Everyone has a "once in a lifetime" natural disaster...what was yours? - Page 4

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Everyone has a "once in a lifetime" natural disaster...what was yours? (Page 4 of 6)

Posted: 1/28/2023 4:50:36 AM EDT

[#1]

Only peripherally involved, but Hurricane Irene hit Vermont hard. Entire towns were cut off from the world. No way in or out. Even tiny streams turned into raging rivers. Most of the roads around here follow brooks and rivers, so whole roads got wiped out. It took a long time to fix all that.

Posted: 1/28/2023 5:00:29 AM EDT

[#2]

unfortunately this one happened twice in a lifetime, two years apart

Posted: 1/28/2023 5:05:46 AM EDT

[#3]

LA riots in 1992, Malibu fires in 1993, and the Northridge earthquake soon after in 1994. Then the North Hollywood shootout in 1997.

I guess a couple of those weren’t “natural”.

Posted: 1/28/2023 5:19:31 AM EDT

[#4]

2021. Tornado to the west and and another to the east at the same time. The one to the west pushed the one to the east over a few hundred yards. It missed the house I was in.

I should've been killed.

Thank God.

Posted: 1/28/2023 5:21:10 AM EDT

[#5]

Quote History

Quoted:
May 18, 1980. Mount Saint Helens. I was ten, in my home town of Spokane, Washington. We were buried under several feet of ash. No school, no leaving the house for two weeks. Thank God we had just recently gotten cable tv.

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Did you have Showtime and all the naughty channels?

Posted: 1/28/2023 5:45:48 AM EDT

[#6]

Hurricane Harvey was a bitch.

Posted: 1/28/2023 6:09:47 AM EDT

[#7]

1980 St Helens. We lived downriver, I saw the eruption from the backyard, the next day we watched logs, mud, and even houses float down the Columbia. My dad was working at a closure checkpoint the previous night as well. Ash blew to the East, so we missed it, but had plenty from prior smaller eruptions...

1996 WA/OR floods. Sucked for a lot of people, but I damned near got killed. Kind of a semi-well known local incident even today.

Posted: 1/28/2023 6:11:22 AM EDT

[#8]

Hurricanes -check
Earthquakes - check
Tornados - check
Fires - check
Floods - check
Pandemic - Check
Biden Administration-Check
Even had a plane crash into my yard a couple of weeks ago.

Posted: 1/28/2023 6:12:53 AM EDT

[#9]

December 07 ice storm, Feb 2011 snowpocalypse. Had vehicles damaged in both.

Posted: 1/28/2023 6:50:47 AM EDT

[#10]

Some may remember my thread back in 2017 where Spirit Airlines left me and my family stranded on St. Thomas right before Irma hit.

it was such an absurd storm. Then being stuck on the island for the next two weeks while shit started getting sporty and cops started becoming crooks/thugs.

Jimmy Buffet ended up paying for a fishing charter to take us to Puerto Rico for safety. We had a paid "contractor" on the boat who looked like a BAMF and was escorted off the island by a Blackhawk flying just not too high off the water with a door gunner very attentive looking for any sign of the pirates that became a massive issue.

was a hell of a trip.

also I live in Lee Counth, FL and we were leveled by hurricane Ian this past September. And while the storm didn't reach Irma's too gusts that were recorded (like almost 250mph) there was significant damage and flooding and the eye wall went right over us. Hurricane lasted from 1pm til almost 9pm. Took for fucking ever to pass

Posted: 1/28/2023 7:32:18 AM EDT

[#11]

So far hurricane Floyd (1999).

Also the Joplin F5 (2011) but I was on the outskirts and just trying to get back to Tulsa. Didn't want to be a tornado destruction tourist.

Myself and another coworker went up to help clean up one weekend.

Posted: 1/28/2023 8:27:44 AM EDT

[#12]

Quote History

Quoted:
Once? Rookies

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One tornado, several wild thunderstorms with high wind, two bad tropical storms, Hurricane Dennis, Irma, Hermine, but Michael was the worst.

