Natural Disasters
Can you all believe that it’s already November!?! Where has this year gone? I’m so not ready for all the holidays that are just right around the corner! 
That’s not what my blog is about today — I just had to get that off my mind. 
Last week, when I was dealing with all the fire stuff going on here in Southern California, I was on the phone with Carly quite a bit, since she checked in with me on a regular basis to make sure that everything was okay where I live. Unfortunately, I do live in a very fire prone area, and we’ve had our share of very scary wildfires that have prompted evacuations. Thankfully, we always had a house to come home to, unlike some people in these recent fire storms that swept through Southern California. 
It seems like every year in October we deal with fires. 
It’s something that we’ve come to expect (but never get used to!), because everything is usually so dry from the hot summer months and October is the month that the Santa Ana winds kick up. Those two things together make for ideal fire conditions, and all it takes is just the smallest spark to create a huge, out-of-control fire that can go on for days. 
I do have to say that this past week was by far the worst fires I’ve ever seen in Southern California — at one point there were over 20 major fires spreading and it was literally like the whole entire state was on fire!
Last week, when I was talking to Carly on the phone after we had a very close call with a fire near our track of homes, she made the comment that she just didn’t know how I dealt with it every year — the fires, that is. I told her that it’s not easy, and a lot of times it is scary, but I think that every state or area has their own natural disasters that they have to deal with on a yearly basis. Hurricanes. Tornados. Floods. Fires. Droughts. Earthquakes.
Oh, and speaking of earthquakes, our house sits directly on the San Andreas fault line that is due for “the big one” any time now. We know that, and here in Southern California earthquakes are the norm. We get little shakers here and there, and they’re definitely unnerving, but it’s all a part of living in California.
So, my discussion with Carly made me think about all the other natural disasters that people have to deal with. I’m curious to know where you live, and what natural disasters do you have to worry about?
Hope you all had a fun Halloween!
It’s very scary. I’ve been thinking about friends and all the people living in California during these awful fires. So glad you and your family are safe.
Here in the midwest, we have tornadoes. Not so bad where I live, but occasionally we get them. Over the summer we had a really bad storm where power was out for days, even in the grocery stores and restaurants. And from what I understand there’s quite a fault line under where I live, though it’s always been inactive. My mom always tells me “One day, it’s going to shift…”
Comment by Stacy ~ — November 1, 2007 @ 6:11 am
Occasioanl hurricanes and bad snow storms. We have had a few very small earthquakes beleive it or not here in NY.
Comment by Pat L. — November 1, 2007 @ 6:35 am
So happy to hear that you and your home are safe.
I live in Maryland and we get the occasional hurricane. They are normally so minor so it’s no big deal. A few years back we had a F5 tornado come through the town I worked in and leveled 90% of it. All in all, I can’t complain.
Comment by Patty L. — November 1, 2007 @ 8:06 am
So glad to know you and your family are safe.
I’m in southern Ohio and here we have to deal with tornadoes and flooding–and, believe it or not, earthquakes. There’s a good sized fault-line through a portion of northern KY and every now and again (not often, thank goodness) we’ll hear of a small tremor. The storms are the worst though.
Kay
Comment by Kay Stockham — November 1, 2007 @ 8:12 am
Hurricanes!!
You know a hurricane is coming when the milk and bread aisle at the grocery store is empty. I still don’t understand why people buy milk if they are worried the power is going to go out…
I live in the Southeastern US and have long since lived with hurricane watches and warnings as well as tropical storms.
Comment by DBN — November 1, 2007 @ 8:19 am
So glad they’re getting them contained and that you’re okay. I can’t believe that LA fire was started by a kid playing with matches!
We have a few tornados every year and we deal with hurricanes. Althought, it’s a little different than what Julie deals with. We do have property at the coast so when a storm is coming - or even brushing by - we have to go take our toys out of the water and take up the pier. So much water gets pushed up into the Pamlico that a storm brushing past the coast is actually worse than if one came straight into us (for people who live along the sound and river).
