From weather.comToday I woke up to a cloudy sky, but currently the sun is trying to peek out from the clouds. It isn’t scheduled to start raining here from Hurricane Earl until 2pm or so.
So far in my life I have yet to be near a natural disaster. In the suburbs of Chicago we heard about tornadoes, but I didn’t have any close calls. The floods that occurred along the Mississippi River happened far, far away so that wasn’t a concern either. We did have one earthquake along a fault in southern IL when I was growing up. My best friend at the time SWORE that she felt it, but I think that we were too far away and personally didn’t feel a thing.
For my years in Philly I also didn’t have any problems. I remember being at work and one of my coworkers couldn’t reach anyone in his territory (North/South Carolina) because everyone had been evacuated. I think that was Isabel. But again, no tornadoes, no floods, no hurricanes, no earthquakes, etc.
After moving out west I encountered the same thing. Sure there were tornadoes east of us, but for the most part we were safe because of the mountains.
When an email was circulated around at work about the different ways we should prepare for Earl, I scratched my head in confusion. But wait. We aren’t on the coast and although CT is a small state we should just feel heavy winds and rain, right? Well, according to my boss, CT has a very large number of trees per mile for such a populated state. Which means that when a strong storm comes though- it doesn’t have to be a hurricane- power goes out, it is tough to leave your house because of fallen trees, etc. AWESOME.
Thankfully, Earl is weakening. We hopefully just get a lot of rain which the Northeast desperately needs anyway. Earl also brings nicer weather after he comes through- no more 90+ degree days!
So maybe we are susceptible to a few more natural disasters here in CT. We have already had two tornadoes in the state in the past few months. CT hasn’t had a direct hit by a hurricane in a while (Bob in 1991). With a major storm earlier this year we had some flooding in the southern part of the state. As with anywhere, we have earthquakes all the time, we just don’t feel them because they are small.
So far in my life I have yet to be near a natural disaster. In the suburbs of Chicago we heard about tornadoes, but I didn’t have any close calls. The floods that occurred along the Mississippi River happened far, far away so that wasn’t a concern either. We did have one earthquake along a fault in southern IL when I was growing up. My best friend at the time SWORE that she felt it, but I think that we were too far away and personally didn’t feel a thing.
For my years in Philly I also didn’t have any problems. I remember being at work and one of my coworkers couldn’t reach anyone in his territory (North/South Carolina) because everyone had been evacuated. I think that was Isabel. But again, no tornadoes, no floods, no hurricanes, no earthquakes, etc.
After moving out west I encountered the same thing. Sure there were tornadoes east of us, but for the most part we were safe because of the mountains.
When an email was circulated around at work about the different ways we should prepare for Earl, I scratched my head in confusion. But wait. We aren’t on the coast and although CT is a small state we should just feel heavy winds and rain, right? Well, according to my boss, CT has a very large number of trees per mile for such a populated state. Which means that when a strong storm comes though- it doesn’t have to be a hurricane- power goes out, it is tough to leave your house because of fallen trees, etc. AWESOME.
Thankfully, Earl is weakening. We hopefully just get a lot of rain which the Northeast desperately needs anyway. Earl also brings nicer weather after he comes through- no more 90+ degree days!
So maybe we are susceptible to a few more natural disasters here in CT. We have already had two tornadoes in the state in the past few months. CT hasn’t had a direct hit by a hurricane in a while (Bob in 1991). With a major storm earlier this year we had some flooding in the southern part of the state. As with anywhere, we have earthquakes all the time, we just don’t feel them because they are small.
As a side note, after the Haitian earthquake CP and I were sitting in the car and he was telling me that NH gets earthquakes a lot. I didn’t believe him and found the USGS site to prove him wrong. Well, it turns out that he was right (damn it!). In fact there seems to be nowhere to hide from earthquakes in the US. But again, in most places they are too small for us to feel.
So I guess by moving to CT I have moved myself a bit closer to natural disasters? I guess I can count blizzards in natural disasters and I have been in some of those. But to me, a lot of snow is not as scary as some of these other things….
Do you live in a disaster prone area? Do you prepare for a big storm with water, flashlights and food or just scoff at the warnings? Do you have a natural disaster story?
So I guess by moving to CT I have moved myself a bit closer to natural disasters? I guess I can count blizzards in natural disasters and I have been in some of those. But to me, a lot of snow is not as scary as some of these other things….
Do you live in a disaster prone area? Do you prepare for a big storm with water, flashlights and food or just scoff at the warnings? Do you have a natural disaster story?
9 comments:
Good to hear Earl is weakening ... that could be such a beast if it didn't.
When I lived in St. Louis, we had at least one tornado scare a year. One actually came through my neighborhood (hitting a couple houses away) and did quite a bit of damage from uprooted trees that hit cars and homes.
I was actually on Cape Cod during Hurricane Bob in 1991. Though our house was spared, we did lose a lot of trees on our property. And we lost power for about a week ... not fun when you're hosing family for the week.
Other than lots of snow, Chicago is pretty much immune to disasters. Famous last words... =)
I was a kid when Hurricane Gloria hit NY. I remember being excited because school was closed and my dad stayed home from work. My brother and I were allowed to watch cartoons and we were never allowed to watch tv during the day.
We get lots of tornadoes, with the most memorable being an F4 that hit in 1989 and killed 21 people. Most people around here remember it, and occasionally you'll hear people say "I haven't seen skies like this since '89."
I've been terrified of tornadoes for as long as I can remember, and oddly, that Storm Chasers show on Discovery helped me get over some of that. Yeah, the destruction can be terrible, but they are also amazing to see and now I understand a little bit more how they work.
South Dakota is a natural disaster waiting to happen. Floods, tornadoes and severe winter storms which means power outages and living under blankets with flashlights for days at a time.
When we lived in NC, we wanted to see the hurricane (like idiots) so we got in the car and started driving toward the coast. WHen the rain started coming down sideways, we turned around. That's about all you can see.
Well, as you know, I live in Texas--south Texas. We do get a lot of tornadoes, and do have to worry about the Hurricanes off of the Gulf, but they usually hit Galveston or Mexico and we're stuck with a shit ton of rain.
In Michigan I lived through one really bad snow storm, but I guess there was an earthquake there the year I was born.
Anyways, not to creep you out or anything, I had a dream last night me & SR were running from a tornadoe. :/
ADVENTURE!
We had a tornado in Salt Lake several years back...weird...and scary. Good luck with all that crappy weather.
I hope you guys stay safe and remain unscathed!
'Round these parts we get floods, earthquakes that we can feel (and we're long overdue for a HUGE one, apparently), tsunamis and the remote possibility of one of the volcanoes coming out of theirs slumber. FUN!
I lived in Hawaii as a kid and our house was across the street from the beach. We had to evacuate for a few days because of a tsunami warning. Luckily, it never made landfall. I'm TERRIFIED of tsunamis.
Let's see, I've been in: earthquakes, blizzards, tornadoes, hurricane force winds (I lived in West TX, but the winds were around 98mph--ripped the roof off a supermarket and killed about 4 people), ice storms & flash floods. Tornadoes were the scariest by far.
I dunno, we've got the basics: flashlights and canned food, and some bottles of water, but we should probably have more here. I'm more of a...pretend it's not going to happen person, which is bad.
I was so happy that earl weakened. I was worried I wouldn't make my flight to LA.
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