Posted: 1/28/2023 9:02:33 AM EDT

[#13]

Quote History

Quoted:
Derechos Naders Floods. It can get pretty sporty here.

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Posted: 1/28/2023 9:05:23 AM EDT

[#14]

Tornado when I was a kid. I've prayed to God for the protection of our family from such every single day since.

Posted: 1/28/2023 9:07:15 AM EDT

[#15]

One of two leaders on a 50' cedar landed across the pool of the $1.8Mil house next door taking out their lanai and outdoor kitchen in Irma in '17. I tried to get the tree removed because it had two leaders several times over the years but the city always said no. I'll never forget the gal owner stomping over after the storm and asking when my tree service was coming. I told her it was an act of God and it was on her. Bitch said she was calling her attorney, good, tell him to bring a chainsaw I replied. lol. Cost me $2K to get the other leader removed and fix the fence. Lived there 13 years without a mortgage, sold the place for 6 times what I paid for it 3 months later.

We've been very lucky.

Posted: 1/28/2023 9:15:04 AM EDT

[#16]

Ah, I suffered Hugo in SC too - forgot about that one.

Posted: 1/28/2023 9:22:10 AM EDT

[#17]

I went through a category 4 cyclone (hurricane) in Australia in the 1990s.

It was a cat 5 going to deal us a glancing blow but downgraded to 4 and hit us directly.

The fun thing was that I had to stow the command's 10 meter (33 foot tall) television satellite dish to reduce wind damage. We point the dish straight upwards to turn it into a giant bowl. The thing moved so slowly it took four hours to make the transit and since the motors aren't designed for constant use I had to pause occasionally to let the heat dissipate ... all the time the winds are getting higher and higher.

The house was built out of mason bricks, had a 4" thick poured concrete roof, and steel fold-down shutters over all the windows. The military police were driving the neighborhoods getting people to store their lawn mowers and children's toys inside so they didn't become projectiles.

Not much damage because the command was well prepped.

Posted: 1/28/2023 9:25:40 AM EDT

[#18]

Quote History

Quoted:
LA riots in 1992, Malibu fires in 1993, and the Northridge earthquake soon after in 1994. Then the North Hollywood shootout in 1997.

I guess a couple of those weren’t “natural”.

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Southern California was an interesting place to live in the 90s.

Posted: 1/28/2023 9:36:39 AM EDT

[#19]

Blizzard of '73
Blizzard of '78
Hurricane Iniki
Flood of '08

Posted: 1/28/2023 9:55:23 AM EDT

[#20]

Quote History

Quoted:
I was married for 8 years, does that count?

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If she came in wet and wild and took your car and house, then yes.

Posted: 1/28/2023 10:03:21 AM EDT

[#21]

Potatoes Administration.

Posted: 1/28/2023 10:06:20 AM EDT

[#22]

I used to live in Moore, Oklahoma. Tornadoes like Moore.

Posted: 1/28/2023 10:10:58 AM EDT

[#23]

I was in Orlando, Florida when they were hit with a tornado outbreak back in February, 1998. No real damage where we were staying, though.

I saw the last remnants of Sandy while working on a charter flight that was bringing NY national guard back home. I also saw Harvey from a distance while working on casino charter flights around the Gulf Coast, but I wasn't in it by any means.

Posted: 1/28/2023 10:24:17 AM EDT

[#24]

Been through a bunch of hurricanes, but the event that stands out to me was a blizzard in the Northern Plains back in the late 90s. Don't remember what year exactly, but I do know it was January. I was driving from Denver to Minot, ND to work at the Air Base. It snowed for like 4 days straight and dumped literally 8 feet. I was stuck in a Red Cross shelter in Glendive Montana for 3 nights before they even got the highways open, and then it was like driving through a tunnel of snow all the rest of the way to Minot

Posted: 1/28/2023 10:25:14 AM EDT

[#25]

Quote History

Quoted:
So far hurricane Floyd (1999).

