# Do you have any/many natural disasters where you live?



## Bretrick

Here in Perth, Western Australia, it is rare to have a Natural Disaster.
We get Gale force winds, heavy rain and the occasional wildfire in the hills surrounding Perth.
So many cities/countries have devastating disasters.
So much grief happening all over the world.


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## Aunt Bea

Life in Central New York is pretty uneventful.

We get some wind and rain or snow and ice that causes some damage but nothing like the devastation that people in other parts of the world experience.

I’m thankful and blessed to be living in this area.


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## Don M.

We live on the "fringe" of the Midwest Tornado zone, but luckily, it has been well over 100 years since one hit this immediate area.  However, we still take the watches and warnings seriously.


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## Irwin

Here in Denver, we get small tornados that usually don't cause major damage other than ripping the roofing off houses. Other than that, the weather here is pretty mild. Tomorrow it's supposed to be sunny and 70°!

Denver is in the rain-shadow of the Rockies and is categorized as a desert steppe region, so we don't get much precipitation. When it rains or snows, it's from upslope conditions — usually from a low pressure area south of us. But we do have occasional flooding. Some mountain towns situated in canyons get heavy rains and flash flooding that cause devastating damage and loss of lives. The Big Thompson River flood of 1976 killed 176 people. That was one of the worst. A few years ago, the city of Manitou Springs, just west of Colorado Springs, had severe flooding that washed cars down the canyon.


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## Pepper




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## Ruthanne

We get the usual blizzards, tornados, floods and heat waves.  That's about it but that's enough for me,


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## dseag2

We moved to Dallas from South Florida 15 years ago because we were "hurricane weary".  We went through two major hurricanes in one year and spent days without power.  We've had a couple of incidents where we heard the tornado sirens (very eerie) and one came very close to our area, but so far so good.

We used to spend days preparing for hurricanes in Florida and boarding up our windows.  Now if a tornado hits us it's "one and done".


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## Feelslikefar

Ones I survived: 

1. Hurricane Donna in 1960
2. 8.0 Earthquake on Shemya Island 1975
3. Landers Earthquake 1994
4. Northridge Earthquake 1994
5. Flood of the Century, Nashville 2010

If anyone up there is watching, just leave me in peace for a while...


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## Bretrick

Feelslikefar said:


> Ones I survived:
> 
> 1. Hurricane Donna in 1960
> 2. 8.0 Earthquake on Shemya Island 1975
> 3. Landers Earthquake 1994
> 4. Northridge Earthquake 1994
> 5. Flood of the Century, Nashville 2010
> 
> If anyone up there is watching, just leave me in peace for a while...


Wondering what might be next. Here I am never having experienced any natural disasters.


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## Ladybj

No, very grateful.  I like when it snows which is not every year here on the East Coast.  I am looking forward to snow this Winter.  Not enough to close down the City but just enough to look out the window and enjoy the snow falling.


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## Bretrick

Ladybj said:


> No, very grateful.  I like when it snows which is not every year here on the East Coast.  I am looking forward to snow this Winter.  Not enough to close down the City but just enough to look out the window and enjoy the snow falling.


I was born in Tasmania and it snowed every winter.
It was so cold that I eventually left Tasmania and moved to Western Australia.
My first summer here the temperature reached 47.9 C, 118 F.


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## Remy

California. Earthquakes though I'm not in a super prone area. Fires are an issue.


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## feywon

Mountains (just shy of 7000ft elevation) of Northern New Mexico, USA:
Wild fires biggest danger. But in 9 yrs we've had maybe 3 times the smoke from 'nearby' ones so bad there was an air quality alert (as if one's nose and eyes wouldn't tell us). Never had visible flames, except when something in my yard caught one day and neighbors poured in and had it half out before the Volunteer Fire Dept responded to DD's call. But the fact that winds could whip such small fires up motivates everyone to keep a look out and to pitch in when spotted. 

In Laramie there were occasional tornadoes as the mountains not as close as the ones we live in now. Up there corridors of relatively flat stretches allow relatively small but still potent ones to form--tho most we ever heard was a barn or shed roof lost to them. Down here we get 'dust devils', which are mini--tornados biggest i've ever seen was barely 3ft tall 2 wide at the top--picture the cartoon image of the 'Taz, the Tasmanian Devil' before he stops moving. Still, i wouldn't want a pet to get hit by one, nor would i approach one myself except to save some other living thing.

We actually have earthquakes fairly frequently. Shouldn't be surprised several dormant volcanoes in the state, and some fault lines. They are rarely strong enough to even feel--1.2-4.5 generally. But one day this summer we felt two on the same day and tho i recognized the feeling from having been thru a medium shake in Honolulu i of course checked online and that's when i found out how common they are here. While they've found evidence of ones thousands of years ago that were like 7+ on the scale most these days under 5.