Inland we have still have to deal with them somewhat, depending on how they’re coming in. In the mid to late 90’s we had at least 1 and sometimes 2 storms every year. In ‘99 we got hit by a hurricane, a tropical storm and then Hurricane Floyd within a week and a half’s time. Flooding like I never could have imagined. I had friends that were trapped on the other side of the river with no food, water, medicines, it was horrible!
The water was 1/2″ away from hitting the wires that supply power to several counties. If it had risen that much more it would have been months before they would have been able to get the equipment repaired. Like I said, very different from living right on the coast and having to deal with everything being blown to pieces.
But you know what. I love where I live. And some day I’ll have a house on the beach and it will be built and furnished with the knowledge that someday it will be (not if) affected by a hurricane. My MIL’s childhood home is on Sullivan’s Island and it was one of the few houses that survived Hugo! It’s just a fact of life that everyone living on the coast is willing to live with.
so long….
Comment by Jodie — November 1, 2007 @ 8:20 am
Kay - I grew up in Southern Ohio! Do you remember the earthquake that hit back in the early 80’s? My mom and I were driving in the car and missed it!
That’s all anyone talked about for days and I was so upset I’d missed the excitment! 
Comment by Jodie — November 1, 2007 @ 8:22 am
I live in the Northeast (just outside of Boston, MA) and our natural disaster can be a nor’easter storm which can cause flooding and power outages. We can also get blizzards. Growing up the blizzard of 78 (boy I feel like my grandmother starting to tell a story!) was so big that schools were closed for 2 weeks. We make do…
Comment by Barbara-Jo — November 1, 2007 @ 9:18 am
Glad to hear you and your family made it through the fires this year. I’m in Nashville and the most we get would be tornadoes and maybe some flash flooding if we get lots of rain at once(not a problem this year, we are still 20 inches below the rain we need for the year).
The last big tornado to hit Nashville was about 9 years ago. I think it was an F5, but not real sure. It hit over in East Nashville and destroyed several historic homes. I actually worked downtown and the time and watched the tornado form in the air. So scary, but couldn’t step away from watching it.
Comment by Liza — November 1, 2007 @ 9:19 am
I live in the northeast as well and our biggest disasters come in the form of blizzards, wind and ice storms. When I was a kid we always filled the bathtub with water when a storm was forecast in case the electricity went out which meant the well pump wouldn’t work.
Comment by Darlene — November 1, 2007 @ 9:29 am
Glad to hear you and your family are fine. That must be very scary every year.
I live in the Northeast (outside Boston, MA) and we have to deal with bizzards and occasionally hurricanes. We’ve been lucky the past few years.
Comment by Carolyn A. — November 1, 2007 @ 9:58 am
Janelle, Glad your family and home are fine. What a scary thing!
I live in northeastern KY and our main issue here is flooding, when we’re not in a drought. It seems to be one or the other around here. A few years ago we had a really bad ice storm. I actually feel like we are pretty lucky where we are as far as weather goes.
Happy November everyone!!
Comment by Kelly H — November 1, 2007 @ 10:22 am
I live in the middle of Alabama and we have tornados and hurricanes. I live about 4 hours from the coast and we lost power for a week when hurricane Ivan came through. My sister was miserable since she was pregnant and had morning sickness. A few years ago we even had a small earthquake. It woke me up but I didn’t know what it was until the next morning when it was all over the news. But right now we are under a drought and some places are starting to get worried about having enough water since the rivers are getting low.
Comment by Claudia — November 1, 2007 @ 10:32 am
Hi all! We get hurricanes here in the Panhandle of FL. Luckily, we usually have plenty of warning and can get out of town if it’s bad, but our house is in a flood zone. Very nice view, but very bad in a storm. We also recently had tornadoes rip through Pensacola, and flooding caused by getting so much rain at once. We still have standing water everywhere, which is making the ’skeeters really happy. They ’bout carried us away last night when we were trick or treating. They’re a natural disaster alone!
Comment by Becca — November 1, 2007 @ 10:36 am
Janelle -
Like you, my family in San Diego came close but are safe as well and luckily did not lose their houses. The westward spread of the Witch Creek fire stopped two miles from their community of Solana Beach in Rancho Santa Fe. The sky overhead was white with smoke and black with ash and they had to evacuate for two days down to Qualcomm, but were lucky to have a home to return to. They even got to meet “The Terminator” and said that he was friendly and truly concerned about each person he talked to.
