Disasters you have been in or near?

[Taltarzac725]

ONE KILLED AS A NEVADA MUD SLIDE FLOODS LAKES AND DESTROYS HOMES - NYTimes.com (http://www.nytimes.com/1983/05/31/us/one-killed-as-a-nevada-mud-slide-floods-lakes-and-destroys-homes.html)

With the news of the tragic mudslide, I was thinking about my own experiences near one. All it really did for me was scare the hell out of the East Coast relatives who knew I had been working at the Bower's Mansion concession stand when the 5/31/1983 mudslide came down about 1/2 mile north of where I was. I also had about an hour detour to get home.

The first thing I knew something was wrong was when I looked up at the nearby telephone poles and saw how tight they had become.

[alanmcdonald]

Our non-TV home is in Ringgold, GA.

2 years ago a tornado took out the entire fast food row at exit 248 of I-75, the high school, several homes and businesses and killed 6 people.

It missed our house by about 2 miles.

[Golfingnut]

TET Offensive Vietnam February 1968.

[Bonanza]

Hurricanes in Atlantic City and south Florida, including Andrew. A tornedo in Shreveport, LA (I was in the shower). OMG!

[redwitch]

The World Series Quake -- 18th floor in San Francisco. Building rocked and rolled. Several quakes with less impact. More than one fire (land, forest and house).

A couple of tornadoes and monsoons when I was a kid; some true blizzards and sand storms; a couple of mudslides near home but none affecting me directly.

[tucson]

The Feb.2007 tornado that badly hit The Villages, ruined my house (took 5 mos. to complete) 2 hurricanes (6wks apart) in Vero Bch.2004 (had to evacuate).

[Taltarzac725]

The Feb.2007 tornado that badly hit The Villages, ruined my house (took 5 mos. to complete) 2 hurricanes (6wks apart) in Vero Bch.2004 (had to evacuate).

Sorry to hear about that. We toured that area when they finally let people who did not live there view it. A very sad sight. We had moved from Palm Harbor in 2005 partly because of all the hurricanes with their accompanying tornadoes had put the bulls eye right on Palm Harbor in 2004. They all went elsewhere except just for a little brush of the high winds from one of them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Frances

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Atlantic_hurricane_season

[Mikeod]

Two wildfires in San Diego county that destroyed homes through our city and into La Costa.

[janmcn]

The 2007 tornado in The Villages, which decimated my CYV neighborhood, three hurricanes in TV in 2004, the blizzard of '78 in Boston, two black-outs in New York City (1965 and 1977) and a lightning strike at my home in TV. Except for the tornado in 2007, none of these events equal the heartbreak the citizens of WA now face.

[jean1954]

ONE KILLED AS A NEVADA MUD SLIDE FLOODS LAKES AND DESTROYS HOMES - NYTimes.com (http://www.nytimes.com/1983/05/31/us/one-killed-as-a-nevada-mud-slide-floods-lakes-and-destroys-homes.html)

With the news of the tragic mudslide, I was thinking about my own experiences near one. All it really did for me was scare the hell out of the East Coast relatives who knew I had been working at the Bower's Mansion concession stand when the 5/31/1983 mudslide came down about 1/2 mile north of where I was. I also had about an hour detour to get home.

The first thing I knew something was wrong was when I looked up at the nearby telephone poles and saw how tight they had become.

'It's Gone.' Community Copes With Deadly Mudslide - ABC News (http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/signs-life-huge-washington-landslide-23031071)


On March 11 2011 my husband and I traveled from Conn. to Honolulu to visit our son and his family. After traveling all day all I wanted was to go to sleep in our hotel room before starting our adventure in Hawaii. Well, that night the sirens were blaring and we were on a tsunami watch. Thankfully we did not need to evacuate and our son's family was also safe. Our daughter-in-law's family lives in Japan and they were also safe. Said our prayers that night for us and the unfortunate souls in Japan.

[perrjojo]

TET Offensive Vietnam February 1968.
I have been evacuated in a boat from a flood, been in a tornado and a hurricane but in my opinion you have everyone here beat. My husbands was there too!

