Since Starguard’s housing safety criteria rule out the entire continent of North America, I’d say he doesn’t have a point.
The blizzards the Northeast experiences are every bit as deadly as a tornado; intense cold and heavy snowfall can easily be lethal. Plus New England faces a risk from hurricanes, and (for those near the coastline) tsunamis. The latter two occur far less frequently than a nor’easter or a heavy blizzzard, but have the potential to kill far more people when they DO happen.
There are no places that are “safe from nature”; the best one can do is assess the hazards that occur in your local area, build in ways that minimize the inherent risks of that location, and know what to do if Nature does decide to lash out despite your precautions.
Since Starguard’s housing safety criteria rule out the entire continent of North America, I’d say he doesn’t have a point.
The blizzards the Northeast experiences are every bit as deadly as a tornado; intense cold and heavy snowfall can easily be lethal. Plus New England faces a risk from hurricanes, and (for those near the coastline) tsunamis. The latter two occur far less frequently than a nor’easter or a heavy blizzzard, but have the potential to kill far more people when they DO happen.
There are no places that are “safe from nature”; the best one can do is assess the hazards that occur in your local area, build in ways that minimize the inherent risks of that location, and know what to do if Nature does decide to lash out despite your precautions.
Zebra has given us some good numbers on how relatively harmless — how cute and cuddly, almost — tornados are in practice. They kill only a few dozen people a year in the US. In contrast, over 40,000 Americans die every year in car accidents. So even in Kansas, you have more to fear from your fellow Kansans while driving to the Dairy Queen than you do from Mother Nature.
Moreover, as you can see from these maps (1998, 1999, and 2000), there is almost nowhere in the eastern US that is immune to tornados. Oddly enough, even Utah had one not long ago.
More odd yet, Starguard, is that your profile says you’re in Chicago for pity’s sake. If you’re so keen to avoid tornados, why in the name of rationality are you still in Illinois?
I swear I wish I knew the answer to that one! I think my self esteem is low but I still would just be happier alone than with someone treating me like that. I have a sister that is that way and I just do NOT understand why she keeps taking him back and saying she still loves him. Well guess what ~ he doesn’t love you or he wouldn’t do that to you dumba$$. so frustrating…
And she does not have any children by the man, she is not married to him and she was not raised in it. Our parents did a fine job (according to the way the rest of us turned out) so there is something wrong in her head
Some really excellent points made. I have a real issue with people who buy houses right on the beach, destroying the dunes that are a natural protection, and then want help when the inevitable hurricane come. This is especially arrogant on the barrier islands known as the “Outer Banks” off North Carolina. These bits of land are really not much more than sand banks that are large enough to stick out of the water. The ocean moves them back & forth over the years. And they are regularly hit by hurricanes; the shape of the coast forms an elbow that juts out into the Atlantic. Just about every year there is a storm that smacks right into the area. Last year was a particularly fine example. An entirely new channel was cut across the island of Hatteras.
Not at all. They get cheap flood insurance (subsidized by all the rest of us taxpayers), and so get a brand new house & furnishings every few years at little or no cost to them. What’s nuts about that? (Unethical, immoral, & dishonest, yes, IMHO, but hardly nuts.)