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## officerripley

Remy said:


> California. Earthquakes though I'm not in a super prone area. Fires are an issue.


Me too, only we're pretty close to the Foothills fault system. Also 15 miles away from where the worst wildfire in Calif. history happened. So, you know, we've got that going for us.


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## Tish

Nope, besides flooding and bushfires that is.


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## Bretrick

feywon said:


> Mountains (just shy of 7000ft elevation) of Northern New Mexico, USA:
> Wild fires biggest danger. But in 9 yrs we've had maybe 3 times the smoke from 'nearby' ones so bad there was an air quality alert (as if one's nose and eyes wouldn't tell us). Never had visible flames, except when something in my yard caught one day and neighbors poured in and had it half out before the Volunteer Fire Dept responded to DD's call. But the fact that winds could whip such small fires up motivates everyone to keep a look out and to pitch in when spotted.
> 
> In Laramie there were occasional tornadoes as the mountains not as close as the ones we live in now. Up there corridors of relatively flat stretches allow relatively small but still potent ones to form--tho most we ever heard was a barn or shed roof lost to them. Down here we get 'dust devils', which are mini--tornados biggest i've ever seen was barely 3ft tall 2 wide at the top--picture the cartoon image of the 'Taz, the Tasmanian Devil' before he stops moving. Still, i wouldn't want a pet to get hit by one, nor would i approach one myself except to save some other living thing.
> 
> We actually have earthquakes fairly frequently. Shouldn't be surprised several dormant volcanoes in the state, and some fault lines. They are rarely strong enough to even feel--1.2-4.5 generally. But one day this summer we felt two on the same day and tho i recognized the feeling from having been thru a medium shake in Honolulu i of course checked online and that's when i found out how common they are here. While they've found evidence of ones thousands of years ago that were like 7+ on the scale most these days under 5.


In Australia a dust devil is called a Willy Willy
Taz is an unstoppable tornado of destruction.


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## Bretrick

Tish said:


> Nope, besides flooding and bushfires that is.


Plenty of those Australia wide. Western Australia does not have many floods. Most are in the North of the state.
Wildfires are becoming more frequent here in the south.


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## AnnieA

Tornadoes and hurricanes as they move inland.  There are some geographical features such as an oxbow lake off a nearby river that formed in the 1811-12 New Madrid earthquakes.


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## IrisSenior

Not much here but the usual heat spell in the summer or snow storms and flooding in the spring but not any natural disasters.


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## Millyd

Sure do in Mildura my home city 1/3/22 

https://www.9news.com.au/national/v...-mildura/28c08eae-0f6c-4442-941a-fab489b2073f


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## Lavinia

Here, in the North West of England, there has been some serious flooding. Farmers have lost livestock and people have drowned. I live on a hill so don't need to worry about floods, but the winds can be very damaging.


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## dobielvr

dbm


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## WheatenLover

The worst thing that happened was an earthquake in VA had just enough shaking going on to break a single-paned window in my house.

Otherwise, no disasters in 13 years.


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## OneEyedDiva

I live in northern N.J. We've had flooding in my city and surrounding areas that was so bad that some people had to be rescued with boats. One of the towns in N.J., a somewhat upscale area, gets flooded so badly sometimes that FEMA and the county have offered flood relief. We're blessed here in our neighborhood however; we never get flooded though I can walk to the areas that do. 

I think N.J.'s worst disaster was "Superstorm Sandy" (2012) that caused a lot of people to lose their homes and devastated businesses, especially in the shore areas. Sadly there was also loss of life due to storm surges which killed 147 people. My former supervisor and his wife were on vacation in Mexico with one of our former co-workers and his S.O.  Because of the storm, they had a layover in Texas. When he got home, his house was completely destroyed, actually flattened. I read last year that some of the residents in those areas still have not been compensated, as then Gov. Christie promised they would be. https://www.britannica.com/event/Superstorm-Sandy


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## CinnamonSugar

Lived through the 6.2 earthquake in LA in the early 70’s.  I know that’s really not very high in the Reichter scale but it seemed pretty severe at the time


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## bowmore

So far I have dodged a bullet. Here are some things that I have just missed:
Engine failure of C-47 in Korea
Fire in the York Minster
TWA flight 800 explosion
Militants in Egypt shooting up the temple of Queen Hasteput
Blowing up of the USS Cole in Yemen
Sylmar earth quake-I was in Colorado
Northridge earthquake-I was on a cruise
Midair collision of 2 planes over Misty Fjord


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## Patricia

National Disasters:  I've seen long-time structures vanish overnight, heard stories about people holding on to rooftops or tying themselves to trees, and the sad news of others who didn't live to tell their story.