[jonesbonnye]

Katrina for sure.

[jblum315]

Andrew destroyed our former home in Dade County and destroyed our sailboat in Rye NY where we were at the time.

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

I was living in downtown Boston during the blizzard of '78. Two days after the storm I had to walk about three miles to a bank to withdraw money to buy food.
I know three miles doesn't sound like much but try doing it over three feet of snow.

[duffysmom]

TET Offensive Vietnam February 1968.

Thank you and your family for your sacrifices.

[zonerboy]

The Sylmar earthquake in 1971 in Los Angeles.....collapsed several freeway overpasses, severely damaged a couple of hoispitals, shook us out of bed at 6 am.
Also lived 1/2 mile from the edge of a huge wildfire in Santa Barbara, Calif. which burned hundreds of homes to the ground in 1990's.

[tucson]

I was living in downtown Boston during the blizzard of '78. Two days after the storm I had to walk about three miles to a bank to withdraw money to buy food.
I know three miles doesn't sound like much but try doing it over three feet of snow.

My sister had to driven to her job at a hospital by the National Guard during that storm!!

[salpal]

Former long time volunteer for Red Cross....been to multiple disasters.

[2BNTV]

Hurricane Sandy and another stormthat dropped three feet of snow, that shut the state down for two days. A lot of destruction from Sandy. It broke my heart to see the roller coaster in the ocean, as we always visited the Jersey Shore on vacations.

My son was a few blocks away for The World Trade Center when the first plane hit. He saw the plane sticking out of the building, and then the other plane hit. The day America changed. IMHO

Nuff said.........

[KathieI]

TET Offensive Vietnam February 1968.

Thank you for your service and the same for Perrjojo's husband. It beats us all.

I lived 5 miles from the epicenter of the Northridge earthquake. Actually I lived in Sylmar, CA which previously was the earthquake capital of the US... but this one really shook me up. I thought the world was coming to an end. My bed was a bucking bronco, and all I could hear was everything in my house falling on the floor, everythingggg... Luckily, we all made it safe, including all the dogs and my newly rescued kitten, my dad, my hubs and me. The rest was all material stuff, but I truly was scared. There was one aftershock that almost had the same number on the richter scale as the original quake,,, that was terrifying.

[Sable99]

I was in the US Capitol on 911 and drove by the Pentagon many hours later on my way home.

I was sitting in my car on the approach to the 14th Street Bridge in DC when the plane hit the bridge in the 80s. I will never forget seeing the helicopters taking the people out of the Potomac River and all of the rescue vehicles trying to get through the traffic. It's the only day I remember my boss letting us go home because of bad weather.

[anarick]

Standing on 28th street and Fifth Ave watching the Twin Towers collapse before my eyes knowing that my son was working in Tower One. My son made it home OK, thank God.

[anarick]

Went to my company's disaster recovery site during Hurricane Sandy. At the end of the day at the height of the storm went to a hotel in Rutherford NJ that got completely surrounded by salt water, no power, no food, no water. Pretty scary.

[tommy steam]

TET Offensive Vietnam February 1968.

Welcome home.

[Parker]

1975, our finances. We survived.

[KathieI]

Standing on 28th street and Fifth Ave watching the Twin Towers collapse before my eyes knowing that my son was working in Tower One. My son made it home OK, thank God.

Thank God. You must have been terrified until you hugged him.

I had a few family and friends working in the towers and I was living in CA at the time. I was a wreck until I got to speak to each one and knew they were safe but their stories were incredible and thinking about them, still gives me goose bumps.

[Taltarzac725]

Thank God. You must have been terrified until you hugged him.

I had a few family and friends working in the towers and I was living in CA at the time. I was a wreck until I got to speak to each one and knew they were safe but their stories were incredible and thinking about them, still gives me goose bumps.


That was a terrible time for many in the US. I volunteered at East Lake Community Library in Palm Harbor that Tuesday for three hours or so and remember how much the staff and library users were in shock from the news. September 11 attacks - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks)

[ron122049]

TET Offensive Vietnam February 1968.

Thanks for your service!

