Which NATURAL DISASTER

[trinacriabob]

I saw that Hurricane Kyle is headed for Nova Scotia. It's hard to fathom that a hurricane is heading for Eastern Canada when they all seem to take aim at the Gulf States.

I have never been in a hurricane but know that people can move inland from one.

I have been in a tornado warning. When I was in Champaign IL in grad school, one day the sky went real dark and it was an eerieness I've not seen before. We were told that a tornado was near an adjacent town and that we needed to take refuge. It did not come through.

Earthquakes are the most frightening. There is no warning and the heaving/pitching/rolling can be up and down, side to side, or some combination thereof. I've been in earthquakes in Southern California and a 5-ish in Portland. Also, an 8 on the Richter scale, as compared to a 7, is not 8/7 of the strength of the smaller quake. It is 10 times the strength of the 7 quake. The Richter scale works exponentially.

Which natural disaster(s) have you experienced? Which rattles your cage the most?

[Oracle of Delphi]

I fear being sucked into a Black Hole!

[Croc]

Not really afraid of any of them since they're beyond my control. Hurricanes are the ones that weigh most in my mind if I'm making a housing decision, though.

[trinacriabob]

Hurricanes are the ones that weigh most in my mind if I'm making a housing decision, though.

Absolutely.

[PurdueGuy]

I'm used to tornado warnings, and while they can seem kinda freaky, they strike such a small area that you're not likely to get hit by one, even living in an area known for them (we got quite a few in northern IN). Still good to take proper precautions, but it gets to where it's not really that freaky, especially since I like storms.

Haven't experienced a hurricane, but I imagine I'd take proper precautions to know I wasn't going to get hurt, and then I'd enjoy watching that, too.

No earthquake experience either, not sure how that would be. I have felt tremors before. Would be interesting.

Probably most likely around here in ID would be wildfires or blizzards. The national lab west of here has a well supplied firefighting team, and the area around here has good irrigation, so it probably isn't a very high risk of reaching my home, but it's a little concerning. I got diverted around one while out driving one day last year. I've been in ice storms & blizzards before, and haven't had anything bad happen, so I'm probably overconfident about that too.

I guess I'm just not much of a worrier. *shrug*

[ocnblu]

Well, I live on a hill so floods are no problemo. Hurricanes usually peter out before they get up here. Locusts are not much of an issue. Tarnadas are rare. From what I understand, there is a faultline in the area, and there was an earthquake here, oh, about 15 years ago. So ehh, not sure.

[Chevy Nick]

asteroid/meteorite strikes scare the $h! out of me

[Drew Dowdell]

I fear being sucked into a Black Hole!

I would imagine that would be a common fear when wandering the halls of GME.

[mustang84]

I've never experienced an earthquake or hurricane so I wouldn't know what to say about them.

Tornadoes aren't that bad either. Sometimes you get the rare F5's that devastate an entire town, but most of the time they're pretty harmless and rarely hit population centers. When they do get close, it can be a little nerve wracking. We had a funnel cloud pass over our house one summer and I even managed to get a picture of it. I've personally seen two tornadoes and they're a pretty awesome sight to see.

Floods...I will never live in a flood plain, so I don't worry about them.

Blizzards...they don't really do much damage, but it could be pretty dangerous if your car would ever break down in the middle of a rural area while one was going on. Frostbite can come on pretty fast when the winds are blowing.

I don't know, I can't say I'm really afraid of any of them.

[Lamar]

I've been through hurricanes, so no problem there. I don't even flinch when there's a tropical storm warning.

Earthquakes... believe it or not, back in '04 there was a small earthquake in Blacksburg, VA that could be felt on the northern part of campus. I was in my dorm on the southern part of campus, so I was surprised when my roommate came in telling me about the earthquake.

To answer the question, though, I don't scare easy. I don't swim well, so maybe... a flood?

[FAPTurbo]

Godzilla.

[XP715]

What about stuff like wildfires and volcano eruptions?

[CARBIZ]

Frankly, right now WallStreet scares me more than if I lived on a fault line, in a valley next to a flood-prone river, in tornado alley on a hurricane zone that was inside a volcano caldera.

.... oh, and beside Godzilla's nesting ground.

Edited September 29, 2008 by CARBIZ

[trinacriabob]

I've been through hurricanes, so no problem there. I don't even flinch when there's a tropical storm warning.

Earthquakes... believe it or not, back in '04 there was a small earthquake in Blacksburg, VA that could be felt on the northern part of campus. I was in my dorm on the southern part of campus, so I was surprised when my roommate came in telling me about the earthquake.

To answer the question, though, I don't scare easy. I don't swim well, so maybe... a flood?

