# Worst Natural Disaster You Have Experienced? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 14, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-natural-disaster-you-have-experienced/585457 "2011-06-14T17:22:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-natural-disaster-you-have-experienced/585457/21 "2011-06-14T18:56:21Z")
I slept through Hurricane Hugo, but that wasn’t such a big deal in Columbia. My grandmother died (unrelatedly) during the big flood in Albany, GA, in I think 1993? So I went through the joy of planning a funeral in the midst of a natural disaster. Her cemetery was on the other side of the river, so every day we had to drive clear up to Cordele to cross the river and then get back down to, I forget the name of the town but near Albany. Three hours one way. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-natural-disaster-you-have-experienced/585457/22 "2011-06-14T18:56:50Z")
I can’t choose between the flood that I’m still fixing stuff because of, or the ATV trip in the middle of woods with a damaged ATV in our group while a tornado tore down the woods. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-natural-disaster-you-have-experienced/585457/23 "2011-06-14T19:00:58Z")
Hurricane Wilma when it hit South Florida > **[Hurricane Wilma](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Wilma)** > > Effects > Other wikis > Hurricane Wilma was the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Atlantic basin, and the second-most intense tropical cyclone recorded in the Western Hemisphere, after Hurricane Patricia in 2015. Part of the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, which included three of the ten most intense Atlantic hurricanes in terms of barometric pressure (along with #4 Rita and #7 Katrina), Wilma was the twenty-second storm, thirteenth hurricane, sixth major hurri... ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-natural-disaster-you-have-experienced/585457/24 "2011-06-14T19:02:55Z")
Ontario doesn’t really do major natural disasters. The closest thing to a disaster I’ve been through was the Great Blackout of '03, but that wasn’t exactly a _natural_ disaster, was it? I was too far west for the Ice Storm of '98; I’ve been through intense storms that produced tornadoes in other areas, I felt the earthquake in eastern Ontario last year, and I was in Wisconsin camping (!) during the heat wave that killed all those people in Chicago. I have been snowed on a lot though. On the other hand, my parents fled from Hurricane hazel in the fifties. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-natural-disaster-you-have-experienced/585457/25 "2011-06-14T19:03:33Z")
I experienced the Loma Prieta earthquake near San Francisco in 1989. No damage anywhere near me, though. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-natural-disaster-you-have-experienced/585457/26 "2011-06-14T19:13:04Z")
> [@Shmendrik](#): > > Ontario, Quebec, parts of upstate NY. I had relatives in upstate NY then, but I don’t remember them telling me about it. Maybe it didn’t affect them. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-natural-disaster-you-have-experienced/585457/27 "2011-06-14T19:19:09Z")
Well, a year or two ago in London we had an earthquake that made the pottery rattle. I think it was probably a magnitude of 1.4 or something. That’s it, unless a heatwave in Spain counts - went over 100 degrees in a place not set up to cope with quite that level of heat. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-natural-disaster-you-have-experienced/585457/28 "2011-06-14T19:22:31Z")
I was in Hurricane Katrina – sort of. A friend and I were in Huntsville, AL when it made landfall, and we were driving from there to Augusta, GA that day. Didn’t think it would be an issue, but by the time we hit Atlanta, the storm had already moved that far north. [Sucker was BIG](http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/?2005241-0829/Katrina.A2005241.1915.2km.jpg). We drove right through one of the spiral arm thingies, and it was easily the scariest, nastiest looking sky I have ever seen. There were tornadoes in the area; I was actually surprised we didn’t spot any, given the looks of those clouds. We kept driving and got the hell out of there. ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-natural-disaster-you-have-experienced/585457/29 "2011-06-14T19:33:05Z")
I was around for the '95 Chicago heat wave, but it didn’t feel like a natural disaster out in the suburbs. I mean, yeah, it was really fucking hot, but we had air conditioning. And people were dying in the city, but the full magnitude wasn’t really apparent to me at the time (I was twelve). I’m not sure whether it counts. If you remove that, there were some pretty bad storms in Rockford. [One](http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lot/science/5Jul2003/index.php) was when I was visiting my then-boyfriend; hella straight line winds, loud enough to wake me from a sound sleep and ask him if the town had tornado sirens. I remember seeing fields piled with brush from fallen trees months later. Another four years later, but that was flooding; we got caught outside, tried to get home because there was a tornado warning, and ended up stalling out the car and having to push it outta water. Not fun. But those weren’t really huge disasters. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-natural-disaster-you-have-experienced/585457/30 "2011-06-14T19:35:24Z")
I have been fortunate. The worst I’ve been through have been the July 4th, 1969 northern Ohio storms [Link](http://spc.noaa.gov/misc/AbtDerechos/casepages/jul41969page.htm) the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake while I was working in L.A [Link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987_Whittier_Narrows_earthquake) and the Blizzard of 1978 [Link](http://www.ohiohistory.org/etcetera/exhibits/swio/pages/content/1978_blizzard.htm) ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-natural-disaster-you-have-experienced/585457/31 "2011-06-14T19:35:58Z")