[2BNTV]

Fortunately, I was at work and was totally unaware of what had happened at the WTC, until my son called me to say he was Ok. I replied, why wouldn't you be OK? He then informed me of the tradgedy.

When the second plane hit, he took off running uptown, to be with his wife at her workplace. I am so grateful, he survived and thought of calling me ASAP to let me know that everything was OK with him. Wife, was at her hotel in mid-town Manhattan.

[BobnBev]

Mianus River bridge collapse---I-95 in Connecticut.

[elizabeth52]

March 3, 1972 an airplane crashed into a house a block from the where we lived. It was 3 miles outside of the airport. We didn't see the plane crash, but we heard it and ran to the sight, arriving well before any first responders. As soon as we saw that it was a plane crash we were afraid that it might explode. A neighbor was sure that there were people on board that were still alive and was frantically yelling for people to help. It was only about 10 - 12 minutes before police and fireman arrived, but it seemed like a lifetime. Although it was residential neighborhood, the plane took out only that one house. Sixteen people aboard the airplane were killed, including the pilot and first officer; 36 passengers were injured. A man who rented the second floor of the house also was killed.

[benj]

Couple of years ago. On a nice sunny day back at the end of a canyon at Lake Powell in our beautiful sea ray boat having a little breakfast. In a couple of seconds,a wall of water came over the top about 500 above us and a hundred or so feet wide. Started to drop boulders and water directly on us. It took less than 3 minuets to completely sink our boat with everything we owned on it(car keys wallet purse etc) we barley had time to jump off and swim for our lives. We were 50 miles down lake. What an afternoon we had.

[John_W]

...I was sitting in my car on the approach to the 14th Street Bridge in DC when the plane hit the bridge in the 80s. I will never forget seeing the helicopters taking the people out of the Potomac River and all of the rescue vehicles trying to get through the traffic. It's the only day I remember my boss letting us go home because of bad weather.

That was January 1982, it was the beginning to the end of Air Florida. Since I lived in Pensacola and St. Petersburg in the 1970's I use to fly a lot on that airline. The plane that crashed was headed to Tampa, they had five survivors out of about eighty and four more died on the bridge.

[Taltarzac725]

That was January 1982, it was the beginning to the end of Air Florida. Since I lived in Pensacola and St. Petersburg in the 1970's I use to fly a lot on that airline. The plane that crashed was headed to Tampa, they had five survivors out of about eighty and four more died on the bridge.

Never heard of Air Florida. We would see all kinds of planes-- including Nevada National Guard fighter jets-- on the routes just over Rattlesnake Mt. coming in to the Reno International Airport. Never recall Air Florida though. http://youtu.be/H_ZSPRQzJSg

Our front windows faced Rattlesnake Mountain so we would see the flights coming in-and-out of the airport. Kind of fun except sometimes when the fighter jets would break the sound barrier quite close. One of the pilots lived a few doors down from us. Quite a character. He was/is an attorney too and later became a planning officer (General) at the Pentagon for the Air Force.

[Sable99]

Never heard of Air Florida. We would see all kinds of planes-- including Nevada National Guard fighter jets-- on the routes just over Rattlesnake Mt. coming in to the Reno International Airport. Never recall Air Florida though. Airplanes takeing off from RNO Reno Nevada - YouTube (http://youtu.be/H_ZSPRQzJSg)

It was Air Florida and it went down because of de-icing issues.

[Taltarzac725]

It was Air Florida and it went down because of de-icing issues.

Air Florida Flight 90 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Florida_Flight_90)

Sad story.

My uncle was the Fire Chief in the town of Itasca in 1979. He described the horror of cleaning up after the crash of American Airlines Flight 191 to me. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines_Flight_191

[Happinow]

March 3, 1972 an airplane crashed into a house a block from the where we lived. It was 3 miles outside of the airport. We didn't see the plane crash, but we heard it and ran to the sight, arriving well before any first responders. As soon as we saw that it was a plane crash we were afraid that it might explode. A neighbor was sure that there were people on board that were still alive and was frantically yelling for people to help. It was only about 10 - 12 minutes before police and fireman arrived, but it seemed like a lifetime. Although it was residential neighborhood, the plane took out only that one house. Sixteen people aboard the airplane were killed, including the pilot and first officer; 36 passengers were injured. A man who rented the second floor of the house also was killed.

