Americans - Have You Ever Encountered Natural etc Disasters?

With me, in the UK, I've lived in several parts of Britain and I've never encountered anything too serious - neither have any of my friends: so, no floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, mass fires, tornadoes etc. That's not to say we don't have our fair share of floodings and general windiness and whatnot

Yet, I seem to have the perception that a lot of Americans - even in major cities - have had to move due to disasters and relocate and do all sorts. Is this a correct perception? Have you had to move? Has your house been destroyed by something ever?

Is this a relatively new thing for the US (i.e. in the last 100/200 years), or have massive natural disasters and the like always been regular in that region? It's like the New York hurricane in 2012 (Sandy) - I've never encountered such in London and I was shocked that such a popular and known city could have encountered such (even though there have been similar hurricanes that have hit NYC in the past).

It just feels as if the US is always being battered and bruised by all sorts (even though it still remains the most powerful and wealthiest state on Earth)....

(Or maybe I'm being overly dramatic - maybe I need to brush up on my geology and geophysics and meteorology and whatnot, eh? )



Additionally, should I be worried about Yellowstone?

When I was a kid I lived in eastern north carolina on the coast. We had this huge hurricane that was the biggest in 100yr or something. It ripped the roof off our house, flooded the house, ruined all our stuff, we didn't have power for like 2 weeks and had to stay in an extended stay hotel.

Luckily my grandfather worked for the state and had good insurance on the house. They replaced the roof, redid the inside of the house, gave us $30k to buy all new clothes and stuff for inside the hosue that got ruined, and paid for all the hotel bills and stuff.

I am sure that most peoples story is not that good, in fact its probably much worse, I would say in my expereience other then having to be out of our house for like 2 months I think we came out of it better then we went in lol. We have regular tv's before and got 2 bigscreen tv's. I got a new computer, all new clothes/shoes, it was like xmas but at a rich persons house

Oh yah they rebuilt our dock also that had prior issues so we got a brand new dock, we also build a garage with some of the money.

reply to post by HomoSapiensSapiens

Originally posted by HomoSapiensSapiens

Yet, I seem to have the perception that a lot of Americans - even in major cities - have had to move due to disasters and relocate and do all sorts. Is this a correct perception? Have you had to move? Has your house been destroyed by something ever?..

I bet you've seen at least one American on a video soon after their house had been destroyed by a Tornado or Hurricane, and in that video, that person said something along the lines of:

"Well dangit. We just done finished rebuilding the place after it was destroyed during last years Tornady/Hurricane. Welp, guess we gotsta start over again."
(Most people don't move.)




For me, I have lived my whole life in 'Tornado Alley', and have never seen a Tornado. [color=858585](Not in the middle, where they are much more common, but not too far from it.)

That's not for a lack of trying. I'm the type of idiot who goes outside looking for them, while other people are looking for a basement to hide in. I've seen plenty of the aftermath destruction, but never seen an actual tornado, and have never been directly affected by one.

Lived in Tennessee and North Carolina. Never had a natural disaster of significant magnitude where I've lived. Now, there's been the occasional tornado or blizzard, but overall those tend to only impact a small percentage of people.

And just in case you're wondering, I've never met someone who's been shot (except for veterans). I think a lot of folks have the idea we walk around with guns blazing.

reply to post by HomoSapiensSapiens

Ummm... yep.


It was not as disastrous as media makes these to be. Sure for the people that died or lost homes and businesses. But a fraction of the rest that experienced it. From my view point it was a once in a life time adventure.

I would prefer the carnival ride like experience to other disasters. Hurricanes, Tsunamis, Meteors and Volcanoes make American Earthquakes look puny by comparison.

Originally posted by smyleegrl

And just in case you're wondering, I've never met someone who's been shot (except for veterans).

I know a few people who have been shot, but nobody who has been shot by someone other than themselves. lol

Well yesterday it was almost 80 degrees F, now its 45 F. crazy weather right now. I live in Tornado Alley, between Oklahama and Arkansas, and Yes, I have seen a lot of damage caused by tornados and straight line winds. The thunderstorms in this region, get the warm air from the Gulf of mexico and collide with the cold air from the North, making for a perfect situation of unstable weather. It seems to be an area of the world, with huge collisions of different weather systems.

reply to post by HomoSapiensSapiens


I'd think this to be a similarly low number here. I've never had to MOVE due to such an event, though I have been through my fair share of disasters. I've been through countless hurricanes, a few tornadoes, some floods, etc., but never directly enough to be hurt, thankfully. I've seen plenty though.

I live in Wyoming. I've seen so many tornadoes, I can't count them all. I've been through so many city-closing blizzards, I can't count 'em. I've been through quite a few floods, too. Wind? Here, we average over 13MPH daily windspeed. It's typical to get a full week of winds "sustained 30MPH with gusts up to 60".

Around here, though, we build for it. Snow is expected, and lots of it at once. Winds are expected. Tornadoes are expected, so we plan for them. Floods are expected, so we plan on them.

In 1985, I was here for a REALLY messed up disaster. We got a tornado warning, with 3 that touched down. While everyone was hiding in their basements, we had a flash flood wash through the city, killing several people by drowning who were hiding out in their cellars/basements. www.wyomingnews.com...

I grew up in central Oklahoma, about an hour due South of Oklahoma City on a farm out in the middle of nowhere. Saw plenty of tornados growing up - even outran a couple of them trying to get home to the cellar before it hit. We lived in a trailer house on top of a huge tree-less hill and our general plan of execution was that if the trailer started really rocking like it was going to come off of its foundation or Gary England (one of our premier meteorologists here in OK) came on tv and said to run for cover, we bolted out the door and ran to the cellar for cover. Never actually lost our house, thankfully. However, it was always interesting the next morning to see who's barn (or what was left of it) was laying out in our pasture or front yard and then wondering where our chicken coop had blown off to...lol. I have also seen a few floods, but nothing that affected us up on top of that god-forsaken hill. And of course, our biggest problem right now is drought.

But give me tornados ANY day over earthquakes. If there's a tornado headed my way, I can run and hide from it in a hole in the ground. Can't run from an earthquake. Well, I suppose you could if you have your own helicopter/jet/air transport nearby at all times.

reply to post by Glassbender777


Wish I could give you a bunch more stars for mentioning this - I'm freezing my butt off today but was sweating it off yesterday!

Even in these parts, I think 40 F is unusual for May. I had already packed up all the winter clothes and have flowerbeds full of flowers!