View Full Version : What natural disaster or disruption of daily life have you experienced?
Going off the food storage thread, I ask: How many of you have experienced serious consequences from a hurricane, earthquake, flood, forest fire or otherwise? I guess I've been lucky, I've lived through earthquakes and floods but never had a serious consequences. I lived through a 3 day power outage that probably affected me more than those. What have you experienced, learned and would do differently or the same?
We lost power for a week in October from a freak snowstorm that came before the leaves were off the trees. The biggest thing for me was how long it took just to do simple tasks, like washing dishes, without power. It was tiring, and I was not up for cooking from scratch the way I normally do. Too much time and too many dishes. Just flushing a toilet meant a couple of trips to haul water from the hot tub on the porch, all these little things added up. The first couple of days were fine, but lack of internet meant I was bored. I realized how dependent I am on my computer for information and entertainment.
We were pretty lucky, as parts of town had power after the first two days, so I was able to grocery shop, and check my email at the library. In a true emergency, we would have run out of potable water after 2 days.
My area can go weeks without power due to snow and ice. Power was out at my parent's house for 10 days due to a snow storm in October this year. Lots of down trees and clean up to deal with. It's not so bad that time of year. We can manage without. It's when it happens in deep winter with night time temperatures in the low teens and negative numbers that it becomes a problem.
Occassional flooding takes washes out roads and entire highways were lost due to the hurricane this year in our north country.
We've been exceptionally lucky thus far. No disasters/disruptions to mention. Would definitely like to see that trend continue.
Went without power for about 2 weeks back in the 80's due to a hurricane. It was hot, sticky, and I was pregnant! Miserable, but we survived. After we all realized we wouldn't have power for a time, we opened up our freezers, pulled out the thawing meats and had several block-wide B-B-Q's. That did make it much more tolerable. the funniest part actually was our cat. He was a fur person who wasn't exactly blessed with a pleasing personality in the first place, but after 2 weeks in the stifling heat, he got very testy. Started hissing at anyone who came near. :0!
I always laugh at survivalist cause I'm figuring they have never really been through something like that. Especially the ones who stock up guns along with their MRE's. First of all, who they gonna shoot? Their neighbor, when they ask for a crumb of something? From what I've seen, in extreme conditions, neighbors are generally in it together and helping each other, not sitting in a hidey-hole shooting at each other. And second of all, why MRE's? Why not canned ham and stuff like that. Stuff you would actually want to eat! You can even get canned bread, if you want. And then just rotate it. Which reminds me, with winter coming on I need to replenish my emergency, doesn't need cooking stuff.
We lived in a remote area of FAR Northern California for 22 years and the power went out all the time, often for a week plus. Mostly in the winter because of snow, but we were prepared -- wood stove for heat, which we cooked on, soups and the like, and we'd stocked up on supplies, and lanterns for light, so no real problems, except the streets weren't plowed so we had to walk wherever we needed to go. We were always prepared. We had water, for some reason. We'd heat water and wash a few clothes at a time and hang up around the wood stove. Our cat was the only one that had a problem -- deep snow (about 3+ feet) and no place to go potty! It was funny to see yellow holes in the snow, about three inches deep, with brown things at the bottom.
Sometimes a forest fire would get close and the town would be so smoky, and it occasionally knocked the power out too, but not very often. Weird seeing flames coming over the hills, but we knew the Forest Service (including my DH) would take care of it! And they did ...
The town I grew up in Central CA was flattened by an earthquake in the '80s, but we weren't there. The town we lived in on the ocean in FAR Northern CA (not the one with snow and fires, above) was prone to tsunamis -- one destroyed downtown long before we moved there, and another one in the last year or so that took out the harbor. There were several small ones while we lived there, hardly noticeable. One gained power as it moved south and killed a woman somewhere on the central coast.
But no real danger to us in any of these cases.
I went without heat in sub-freezing weather for nearly a week a few years back. I had enough food, warm bedding and cats for heat. I'd rather not do it again.
My house burned down in the calm between two huge winter snowstorms in the PNW. I was living on Lopez Island at the time, and the entire county had no power. Our was the third fire that day, and the volunteer crew was pretty exhausted. We were in a rental, and the owner had installed the wood stove improperly. Phone lines were down, so we threw the cats out, got into our cars with the dogs & birds, and high-tailed it out of the woods. I stopped at a house that had a live phone, and gotthe call in. Then we drove back to watch it burn.
The community rescued us, and we were provided with housing, furniture, clothing, food, etc. for months. It was, all in all, an amazing experience.