It's not only the West that is seismically active. The Midwest has a serious fault zone in Southeastern Missouri (look up New Madrid - 1819, I believe). The Northeast has a swath of faults in what is called the Boston-Ottawa trend, though there hasn't been much going on there in several hundred years.

[trinacriabob]

right now WallStreet scares me

Yes, right now, I am praying and "crossing" myself.

[Paolino]

Well, I've only been through 2 hurricanes... and Gloria was "cool" to me because I was only 8 and violent weather is something I love.

I have to say the tornadoes that have been hitting Long Island have been a bit intense... the scariest was a year ago because I was driving through it, but again, not that scary.

I'd have to say I'm petrified of being in an earthquake. The only two I've been through in my life have been so tiny, I didn't know they were happening.

[Drew Dowdell]

W

[regfootball]

the wall street meltdown is a natural disaster of epic proportions.

[deftonesfan867]

My exwife.

[Enzora]

Giant bubbling lake farts.

http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalch...ller_lakes.html

Human beings come a close second.

[capriceman]

flying Chinese Carp, jumping lake sturgeon

UFO's

Aliens

[ZL-1]

Earthquakes

[trinacriabob]

the wall street meltdown is a natural disaster of epic proportions.

Yes, all the more disgusting in that this debacle was engineered by greedy prick$ who have helped enlarge the "have - have not" canyon we experience in this country. If these a-holes were to be lined up with guillotines aimed at their testicles and they needed a volunteer to let the cord go, I might just volunteer. (Where did 16 years of Catholic school go? Gosh).

[Lamar]

It's not only the West that is seismically active. The Midwest has a serious fault zone in Southeastern Missouri (look up New Madrid - 1819, I believe). The Northeast has a swath of faults in what is called the Boston-Ottawa trend, though there hasn't been much going on there in several hundred years.

I just looked it up on Wikipedia, and there is indeed a seismic zone in VA.

Funny how they said the quake back in '03 could be felt all the way up to southern PA, but I was about a 3-hour drive from the epicenter and felt nothing.

[ocnblu]

O

[Enzora]

O

My god, you're repressed.

:AH-HA_wink:

[daves87rs]

O

[ocnblu]

?

I'd rather think I'm looking beyond myself and toward the country.

[Camino LS6]

Hurricanes aren't usually too awful when they hit here, but I'd rather not experience a cat4 or cat5. They often spawn tornados, and I've got no desire to be near one of those things.

Earthquakes that have happened here are tiny, and most people can sleep through them.

But.

They say that we here on the east coast are way overdue for a big quake. If that happens, the destruction will look like all of the big California Quakes combined. Nothing here is built with quakes in mind.

I think I can handle most natural disasters without being freaked out too badly.

Except a wildfire.

I visited the Oakland Hills in California right after the big firestorm there and it was a truly terrifying thing to see all of that destruction.

A wildfire would scare the crap out of me.

Ditto a volcanic eruption of any real size.

[Robert Hall]

When I lived in the Florida Keys as a kid, we had to evacuate for hurricanes at least 4 times in 6 years..never had any flood damage, but it was worrisome and scary..

In Ohio, there were always tornados and often floods, but nothing close to where we lived (we were in a valley in the hilly Appalachian foothills)..

I've experienced lots of blizzards in Ohio, Michigan, and Colorado...I always paid attention to the weather and made sure I had plenty of food, would just stay in until the storm passed.

Not much happens in Phoenix, summer monsoon storms cause power outages, downed trees, and flash floods, but those are out in the burbs where there are a lot of aroyos (ditch thingys). The summer heat is tolerable w/ air conditioning and a pool.

One of the scariest weather experiences I've had was an ice storm in the Portland area a few years ago...they don't plow the roads, so it was sheer ice on I-5...7 hrs to go 25 miles...white knuckle driving in a rental Grand Prix.

I think if I lived in Cali I'd worry most about wildfires or earthquakes, depending on the area.

[trinacriabob]

One of the scariest weather experiences I've had was an ice storm in the Portland area a few years ago...they don't plow the roads, so it was sheer ice on I-5...7 hrs to go 25 miles...white knuckle driving in a rental Grand Prix.

I think if I lived in Cali I'd worry most about wildfires or earthquakes, depending on the area.

The PNW is not equipped to deal with snow and the (black) ice that precedes/follows it seems to be an even bigger problem. Since the weather rarely goes below 38 in the winter up there, there's a false sense of security.

[trinacriabob]

O

What???? Don't get it.

Sheez, you're weird sometimes....