> [@zamboniracer](#): > > and the Blizzard of 1978 > > [Link](http://www.ohiohistory.org/etcetera/exhibits/swio/pages/content/1978_blizzard.htm) I was around for this one too although I was only 1 year old, so I don’t remember. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![geneb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e4f/32.png) [@geneb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/geneb)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-natural-disaster-you-have-experienced/585457/32 "2011-06-14T19:38:24Z")
Couple of hurricanes and an earthquake. The earthquake was small… Not sure how big as I never bothered to find out. I was using the bathroom at the time, though, so it was big enough to make me not be happy. Also not sure what hurricanes… I was a kid so I didn’t care what the name was. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-natural-disaster-you-have-experienced/585457/33 "2011-06-14T19:48:32Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Ontario doesn’t really do major natural disasters. This. > [@Sunspace](#): > > The closest thing to a disaster I’ve been through was the Great Blackout of '03, but that wasn’t exactly a _natural_ disaster, was it? . And this. I did enjoy Ice Storm of '98, I took tons of amazing pictures after it which were lost in a subsequent move. Curses to physical negatives. It wasn’t really scary or disaster like however, we were back at work the next day the only issue was we were limited to a single access road to the base since the side entrance was up a particularly steep hill and we were not high on the city’s priority list. There was also the snow storms of '99 that trapped me and a couple guests in my house for 3 days. Luckily I still liked them at the end of the experience. I felt the earthquake in eastern Ontario last year as well and posted about it [here.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=568253&highlight=earthquake) It was so mild we weren’t even sure that it was an earthquake. > [@Sunspace](#): > > I have been snowed on a lot though. And way, way too much of this. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-natural-disaster-you-have-experienced/585457/34 "2011-06-14T19:49:45Z")
Another one for the Northridge Quake, here. I was living just north of downtown LA at the time. Our building only sustained superficial damage with cracks, but that is by far the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced. One of the few times in my life that I was convinced I was going to die. I will say, however, that a year or so ago, there was a much smaller earthquake (maybe a 5.0?) that struck while I was at work…on the 40th floor of my building in downtown. Feeling a high-rise sway like that is a different kind of scary. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-natural-disaster-you-have-experienced/585457/35 "2011-06-14T20:24:33Z")
Oh! I totally forgot! [I was there for the Great Storm of 1987](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Storm_of_1987). A tree got knocked through our front garden wall, smashing a window, and my school was closed for a week due to a gas main being damaged. That’s a proper natural disaster: > [@](#): > > In south-east England, where the greatest damage occurred, gusts of 70 knots or more were recorded continually for three or four consecutive hours. During this time, the wind veered from southerly to south-westerly. To the north-west of this region, there were two maxima in gust speeds, separated by a period of lower wind speeds. During the first period, the wind direction was southerly. During the latter, it was south-westerly. Damage patterns in south-east England suggested that whirlwinds accompanied the storm. ---
**Author:** ![Al\_Bundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@Al\_Bundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al_Bundy)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-natural-disaster-you-have-experienced/585457/36 "2011-06-14T20:25:13Z")
I was here for the F4 in Macomb in 1964 and the 1953 F5 in Flint Michigan. In 2008 a tornado came through here within 100 yards of me. There were no injuries. I had the windows opened. I thought everything was going to exit from the windows and then it moved on. As I said, I was 100 yards from the center-line. After it passed, the sirens started blaring. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-natural-disaster-you-have-experienced/585457/37 "2011-06-14T20:28:00Z")
The tail end of some Pacific typhoon that we in Portland called the Columbus Day Storm in 1962 (I won’t mention the exact date ;)); Some other typhoon that hit Tokyo in fall of 1979. Stopped the trains for several hours, getting home that afternoon was sort of a nightsmare. Loma Prieta (SF Bay area) earthquake, 1989. Nothing since then, though. Still waiting for The Big One. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Pantani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/87869e/32.png) [@Pantani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantani)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-natural-disaster-you-have-experienced/585457/38 "2011-06-14T20:36:42Z")
Earthquakes. 7.1 in Sept 6.3 in Feb 5.7 and a 6.3 on Monday (still cleaning up). Oh and a 5.0 aftershock at 6.30 this morning just to start the day off. Rather over the whole earthquake thing at this point. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-natural-disaster-you-have-experienced/585457/39 "2011-06-14T20:41:41Z")
Also the Northridge quake. But I wasn’t close to the epicenter and our house didn’t sustain any damage. I woke up, but I went back to bed cause it was too early. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-natural-disaster-you-have-experienced/585457/40 "2011-06-14T21:02:11Z")
The town I lived in when I was a kid got hit pretty hard by the ash spewed out by Mt. St. Helens. I was only five (nearly six) but I have very clear memories of the sky turning dark at lunchtime, and then “snowfall” which was actually the ash falling. It built up at least half a foot to a foot all over town and made everything look like a creepy moonscape. I remember my Mom carrying me out to the car with a wet bandana over my nose and mouth to keep me from breathing in the ash. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-natural-disaster-you-have-experienced/585457.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-natural-disaster-you-have-experienced/585457.md?page=3)