And Jody, I remember that earthquake in Ohio in the ’80’s. I had just moved from California out to Ohio and couldn’t believe I was feeling an earthquake! All my co-workers were wondering what the hell was up and when I said it was an earthquake (having experienced quite a few, I knew what I was talking about), they all looked at me like I was nuts….but that’s beside the point! Yep, tornadoes, blizzards, extreme cold…..I’m not sure which is best/worst…….
Comment by Nina — November 1, 2007 @ 10:41 am
Well, as you know, one of the reasons we were so ready to leave Florida was the hurricanes! Not because I was genuinely scared of them, but because we got so darn tired, especially in the summer of 04, of boarding up and evacuating! That summer we just lived on edge, with our precious belongings packed up and ready to go, and when there were a few hurricanes back to back, our house remained boarded up and dark, even when we were inside! I was SO ready to get out of there. (They also caused our insurance premiums to skyrocket…from $700 a year to over $5000, despite never having a claim in 15 years!!)
So far in Maryland, nothing, though I do remember when I was a kid that we got hit by hurricane Agnes and most of the town flooded.
Janelle, I’m so glad you are all okay and your home is unscathed!
Comment by Leslie — November 1, 2007 @ 10:59 am
Janelle, I’m glad your home and family are OK. I can’t imagine having to deal with that each and every year.
I live in Northeastern Ohio and the only thing we usually worry about here are tornadoes. My immediate area has never been hit, but within a half hours drive from my house there have been 2 very bad ones. These have both been alot of years ago. We do also have to deal with the snow and ice storms every winter.
Take Care all and Have a Good Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Comment by Kathy — November 1, 2007 @ 11:36 am
here in NYC we’re more prone to unnatural disasters, but we get the occasional Hurricane, Nor’easter, Earthquake or Tornado here too. As far as natural disasters go, I think this is the best part of the US to avoid the bad ones.
Comment by Cail — November 1, 2007 @ 11:40 am
Janelle, I am go glad to here that you are safe and sound. Here in Northern Nevada we have a variety of gifts from Mother Nature. Thunderstroms that cause fires are very common. We have flash floods , earthquakes and we even have an occassional tornado. I know that it is hard to believe that we get tornado in the desert, but stranger things have happened.
Comment by Ardie — November 1, 2007 @ 12:29 pm
Hello Plotmonkeys!
I’m so glad you’re doing well, Janelle. Looking at the news and seeing the devastation in California makes me shudder. It’s awful.
I live in Denver and really the only thing we have to worry about is a snow storm–which I actually like :-) or severe thunderstorms with golf ball sized hail and lightning–which I don’t like. Our house is situated on high ground so even during a severe rain storm the water flows down hill. We’re very lucky.
Hope everyone is having a great day. My RA is flaring up today…sigh…it’s been a while since I had a flare up so I guess I was due…
Take care all,
Cher
Comment by Cher — November 1, 2007 @ 1:49 pm
We have hurricanes here in the east but nothing like katrina since the 38 hurricane. We can have earthquakes but the are generally minor.
We sure get out fair share of snow and rain. That’s okay by me.
We had a 2.0 earth quake while we were in maine nothing much happened
that was reportable. I feel for those of you that have these terrible things to worry about. Back to work here.
Comment by zoey and Jeannie — November 1, 2007 @ 2:14 pm
Janelle, I am so glad you and the family and your home weren’t caught in the terrible fires California had last week. I’m sure there is still a lot of clean up going on. I feel for all the people that lost everything.
I’m in northern California where we have earthquakes! We get a lot of small ones as I am not that far from the Geysers where they have frequent earthquakes but most of them I don’t even feel. South of San Francisco there was a 5.6 (I think that is the magnitude) the night before Halloween but I’m far enough north I didn’t feel anything. Most of the ones up at the Geysers that are so prevelant here are around a 2 or 3 so not very strong. Sonoma county does have floodling issues along the Russian River but I’m far enough from the river that it is not a problem. Most of the worst flooding is over in the Guerneville area which is a ways west of the town I am in. Some years we get lots of rain but it creates problems for a small majority of people. Mostly this is an area with wonderful weather, great scenery, lots of vineyards and a lovely area to live.