My most routine disruption here, on the island one over from Redfox's Lopez, is power disruptions for 1->14 days, generally combined with winter weather and wind storms that knock down trees and block the roads.
We also get, in the right winter conditions, serious icing on the road down the side of the mountain here, and can't get out until it clears up.
The main lessons from those events for me was to prepare in advance with some supplies, tools, neighborhood organizing, and being in physical condition to handle clearing out the mess.
I've also been through some significant earthquakes, including the Loma Prieta, which disrupted roads, power, communications, and supply chains. Same lessons for those, really.
My biggest concern here at the moment is wildfire though. Participating in the Firewise program, clearing fuel, and making the home as fire-resistant as is reasonable, combined with evacuation planning ahead of time, is hopefully helping some.
My house burned down in the calm between two huge winter snowstorms in the PNW. I was living on Lopez Island at the time, and the entire county had no power. Our was the third fire that day, and the volunteer crew was pretty exhausted. We were in a rental, and the owner had installed the wood stove improperly. Phone lines were down, so we threw the cats out, got into our cars with the dogs & birds, and high-tailed it out of the woods. I stopped at a house that had a live phone, and gotthe call in. Then we drove back to watch it burn.
The community rescued us, and we were provided with housing, furniture, clothing, food, etc. for months. It was, all in all, an amazing experience.
And what happened to the cats?????
And what happened to the cats?????
Oh, we went back the next morning, and they were waiting outside the non-existent front door for breakfast! As were the two goats we also turned out of their pen by the house, and they had huddled in the woods overnight.
Both cats lived long lives after that... Mama goat was outplaced to a farm, her kid was butchered for a friend who was pregnant & poor (the kid was rambunctious, and so was her baby! He definitely got that kicky, bouncy young kid goat energy...). We moved into a tiny 200 sf cabin with our 2 big dogs, the cats, & the cocckkatiels (misspelled on purpose to evade the censor) we grabbed as we ran out of the house. One 'tiel died a month later, the other lived for another 20 years.
We successfully sued the landlord for our losses, and I ended up building a darling home with the first community land trust in both the state & on Lopez. For 20 years, I celebrated the fire on the anniversary - Dec. 29th - by burning something I was done with. Last year I decided was my final ceremony, and I completely forgot about it till the posting earlier. This fire redirected my life in all the best ways, and I will be forever grateful for it. Thanks for 'listening'.
Our house was completely destroyed 20 years ago by Hurricane Andrew. We were out of the house for almost 3 years afterwards. Could tell a million stories about the experience and the aftermath. As just one example...I don't want to give the wrong impression by having you think that we were homeless for 3 years. Rental homes that were large enough for a family of six plus pets were in such short supply after the hurricane that our insurance company ended up having to put us up in a 6,000 sq ft mansion directly across the street from a (then) famous television star. He lived on the "poor" side of the street.
We lost power for a week in October from a freak snowstorm that came before the leaves were off the trees. The biggest thing for me was how long it took just to do simple tasks, like washing dishes, without power. It was tiring, and I was not up for cooking from scratch the way I normally do. Too much time and too many dishes. Just flushing a toilet meant a couple of trips to haul water from the hot tub on the porch, all these little things added up. The first couple of days were fine, but lack of internet meant I was bored. I realized how dependent I am on my computer for information and entertainment.
We were pretty lucky, as parts of town had power after the first two days, so I was able to grocery shop, and check my email at the library. In a true emergency, we would have run out of potable water after 2 days.
Sometimes I really realize how dependent I am on the entire grid in times like these. There was a time in my early 20's when I had two small children and was homeless and lived by moving from public campground to campground. I wasn't "prepared" for much, but I cooked outdoors, used a small baby tub and filled it with water from the public showers to wash my kids in, washed and dried my clothes by hand, used public transportation to get to work.
I always laugh at survivalist cause I'm figuring they have never really been through something like that. Especially the ones who stock up guns along with their MRE's. First of all, who they gonna shoot? Their neighbor, when they ask for a crumb of something? From what I've seen, in extreme conditions, neighbors are generally in it together and helping each other, not sitting in a hidey-hole shooting at each other. And second of all, why MRE's? Why not canned ham and stuff like that. Stuff you would actually want to eat! You can even get canned bread, if you want. And then just rotate it. Which reminds me, with winter coming on I need to replenish my emergency, doesn't need cooking stuff.