[Robert Hall]

The PNW is not equipped to deal with snow and the (black) ice that precedes/follows it seems to be an even bigger problem. Since the weather rarely goes below 38 in the winter up there, there's a false sense of security.

Yeah...coming from Colorado, I'm used to seeing an army of snow plows on the freeway and streets whenever there is a weather event. Unlike what I remember about Ohio and Michigan where there are often many small snow storms throughout the winter, the Front Range in CO usually get a few massive storms that come and go very quickly...

But I would assume in the PNW they are prepared for snows in the mountains?

[frogger]

Only felt two earthquakes, they're so small around here, but the pet dog went crazy as they were happening so realized/felt the vibrations.

Only hurricane warning I was involved in was in a business trip to the RDU area, and it ended up being a non-event/weakened by the time it hit. Did get out of work early though :-).

[loki]

What about stuff like wildfires and volcano eruptions?

like say super volcanoes?...yellowstone?

[Nick]

like say super volcanoes?...yellowstone?

Yes...volcanoes scare the $h! out of me.

Earthquakes...meh...they just disturb my sleep.

Wildfires...we have a fire season out here so it is nothing new or frightening, and fires have nearly engulfed my neighborhood many times. Fun stuff...firetrucks are cool.

Everything else...well...I live in SoCal...

Meteors/asteroids are right up there with volcanoes for me as well.

I welcome anything extra terrestrial...anything nuclear I could care less about as long as I'm within the blast radius....otherwise that gets moved up as I would rather not bear witness to such an event...mushroom clouds, while arousing, scare the $h! out of me. The thought of nuclear warfare is intriguing....yet horrifying.

[FAPTurbo]

like say super volcanoes?...yellowstone?

I thought a super volcano was when you detonated a nuclear bomb in the center of the Earth.

[bobo]

California is still waiting for the Big One. I went through the '89 Loma Prieta earthquake in my concrete lab class on UC Berkeley. BART was packed for the next few months as the Bay Bridge was being fixed. Two years later, I was there for the Oakland fires. I evacuated my apartment. The Oakland Hills used to be thick with brush and very narrow roads and rustic houses. Now it's wider roads and ultramodern houses.

[Croc]

I just looked it up on Wikipedia, and there is indeed a seismic zone in VA.

Funny how they said the quake back in '03 could be felt all the way up to southern PA, but I was about a 3-hour drive from the epicenter and felt nothing.

Anytime you have mountains, you have faults.

[Croc]

California is still waiting for the Big One. I went through the '89 Loma Prieta earthquake in my concrete lab class on UC Berkeley. BART was packed for the next few months as the Bay Bridge was being fixed. Two years later, I was there for the Oakland fires. I evacuated my apartment. The Oakland Hills used to be thick with brush and very narrow roads and rustic houses. Now it's wider roads and ultramodern houses.

This is so selfish, but I hope the Big One in LA waits until I'm done with grad school and doing some serious urban planning. When Caltrans built the East LA interchange, they destroyed the community of Boyle Heights...and that interchange is terribly inefficient. The only way it would ever get "fixed" and give Boyle Heights its formerly beautiful lakeside park back is if the Big One caused the elevated deck to collapse there, and it likely will as it has not been reinforced much if at all, and as implied, is built on top of a lake.

Edited September 30, 2008 by Croc

[ocnblu]

"What???? Don't get it.

Sheez, you're weird sometimes...."

Bob, just go back a little further in the thread, all will be explained.

[trinacriabob]

California is still waiting for the Big One. I went through the '89 Loma Prieta earthquake in my concrete lab class on UC Berkeley. BART was packed for the next few months as the Bay Bridge was being fixed. Two years later, I was there for the Oakland fires. I evacuated my apartment. The Oakland Hills used to be thick with brush and very narrow roads and rustic houses. Now it's wider roads and ultramodern houses.

I can't believe that Oakland Hills fire got out of control. I knew that it was a construction worker and that it was accidental, but didn't understand why it couldn't be put out in time with so many fire departments and resources nearby. Obviously, that person was identified. Do you know what became of him?

As for the quake, the Big One is supposedly more likely to occur in a part of the San Andreas system that has been "locked" for a long time. I once read an article that the San Andreas has not seen any action around Tejon Pass / the Grapevine since 1843 and that the pressure build-up is being monitored.

Edited September 30, 2008 by trinacriabob

[knightfan26917]

Which natural disaster(s) have you experienced? Which rattles your cage the most?

Experienced:

Tornado

Earthquake

Blizzard

Severe thunderstorms

Flooding

None of them really rattle my cage more than the others....

Cort | 35swm | "Mr Monte Carlo"."Mr Road Trip" | pig valve.pacemaker

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