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## MountainRa

Except for the occasional hurricane, we don’t have many natural disasters in South Carolina.

However, since December 2021 until today’s date we have had a total of 64 earthquake tremors, mostly in the Midlands area. Most are around 3.5 or less. 

 It’s unusual for us but no one seems very concerned about it. makes me uneasy as we have 4 nuclear power plants in the state.


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## RobinWren

The fault line passes below this island so when the big one comes I think that's curtains for us.


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## HazyDavey

We've got a volcano, Mt. Lassen. I think the last time it erupted was around 1915.


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## Nathan

Remy said:


> California. Earthquakes though I'm not in a super prone area. Fires are an issue.


These, plus long term drought.


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## RadishRose

An occasional hurricane, but pretty rare. There have been 2 or 3 earth tremors I'm aware of during my lifetime.


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## DebraMae

I have experienced a tornado.  Was playing outside with my younger brother and took his hand to try to get him back in the house.  The wind kept blowing him off his feet.  We made it inside but my mom could not get the door closed behind us.  
I have experienced a super typhoon with flying debris knocking out louvered windows and water coming in one side of the house and exiting the other.
I have experienced an earthquake with cars looking as if they were jumping up and down in the parking lot and warnings to stay away from the beach because the earthquake might have caused a tsunami to form. Thank goodness, the tsunami did not happen.


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## Alligatorob

A few, not so many as some places, but we have drought, fire and the occasional earthquake.

When I was in High School a man took me deer hunting who had lost his wife to the 1959 Yellowstone earthquake.  They were sleeping in tent when it struck a large boulder fell or rolled right on top of her, crushing and killing her instantly.  The man I knew was injured but not too badly.  That is a famous incident and has been the subject of a few books, much more than what happened to my friend's wife. 

Fortunately such events are rare, there was however the Gros Venture landslide in the 20s, just south of Yellowstone, a somewhat similar story.


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## Don M.

We lived in Wichita, KS., for about 4 years, in the late '60's.  Every year, the sirens went off a couple of times, and we dove into the tornado shelter.  One time, one hit a small shopping center about 1/2 mile away, and pretty much destroyed it.  The next day, there were store items scattered all over the neighborhood.   I was really glad when the company offered us a chance to move to Kansas City...I said Yes, quickly.


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## caroln

Here in south central Kentucky we have occasional tornadoes, some of which have been fairly severe.  And being that we are over a cave system, sink holes have caused some havoc.  Not as bad as Florida, but when they occur it causes a major impact. (Corvette plant as an example.)  There is also the New Madrid fault line that runs along the western edge of Kentucky that's kind of scary.


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## caroln

caroln said:


> Here in south central Kentucky we have occasional tornadoes, some of which have been fairly severe.  And being that we are over a cave system, sink holes have caused some havoc.  Not as bad as Florida, but when they occur it causes a major impact. (Corvette plant as an example.)  There is also the New Madrid fault line that runs along the western edge of Kentucky that's kind of scary.


It looks like I'll have to add major flooding to my original post.


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## RadishRose

caroln said:


> It looks like I'll have to add major flooding to my original post.


OMG, I saw how terrible it is. You're ok I presume? I hope your friends and family are safe. I see that 16 are dead.


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## Lewkat

Yes, some of my neighbors.


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## caroln

RadishRose said:


> OMG, I saw how terrible it is. You're ok I presume? I hope your friends and family are safe. I see that 16 are dead.


We're all safe here, thanks!  We had torrential rain here in south central Kentucky but nothing like eastern KY.  All I can think is that the storm just stalled over eastern KY and it rained and rained...  Either that or, because of the drought conditions, the ground was so hard it couldn't absorb the water and it just ran off and flooded everything.  A lot of those people have very little to begin with and to have that taken away is just sad.


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## RadishRose

Lewkat said:


> Yes, some of my neighbors.


What do you mean @Lewkat? I thought you were in another State.


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## Lewkat

RadishRose said:


> What do you mean @Lewkat? I thought you were in another State.


Unfortunately, my reply was supposed to be amusing, Rose, but it appeared immediately below caroln's response to you.  Unfortunate position.  I am from NJ.


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## RadishRose

Lewkat said:


> Unfortunately, my reply was supposed to be amusing, Rose, but it appeared immediately below caroln's response to you.  Unfortunate position.  I am from NJ.


Thanks. Now, it's funny!


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## JaniceM

Lewkat said:


> Unfortunately, my reply was supposed to be amusing, Rose, but it appeared immediately below caroln's response to you.  Unfortunate position.  I am from NJ.


Considering many people's negativity about NJ, I'm sure that comment will be taken differently, too


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