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This is mine too. My parents house was near a creek on a golf course and it wasn't unusual to see the course flood but it never got near cresting the lot across from them, until Floyd. I don't think anyone was prepared for how much or quickly the water was going to rise once it started flowing over that lot. We were notified around 10am I believe that we would need to start preparing to evacuate. Unfortunately they had been evacuating houses 1/2 mile away since dark that morning but word hadn't spread down the street. We stepped off our back porch onto a jon boat when we finally had to leave.

We ended up very fortunate. I believe the 1st floor of the house was about 35-40" above the ground and the water stopped rising right with the thresholds. We ended up having to replace all the ductwork under the house the subfloors and hardwoods, both of my parents cars (well my dad bought his back and drove it another decade). We were very fortunate. House next to us had 1.5' of water in their house and it continued increasing down the street. The worst houses were over 14' less than 1/2 mile away. Telling people about it now they hardly believed there was that much elevation change over that distance. FEMA ended up buying every house down the street and its a park now. I believe they bought out around 30 houses with the closed being 3 houses away from my parents old house.

Posted: 1/28/2023 10:26:26 AM EDT

[#26]

Isabelle

Had to move a relatively new boat up the coast and the 9’ surge had us on it throughout the storm

Aftermath was quite a few days of sawing just to get down main roads to help my parents

That’s was 2003, can’t imagine the rioting and looting if that same storm did a repeat in 2023…..

Had some nice folks from Arkansas cutting through all kinds of fuck off to get power lines back at my folks. We talked duck hunting. They worked non stop in humidity. A few days of seeing them working and no power we went to a local grocer and brought bags of fresh prepared foods, fresh rolls and some relatively cold beer and just gave it to them with genuine thanks.

I recall my folks had their lights on the next day and the neighbors were still dark.

Any Arkansas linemen who traveled to clean up after Isabell, cheers to you guys!

Posted: 1/28/2023 10:35:30 AM EDT

[#27]

Katrina - 50 miles north of New Orleans.

No power or communications for 10 days after the storm.

It was quite eye-opening when a dozen NG walked into our hospital in full battle dress.

The local airport had C-130’s flying in and out all hours of the day and night for weeks afterward.

Pharmaceutical and diesel deliveries accompanied by troopers armed with AR-15s.

Fun times.

LC

Posted: 1/28/2023 10:37:30 AM EDT

[#28]

April 3rd 1974 tornadoes hit our house and barns.

It was a mess for a year, clean up was pile after pile of fire and sawing trees. There's tin in a tree to this day in the woods the tornado left. I have a bunch of pictures I never look at.

I don't think my parents were ever the same after that.

Posted: 1/28/2023 10:37:54 AM EDT

[#29]

Bud I guess in all reality we all should be thankful we haven’t had to suffer like Raleigh N.C. when they got 2.5” of the white stuff on a work day.

I remember the TV news interviewing a girl who had gotten in her car after seeing on tv that she shouldn’t drive. She gets stuck. She starts walking. Loses her shoes, and then starts to think she is going to die of exposure. She was like 50’ from a hotel lobby the entire time and she looked like she had walked through black hawk down.

Posted: 1/28/2023 10:39:32 AM EDT

[#30]

Valentines day power outage week in texas, 2021.

No power for 5 days, lowest temp we got was 1 degree. It was freezing in the house. A 3 and a 5 uear old plus wife and cat...

Lucky iy wasn't ice and roads didn't grt too bad.

My camping stuff did the trick, it just sucked to be forced to be co fined so close to the fireplace...

I've since improved my situation including alternate heat sources and a whole house generator.

Posted: 1/28/2023 10:41:58 AM EDT

[#31]

House (along with a large portion of my city) flooded in the August 2016 "non tropical"

biblical rainfall that hit South Louisiana. Something like 25" of rain in a day. It sucked so hard I vowed never to go through it again. It was a major factor in our decision to move here. Where I'm at should never flood.

Posted: 1/28/2023 10:43:24 AM EDT

[#32]

All of them….. everywhere

Posted: 1/28/2023 10:44:10 AM EDT

[#33]

If you live in the right location, you haven't dealt with natural disaster, YET.