Comment by Donna M — November 1, 2007 @ 2:25 pm
So glad that you and yours are safe from the fires.
I live in Calgary, Alberta Canada - and other than extreme cold in winter we do not have natural disasters to worry about. We have been getting more tornado sightings which shows how the weather is changing and patterns as well.
Comment by Cryna — November 1, 2007 @ 2:59 pm
I live is southweatwen Oregon. We have our share of wildfires and then there are floods in winter.
Comment by Estella — November 1, 2007 @ 4:25 pm
that should have been southwestern
Comment by Estella — November 1, 2007 @ 4:25 pm
Janelle its so good to know you and your family are OK. I live in NY on Long Island so we have to deal with a couple of things every year. Flooding during heavy rain storms, hurricanes in the summer–and the weather forecasters say we are due for a big one, Nor’Easter’s. All of these bad enough on their own but when you throw tides into the mix it can ALWAYS make a bad situation much worse. Thankfully we haven’t had anything too bad lately. Hope everyone had a fun Halloween!
Comment by erin — November 1, 2007 @ 4:39 pm
Living outside of Philadelphia we have the nasty nor-easters to worry about. LOTS of snow or torrential downpours. I love the snow but the past couple winterstorms have been terrible ice storms. When that happens you’re house-bound for days. YUCK!
Comment by Tina — November 1, 2007 @ 4:51 pm
We’re in Northern CA, and mainly have the earthquakes as possible disasters–yippee! I’m very thankful not to have to worry about snowstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, flooding (at least not much) and all those other worrisome things…
Stay safe, everyone!
Comment by Fedora — November 1, 2007 @ 4:52 pm
Wind storms, ice, the occassional tornado or edge of a hurricane, but in upstate NY it is mostly snow. And unlike most other areas of the country, when snow melts, my house is still standing.
I will take the snow and icky ice any time over hurricanes, tornado alley, fires and earthquakes. Although we get the occassinoal one of them too. NY is also on a fault line.
I am glad that everything came out ok for you Janelle.
Comment by ev — November 1, 2007 @ 5:09 pm
Here in the Chicago suburbs we get tornadoes. In grade school our team (in central Illinois) was the Tornadoes because one had knocked down the entire town. Of course, this was decades before I was there, but the twisters are still pretty bad out there.
And of course, the snow storms in the winter!
Comment by Michelle — November 1, 2007 @ 5:16 pm
Janelle,
I can’t even imagine what you go through in CA. I live in Southern New Jersey and we have to worry about the nor’easters. We will get a few major snowstorms and ice storms. I do not even tackle. If schools are closed, I stay in my house. Then we deal with the flooding when that all melts.
Comment by Michelle — November 1, 2007 @ 7:00 pm
I live on an island off the coast of SE Florida. In 2004, Stuart, FL had the eye of Hurricane’s Jeanne & Francis come right through. We had to move to my Mom’s place for months as our condo was being repaired. In 2005, we were hit with the backside of H Wilma. Luckily, this year was very quiet.
In August 1992, I lived in the middle of Wisconsin, we got hit with a tornado that stayed on the ground for 21 miles!! It came within 1/2 mile of our house!! We were very lucky. It didn’t get a lot of air play because H Andrew hit Homestead,Fl that same night!
Comment by Laurie — November 2, 2007 @ 6:19 am
Janelle, I’m so glad you’re okay. One of my friend’s family wasn’t so lucky, unfortunately. Their whole neighborhood was demolished by the fires. It’s horrible when these things happen.
Living outside of Boston, we do get blizzards occasionally and some hurricanes though luckily very few tornadoes and earthquakes, which scare me to pieces. Ironically, we’re supposed to be hit with part of Noel tomorrow, so lots of flash flooding and high winds. Sigh.
Comment by Kate Scott — November 2, 2007 @ 7:26 pm
i am soo sorry i can’t even imagine what it would be like to live somewhere where that would happen, i totally sympathy everyone who had to live through that peace out love everybody bye
Comment by sacha — March 14, 2008 @ 5:57 pm