I think those are the folks who are going to be shooting. They've already wound themselves up, so they're gonna be jumpy and tetchy.
You might find Rebecca Solnit's book "A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster" quite interesting. Many communities seem to pull together and overcome bad times without resorting to Mad Max survivalist gunplay. It's pretty encouraging.
It doesn't always go that way, though, for those of you familiar with the LA riots, and sometimes things fall apart...
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TsFXJA9YHlE/TTeIfFOIuVI/AAAAAAAAAQI/VqNzxdhlp5s/s1600/58852252.jpg
Or the recent London riots:
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/08/10/article-2024358-0D5EFEA800000578-806_964x632.jpg
As to MREs, they taste terrible, I'm not sure why anyone would stock them up by choice, if they were aware of better options or able to afford them. They *do* have the advantage of being available in large quantity relatively cheaply, having a very very long shelf life, are packaged in robust materials, and can be prepared and eaten without any heating or other cooking infrastructure, so they'd be pretty handy in a really bad situation.
I gave up on them decades ago, the taste is just dreadful.
Lifeboat ration bars are about as bad, in case you think that's an option :-) They are very nutritionally dense, though, and I pack them in my vehicles when in the Arctic.
I've never heard of lifeboat ration bars, but they sound dreadful. Yea, I never really understood the MRE thing. Now days you can get canned food that really resembles food somewhat and can last a really long time. If you rotate them out you can be ready for most anything.
It has been my experience that in times of disaster or other extreme living conditions, neighbors come together to help one another rather than turn against each other. I suppose it's the shared aspect of it. As long as it doesn't become an 'us against them' type of thing, as some riot situations become. And yes, we see it in the tea party and occupy protests. When people feel isolated in their situation they feel threatened and that's when trouble begins, IMO. When we went through the hurricane it was all of us, in the whole neighborhood and indeed the whole town and several towns surrounding. Even I found other women who were pregnant and feeling the special pressures I was, so solidarity there.
That book sounds interesting. I'll have to check it out. This has been my experience as well. Community rather than anarchy.
I think riots like in L.A. are good examples of society de escalating violently. It rises from a sense of total frustration and helplessness and rage. In times of need, such as through disaster, most people feel the opposite, a feeling of wanting to come together for comfort. Those of the MRE types are already in the first place and just waiting.
I've already described my experiences with trying to create stored food, but the one thing I think it is good for, is padding against financial fall out. Loss of a job or income. So, in that respect, I think that for me, since stocking food didn't go so swimmingly, stocking up on sundries is a good hedge, since it won't get tossed.
We lost power for six weeks due to an ice storm that morphed into a blizzard when I was a kid. My parents were VERY self-sufficient so the impact was more just a matter of mild inconvenience than hardship. We heated with wood anyway so Mom's cooking just shifted from stove top to wood stove top. Lighting was a combination of flashlights and candle lanterns. We had a generator for the well so water wasn't a problem. We were huge gardener/canners and raised cattle and chickens so food was never an issue. It was the dead of winter so the freezer in the garage never thawed. I know Mom & Dad had to work harder, especially Mom with laundry and cooking, but since we were prepared it was really more of a luxurious camping trip than it was a disaster for us kids.
Natural disasters:
Columbus Day storm, infamous in SW WA in 1962. I was just a kid, so didn't get the full effect my parents did. Our power was out for a week. I vividly remember all the stores (2) uptown doling out all the ice cream for free to the kids as it was melting. Nowadays, I wonder if they'd just throw it out rather than risk it. Also remember my mom cooking clam chowder in the fireplace so the milk and fresh clams we had would not be wasted. I can't eat clam chowder to this day without remembering the taste of ashes.
1980 Mt. St. Helens eruption. Lived in Yakima at the time. That morning, the ash was raining down so heavily we couldn't see our neighbors' lights on. The pets and animals were covered in it, and it seeped into cracks and was tracked in the house. The city used their snowplows to scrape it from the streets as it clogged up the air systems in cars. Travel to some areas in the state was hindered by mudslides; I-5 was closed for some time. My mom was in a conference in Seattle and had to take a way roundabout detour to get home, probably adding 2-3 hr. to what should have been a 4-hr drive down I-5. I worked in a bank, and the emergency broadcast system interrupted our workdays for quite a while after that with aftershocks and subsequent eruption notices. But other than that, I don't recall it impacting us too much. Just everything felt gritty and your car and yard were pretty filthy.