Posted: 1/28/2023 10:45:31 AM EDT

[#34]

Sometimes I feel like Jim Cantorie.....
I've been evacuated 7 times because of hurricanes at one place or another.

Posted: 1/28/2023 10:47:29 AM EDT

[#35]

Mississippi flood of 93.

Posted: 1/28/2023 10:51:58 AM EDT

[#36]

7.1 earthquake in thr PRK, watched a waterspout come onto the tarmac at Boca Chica NAS, in Key West. The latter one was kinda scary but the former did make much of an impression.

Posted: 1/28/2023 11:01:05 AM EDT

[#37]

Quote History

Quoted:
Bud I guess in all reality we all should be thankful we haven't had to suffer like Raleigh N.C. when they got 2.5" of the white stuff on a work day.

I remember the TV news interviewing a girl who had gotten in her car after seeing on tv that she shouldn't drive. She gets stuck. She starts walking. Loses her shoes, and then starts to think she is going to die of exposure. She was like 50' from a hotel lobby the entire time and she looked like she had walked through black hawk down.

https://webapi-wral-com.cdn.ampproject.org/ii/w820/s/webapi.wral.com/api/redirect/image/19524396/640x360

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LMAO

that's funny right there

Posted: 1/28/2023 11:03:08 AM EDT

[#38]

A tornado destroyed the main street in my town, starting its main touchdown in my backyard when I was a teenager. Spent that whole summer earning money cutting wood.

About a decade ago, we had a major derecho that knocked out power for our entire region for A couple of weeks in some places. I was astounded at the lack of preparation I witnessed.

Posted: 1/28/2023 11:11:40 AM EDT

[#39]

Harvey:

Posted: 1/28/2023 11:12:02 AM EDT

[#40]

Leap Day 2012 EF4 tornado. By far the worst of a larger tornado outbreak.

Posted: 1/28/2023 11:45:00 AM EDT

[#41]

Quote History

Quoted:

At Texas Roadhouse?

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View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
When I didn't quite make it to the shitter once.

At Texas Roadhouse?

I believe he was at Ryan's

Posted: 1/28/2023 11:47:45 AM EDT

[#42]

Ex wife.

Posted: 1/28/2023 11:48:54 AM EDT

[#43]

Either Hurricane Rita in 2005, or Hurricane Laura in 2020.

Posted: 1/28/2023 11:49:59 AM EDT

[#44]

Blizzard of 1978

Attached File

Posted: 1/28/2023 11:56:07 AM EDT

[#45]

March of 1993 East coast snow apocalypse. My car got completely covered with snow. It was the most snow I have ever seen. 5 feet of snow. It was in mid-march IIRC.

Though to be completely honest, I enjoyed it and didn't view it as a disaster at all. Digging trenches from the door to the car.

Posted: 1/28/2023 11:57:37 AM EDT

[#46]

Quote History

Quoted:
Ex wife.

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PLUS one. Was going to post this.

Posted: 1/28/2023 12:07:48 PM EDT

[#47]

I was deployed for a Typhoon as a roving foot patrol looking for looters. It was 2 days as the storms ransacked the island one day in the eye and 2 days as it went on its marry way. The disappointment was we never found a looter to shoot.

Posted: 1/28/2023 1:00:49 PM EDT

[#48]

For me not really. Closest I can think of is the great blizzard of 1978 in SE Michigan. About ten years ago there was a big tornado that wiped out a lot of trees and roofs on houses about two towns over from me. There was no loss of life. My place was unaffected. I’ve been lucky I guess.

I’m not bragging and I feel awful for people that have suffered.

Posted: 1/28/2023 1:10:10 PM EDT

[#49]

We had a nasty summer storm 10-15 years ago. Straight-line winds, but may as well have been a hundred small tornados. Had some special meteorologic name, but I forget what it was.

All the metal road signs on east/west roads were bent to 90 degrees, entire crops were wiped out, damn near every road was blocked with downed trees, most homes had damage of varying degrees. The whole town was without power for more than a week.