Natural Disasters

[Isotelus]

Hello all!

I was "inspired" to make this post because of Hurricane Iselle, the category 1 storm about to make landfall in Hawai'i. Here's the thing. I'm actually in Hawai'i doing research! Now, I am in Kaua'i, which isn't expected to suffer the full force of the storm, but I was in Maui just four days ago. Last year I was in Maui for the rainiest couple of days they've had in decades, which caused serious flooding and damage. I was actually caught in it in a restricted reserve doing some fairly hardcore birdwatching, and it rendered my excellent waterproof gear completely useless. A year or two before that I was in Maui and that earthquake in Chile hit, which sent a tsunami, albeit minor ,to the islands. And now this. Am I a natural disaster magnet? Arguably yes. Granted, the Hawaiian islands certainly are; a couple of cookie crumbs in the middle of nowhere, bad things are bound to happen on occasion.

So I thought I would ask out of curiosity if anyone here has ever been through a natural disaster of any sort. Erupting volcano? Major earthquake? Tornado? Big storm? Etc.? Share your story!

 

[ldmitruk]

I experience a minor earthquake/tremor when I lived in the Greater Vancouver area in the 70's and it it gave me quite a scare. It was at night and I remember the house shaking. I had a book shelf above the head of my bed and I never stored anything on it after that. It wasn't a major event or disaster by any stretch but quite the experience for someone who had never felt anything like that before.

 

[Prolescum]

I've been in several, actually. This one, for example, was quite exciting. I remember laughing so hard on my way home from school struggling to walk against the wind. It was a little scary I suppose, but I knew I was on my way home so... kids :facepalm:

In December 1997, there was hail larger than golf balls in Sussex (where I had moved to mere days prior). I lived perhaps 50 metres from the English Channel and was pretty worried about the strength of the glass in my hundred-odd-year old building.


Thinking about it, I've also been in the vicinity of a bomb. That was scary as I was old enough to understand what was going on. Oh, I lived on the street parallel to the explosion.

 

[abelcainsbrother]

I live in a hurricane area and I don't think you have much to worry about a category 1 hurricane unless you are in a flood prone area because rainfall is going to be your biggest problem,it is category 3 or above that you may want to avoid if at all possible,2 or below can be scary but are not as life threateningunless you live in a flood prone area.3 or above and you need to get out of the path of it.Flooding and possible power outages is what you should expect to see mostly.It can take weeks to get your power back on but category 1 is probably not going to cause as much power outage.We were above sea level so didn't have to worry about flooding but if it was category 3 or above,we would go visit a relative away from where the Hurricane was going to hit.It was always interesting coming back looking at all of the damage and power a Hurricane can produce and thinking your house is probably blown away,etc but luckily it never happened to us although there was a lot of damage around us.Trees blowing over falling on roofs of houses are what do the most of damage to people's houses.Luckily though we haven't had many hurricanes category 3 or higher though,most of the time they have weakened before they made land fall and so haven't had to leave much.

 

[Inferno]

I live in an area where the worst we can expect is a mild storm.

There are a few floods every year, but I live up the mountain so I'm in no danger unless I expose myself. Might happen, once I start my volunteer work at the Red Cross...

There are also quite big snow storms, so we have avalanches. Luckily, they're on the other side of the country, so once again I'd either have to expose myself or ski recklessly.

Yep, boring life.