A famous poem learnt by all Australian schoolkids describes Australia as a land of 'droughts and flooding rains'. In the 1980s, we bought a beautiful property in the middle of nowhere in the middle of a very long drought and the deciding factor was that the creek was still running. Roll forward a couple of years and we had a terrible 'flooding rains' time. For 6 weeks, the only way to leave our property was by a two hour walk through the dripping, slippery bush up and over hill after hill. Then a wait by the side of an infrequently used road to hope for a passer by for a 40 minute trip to town. Then reverse it all carrying a few groceries!
What did I learn? First, move your car to the right side of the creek when the heavy rains come! But also, when choosing the right farm to live on, reliable, permanent water is still number one issue, but access and if possible more than one way of access is also important.
I'm just glad that we never had a bushfire while I lived on that farm, it just would not have been escapable or survivable. But thankfully most of us do survive being young and silly!
1) ice storm in central Illinois in the late 70's that left most of the area w/o power for 10+ days. Family that lived on the farm, converted the water pump from electric to manual, ate from the canned food/freezer in the basement, cooked on the old fashioned wood stove out in the wash shed. Family in town burned wood/cooked in the ornamental fireplace, used water from the water heater for drinking and cooking. Nobody bathed until the power came back on. Everybody, town and country, entertained themselves with cards and storytelling.
2) a few years ago, two tornadoes swept through town in the middle of the night. Power was out at my kids school for 5 days. Kids stayed at their dad's house, he has a generator, and no power out there anyway. My patients dependant on oxygen used their temporary tanks and then moved to family that still had power. One patient, whose roof came off in the first tornado, spent the rest of the night in a neighbor's apartment, without power and then moved to a hotel in a town 30 miles away until the power came on at her place.
My general experience is that folks want to help/share in a natural disaster. I guess it is possible for things to get so bad that you have a "Lord of the Flies" kind of situation, parts of Katrina sound like they were that bad.
jennipurrr
2-12-12, 1:45pm
This year a small tornado came through and knocked a huge oak tree on hour house. Luckily, it fell on the carport, so the damage was much less than it could have been. Our power was off for four days.
Then seven days after the first one, a large tornado came through with the center about 1/2 mile from our home. We lost several trees in the yard, mostly just hit the fence. Many of our neighbors had major damage...one had 5 trees through her roof. My coworker about 1/2 mile away had to have her house totaled. This time it was 8 days with no power. This happened in April so so even with no power it was very pleasant. We didn't have phone/internet for 6 weeks because of the extensive damage to the main lines all over.
In my neighborhood, everyone did really pull together to help each other in the immediate aftermath. Everyone got out the chain saws and friends and relatives came in to help. A mile or so over, which shifts dramatically to a much poorer area, there were gunshots and looting for a couple days and the National Guard was brought in almost immediately. A little bit scary to me.
I was in Anchorage Alaska on March 27, 1964 for the 9.2 earthquake, second only to Chile's 9.4.
We were without power for some time but the neighbors still had natural gas for stove so they cooked for everyone. Our house was built on bedrock in the 50s and we had no damage. Many others were not so lucky.
Think of earthquakes today and imagine 5 full minutes of the waves of energy moving thru the ground. There is a facebook page for the 1964 earthquake and other sites can be found by googling.
Blackdog Lin
3-1-12, 10:03pm
We've been lucky. Short term localized power shortages only - 24-48 hours. Nothing too serious. We got by.
sweetana3: I've read about that Alaska earthquake. Tell us about your experience, please. What you saw and did, you know?.....
We live on the Texas Gulf Coast and deal with Hurricanes every so often. To me the aftermath is almost as bad as the hurricane itself. It is usually very hot and humid, the power is off for up to two weeks, and there are trees down, gas stations are out of gas and don't have power to pump anyway. That's assuming the house is still standing and wasn't flooded. When I was a child, my parent's house had 3 feet of nasty sea water in it during Hurricane Carla; it was such a mess because as the water receded, it coated everything with about an inch of mud. When we came back, it looked like chocolate had been poured over everything (but it sure didn't smell like chocolate.)
In 1996, the Susquehanna River rose. It had flooded the town I used to live in back in '72, and some areas did get hit with flooding (mostly very low-lying). But that awful day in Jan. '96, we were pulling things out of our basement and running them up to our 2nd floor till we realized it was futile. Finally we fell asleep in front of the TV, on the floor, and awoke to see that the river had crested and would not hit our area. I remember being exhausted for an entire week, just from the stress (and I was young then!)
Closest I ever came to disaster, and I am so very grateful it has not touched our lives.
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