

Last year we had a wildfire that covered a quarter million acres in southeast Montana. That's roughly 400 square miles which is the equivalent of a quarter the land area of Rhode Island and some 80 percent of New York City's land area.

 

Our community center was designated their disaster shelter but folks handled it okay. After all only cowboys and Indians were affected, so city folks never heard of it, or losses of wildlife and livestock.

 

m

 

Well, I live in SW MT, so we're not as affected by tornados and river flooding over here. But forest fires are really bad.

[Jeff-7]

Kansas here, tornado alley and surprisingly felt a few quakes that originated in Oklahoma last year. We're pretty used to them here, simply take cover when they hit then go back to what you were doing when it's over. We have so many false warnings with the sirens though that you get a bit exasperated with them.

[charlie brown]

Kansas here, tornado alley and surprisingly felt a few quakes that originated in Oklahoma last year. We're pretty used to them here, simply take cover when they hit then go back to what you were doing when it's over. We have so many false warnings with the sirens though that you get a bit exasperated with them.

 

Yep +1

 

CB

[DanvillRob]

Yes, California...but the worst disasters are Political in nature.

[Riffster]

In Nashville, Tornados, we were cooped up in our smallest bathroom at 3:00 am just last week, some say Tornado alley has moved this way. We also get the ocassional tremor from the Madrid fault and the 100-year flood that sucker-punched the city in 2010.

[ChanMan]

Yep Nashville has floods, tornadoes and the rare but occasional earthquake.

 

 

 

Oh, also the occasional F-14 that falls from the sky.

 

 

[milod]

Yeah, I wonder how many people realize that there's a lake in northwest Tennessee brought on by the New Madrid quake that was powerful enough to ring bells in Boston.

 

m

[charlie brown]

Yes, California...but the worst disasters are Political in nature.

 

Which, in turn, create economic disasters!

 

CB

[stein]

I'd say and point out, that being from Cali, earthquakes are common and no big deal. I'd say most from Cali in the earthquake zone take it in stride, and aren't scared by them.

 

Personally, I like them. It's more fun than anything. Not talking about poeple getting hurt, different story.

 

Having said that, In Oregon, Earthquakes are rare, and the reaction is different. And while I realize rain here is not a natural disaster, if it rained like this in LA, it would be. I mean, just as much poeple would get hurt if LA had this much rain as they do in earthquakes...and it ain't even considered a disaster.

 

I have never seen a twister, or been in a place while a hurricane was going, but I wonder how I would react. I wouldn't be surprised if I got the same reaction from the locals as I would look at some who would turn white when the earth shaked.

[heymisterk]

Yeah, I wonder how many people realize that there's a lake in northwest Tennessee brought on by the New Madrid quake that was powerful enough to ring bells in Boston.

 

m

 

I remember reading about that when I was in school: Rerouted the Mississippi River. The Native Americans said that right before the quake, snakes were crawling up out of the ground.

[rocketman]

Nothing to worry about here in Western New York. We get some snow (no way near as people think). I live in a kind region in between lake Erie and lake Ontario. So I miss out on the lake-effect snow. I've only pulled out my snow blower three times this season. The winter temperature averages in the 30s, so snow doesn't stick around for long because the temperature often goes above the freezing mark (this weekend we were in the 50s).

 

Summers are absolutely spectacular though. We are typically in the 80s with pretty low humidity and lake Erie gets nice and warm. We built a cottage on the lake last year and I'm finally learning to relax. I usually work on weekends but this past year I decided that my emails and other stuff will get done during the week.

[DJ in FL]

Yes, California...but the worst disasters are Political in nature.

 

Now that you got rid of THE TERMINATOR, maybe there is hope?

[flyingarmadillo]

I lived in tornado alley for a while (Wisconsin, North Texas and Oklahoma) and now live in Houston - nothing too much - so far I've managed to miss most of the flooding and hurricanes.

[jaxson50]

I can not think of any spot on earth that is not prone to natural disasters, after all every part of the earth is part of the natural world and nature rules without our permission.

[Tman]

I grew up in Arkansas and can remember many a night under a mattress in the bathtub. At least once a year in central AR in the 60's and 70s.

 

Did my residency in Texas from 87 to 91 and went through 2 bonefide hurricanes and 2 tropical storms that flooded the whole area in Galveston. I remember one hurricane in 89 or 90 where I was on call and my wife and young children were at a friend's house during one of the hurricanes (it was a category 2) and an alert came over the system that said the hurricane had spawned a tornado and everyone from 61st street west take immediate cover. They were on 63rd. I was talking to my friend on the phone and I heard screams then the sound of a dropped phone bouncing off the wall. No one was hurt.

 

Now I live in California. Have experienced 3 earthquakes that I physically felt since 1991. It doesn't affect my life to any great extent, not enough for me to move out of fear.

[milod]

Hornet...

 

Let me assure you, "safety" is an illusion. Always has been. Likely always will be.

 

m

[RS1976]

I'm lucky. Montana is pretty safe except for Old Faithful blowing, which would destroy the entire continent I'm sure.

 

 

Montana? That explains everything.

[jaxson50]

1360646309[/url]' post='1326690']

Montana? That explains everything.

 

Old faithful is in Wyoming in a place called Yellowstone, you may have heard of it, that maybe part of your problem...

[Buxom]

We usually see a hurricane every couple years, get a lot of heavy rain, light snow, but a lot of ice. Seen a lot of tornado warnings the past couple summers too. We also had a massive lightning storm this summer. That was crazy fun, btw.