Tornadoes, storms and other natural disasters

[PlugSkullcandy]

Last night I somehow got storm / tornado chasing videos on my YouTube home recommandations. I watched a few videos and the images, despite being cinematographic, beautiful and fascinating, reminded me how natural disasters can be life changing or worse for populations…

I started looking up some things about tornadoes on wiki and they are really frequent in the Midwest. Since I live in France and we don’t have that kind of disasters (floods in the south are frequent, or avalanches in the alps…) I wonder how American people from these corridors are dealing with it on a « yearly » basis. Same with hurricanes or cyclones… or Japanese people with earthquakes.

Maybe some people here can tell us some stories or experiences ? What do you do if you see warning on TV ? Etc etc. I am curious about it.

[cky enthusiast]

most of the places they’re super frequent are very sparsely populated so a lot of farm stuff gets fucked up. occasionally a small town will get flattened tho

[Cthulhu!]

They happen often but you never think it'll happen to you, so most people shrug it off. And then it happens. I was living in this town when this one hit, it went right over the house. I almost died that night. The same area had 6 tornadoes in an afternoon earlier this year. The area doesn't get the super huge ones the other states do, but even a smaller one will ruin your night.
This was a neighbor's house.


https://www.winknews.com/2016/01/10/cape-coral-continues-to-recover-from-ef2-tornado/
https://www.news-press.com/story/news/2016/01/10/cape-coral-tornado-cape-florida-weather/78589738/

I wasn't able to sleep for, I don't know, 6 months after it happened. To this day I tense up when I see a warning, and if a heavy storm pops up I start pacing and get the urge to smoke even though I dropped that ages ago. Tornadoes are a huge pain in the ass because they can pop up real fast and then disappear.

A hurricane is courteous and will at least give you several days of warning in advance so you can prepare. A minor hurricane is basically a lot of rain so these are just an inconvenience, with a stronger one you start to board up and buy some supplies, and then a major hurricane will fuck everything up so badly at that point most people will evacuate early. Staying put is a gigantic headache if your roof flies off, never mind the looters.

[brycickle]

Here in Nebraska, it's an opportunity to go out on your porch and have a beer.

[IUTSM]

We get earthquakes here. Felt a few heavier ones. Also have signs around my area "entering tsunami hazard zone." Had some tsunami warnings a few months ago.

Grew up in Massachusetts and we had hurricanes every few years

[igrindtwinkies]

We've had 3 hit the small city I live in in the past month and a half.  Lot's of pictures of full grown trees laying on someone's smashed in hood or house.

[Mean salto]

As far as other we get floods and fires every year right near me in Aus. It's that same thing where afterwards you drive around and everything looks almost normal but every now and then a random house is just burnt down showing its just pure luck whos house makes it and who gets fucked. Been evacuated a couple times it's basically like of you're gonna go leave now because you won't be able to later. Last time i fucking slept thru it

[PlugSkullcandy]

thank you for the replies. Damn Cthulhu! that’s no joke. In comparaison in France we are still talking about cyclones happening in late 1999. Fires happen every summer in the south but it mostly due to human behavior, recently it was military exercises gone wrong. Avalanches also happen. Floods are more and more frequent in the south.



this map says it all

[layzieyez]

Just make sure my home insurance covers these disasters and go down to the basement and skate around until the power goes out during storms. I have a large collection of high power LED flashlights that my wife makes fun of until the power goes out and then she silently reads her books in comfort in the corner while waiting for the power to return.

[Blind Fisherman]

The annual "tornado season" where I'm at USED to be really hit or miss, but in the past five years they've become incredibly intense. Places that tornadoes usually wouldn't hit are now getting hit pretty hard and causing all kinds of havoc.
I survived one at the beginning of 2020 after being sick with what I believe was Covid before it was a known thing. Neighbor's tree fell on the porch, room where my ex and I kept our dogs, and the guest room/adjacent bathroom. Had it not stopped at the bathroom, the tree would have hit the main bedroom and killed me.
Still get paranoid and anxious when storms hit. Anytime I hear sirens or get a warning popup on my phone, I almost breakdown into puddle of fear induced paralysis. Do not play with Mother Nature.