Was that the one in Buffalo? I remember seeing that crash on the news. My sister in law lived in buffalo at the time and we went to visit her and drove by the crash sight. That was very sad. I believe it turned out to be pilot error. I used to live in Queensbury!

[Verchachi]

Mount Pinatubo, Philippines.

[Cisco Kid]

Andrew destroyed our former home in Dade County and destroyed our sailboat in Rye NY where we were at the time.

I worked Andrew for one month. 1st wave of adjusters as soon as they would let us in. I was working a K mart parking lot near some zoo. They had not yet found all the animals that got loose.

[jblum315]

Hurricane Andrew destroyed our sailboat in New York after destroying the home we had sold in Dade Co. Fl.

[Taltarzac725]

ONE KILLED AS A NEVADA MUD SLIDE FLOODS LAKES AND DESTROYS HOMES - NYTimes.com (http://www.nytimes.com/1983/05/31/us/one-killed-as-a-nevada-mud-slide-floods-lakes-and-destroys-homes.html)

With the news of the tragic mudslide, I was thinking about my own experiences near one. All it really did for me was scare the hell out of the East Coast relatives who knew I had been working at the Bower's Mansion concession stand when the 5/31/1983 mudslide came down about 1/2 mile north of where I was. I also had about an hour detour to get home.

The first thing I knew something was wrong was when I looked up at the nearby telephone poles and saw how tight they had become.


Here's a good two part article about the 1983 Memorial Day mudslide by Mark McLaughlin from 2013--

http://thetahoeweekly.com/2013/05/1983-memorial-day-flash-flood-part-i/

The 1983 Memorial Day Flood Part 2 of 2 | TahoeDailyTribune.com (http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/article/20080617/NEWS/397932830)


As he soared 2,000’ to 2,500’ above the lake, Cook recalled, “I heard a roaring sound, kind of like the sound of a jet engine really close. I thought I was going to get hit. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a bunch of rising dust.” The seasoned glider pilot, with more than 1,000 successful launches, watched a big chunk of Slide Mountain collapse into Upper Price Lake. “When it hit the lake,” he said, “it was like a huge explosion. It just blew the lake apart. It looked like a tidal wave at first and then the canyon gathered it up.”

At that moment, Cook was the only person who knew that a landslide containing 1.4 million cubic yards of rock material had just plummeted into Upper Price Lake. The force of the slide displaced 20 acre-feet of water and slush from the lake, and unleashed a torrent of mud, rock and debris into the canyon below. Concerned about people fishing, hiking or living downstream, Cook traced the Ophir Creek channel from his vantage point high in the sky as the ominous snake’s head of destruction surged toward civilization. Anyone caught in the path of this violent flash flood was doomed. “It didn’t have a chance to dissipate before it got down there,” Cook noted. “I saw trees just getting plowed down and it was gaining momentum. At this time, it was between 40 and 50 feet high, weaving down the canyon.”

I did not hear anything until after the mud crossed the road about half a mile north of Bower's Mansion.

[quirky3]

I grew up in the Love Canal toxic waste dump area of Niagara Falls NY (but didn't know it at the time). Just thought all rain puddles and creeks had orange slime on top.

When they hear that I lived there, some of my friends say, "That explains a lot!!" (What's wrong with glowing in the dark?)

[Bgreuter]

9/11 I was in Staten Island, my husband midtown, within minutes he was at ground zero.

[MikeV]

Hurricane Camille 1969 Biloxi Miss. Totally devastated the gulf coast.

[kwtoman]

December 1979 - Terrorist attack on U.S. Navy bus in Sabana Seca PR. 2 dead 11 injured.

[dbussone]

My sister had to driven to her job at a hospital by the National Guard during that storm!!


It took 4 days for the National Guard to clear 1 lane in each direction on Rte 128. State of emergency lasted 10 days.