What's Your Disaster?

[Weird Harold]

Shereads' comment about stocking up before a hurricane and myresponse about survival supplies not being a high priority for me prompted this thought:

What natural disaster is most likely to affect you and how well prepared are you for it?

Here in the Las Vegas valley, the most probable disaster is flooding, believe it or not. However, since I don't live in an area where I'm directly threatened or likely to be threatend by the direct effect of flooding, my preparedness is mostly to sit tight until the flooding is over and my normal shop-ahead and buy in bulk is sufficient to cover that eventuality.

The second mostl likely disaster is a "major" earthquake -- nothing approaching what California would consider a "Big One," but our building codes aren't as strict about earthquake resistance.

The Las Vegas Valley is laced with fault lines that have been quiet for a very long time so if there ever is an earthquake in this area, it is likely to be big and unexpected.

Las Vegas doesn't have an evacuation plan because the only thing that is likely happen that would require and evacutation is an Earthquake that destroyed the water supply and that would be a post-disaster kind of evacuation that wouldn't be time critical -- people would have time to pack and make other arrangments before leaving.

From the threats I can foresee, I'm well prepared except for an extended reserve water supply without needing to do anythng specifically for disaster preparedness.

Every place where humans live has some potential for a major disaster, so what's yours and how well would you be able to survive if it happened right now?

A secondary question is what are you doing to improve your chances if your disaster holds off for a week, month or year.

 

[minsue]

The only thing that comes to mind on that scale would be if something happened at/to Palo Verde. The largest nuclear power plant in the country is right outside Phoenix, something that's always made me a wee bit uncomfortable especially since 9/11.

As for any kind of natural disaster, we have flash floods and during the monsoon there's always buildings damaged from microbursts, but both are always very localized. Earthquakes have happened, as have tornados, but they're very rare. I don't think many people here are at all prepared for any kind of natural disaster. We just don't really have them. (Unless you count summer as a whole, which I could certainly see fitting into that category. )

 

[dr_mabeuse]

We don't get much in Chicago. Snow and cold are about the main problems, and while snow storms can be a big nuisance, they rarely cause major property damage. The roads are usually passable within 24 hours.

Worst snowstorm I was ever in was in 1979. The snow was piled so high along the curbs that you had to bend down to put money in the parking meter. Everyone had to shovel their own cars out from under the snow, and once they'd cleared a parking spot on the street, they'd claim possession by marking the space with old chairs and boxes. Someone who parked in someone else's spot might find their windshield broken when they came back, and I think someone was shot and killed over a parking space.

Not exactly wide-spread looting, but the same general idea.

Cold can be a bitch, but we're all pretty tough here. I remember one savagely cold day when it was something like 20 below zero, going out and walking a mile to a bar just to see what it was like. You could almost hear wolves in the streets.

Coldest day we ever had was 27 degrees below, back in '85.

 

[impressive]

Every place where humans live has some potential for a major disaster, so what's yours and how well would you be able to survive if it happened right now?

A secondary question is what are you doing to improve your chances if your disaster holds off for a week, month or year.

Good questions.

Tornados pass over here ... but very rarely touch down because of the mountains.

Earthquakes are a possibility ... but remote.

We are prepared, mainly, for an extended power outage -- with backup generator (alternatively fueled), supplies of water and canned foods, water purification options, medical and 1st Aid supplies.

We are not prepared for any eventuality in which we'd have to leave our home. Doing so with a child who uses a wheelchair would be a nightmare, so we've concentrated on the "hunker down" preparation option.

 

[SummerMorning]

Earthquakes, hail, drought, flash floods, landslides... but the buildings here are pretty tough so it'd have to be a real doozy of an earthquake to do much - the once every thirty years kind. Worst 'flooding' we had was the sewer backing up onto our lawn.

 

[OhMissScarlett]

We got your earthquakes, floods and tornadoes right here. I try to be prepared with lots of bottled water, canned food, pornographic reading material and batteries just in case. We live pretty close to an oil refinery, the railroad and some ammunition manufacturing plants, so accidents or sabotage are always a possibility. We have an emergency credit card and some cash stashed if we need to leave.

When I was a kid, I saw that movie Red Dawn, where Russians invade America and it freaked me the hell out. I think since then, I've always had some sort of escape/survival stratergy brewing. Though now I'm sure Russia has enough problems of their own and no desire to invade anytime soon. LOL.

 

[The_Darkness]

Tornados. Not a big threat this time of year, but possible.

You really can't prepare for a tornado. We get weak ones around here. The big thing to know is where the nearest hardened (and preferably burried) shelter is. Have some food and water and a good flash light.

I think we've gotten some F3's around here...mostly just F2's and the occassional F1.

We get some freaky hail everyonce in a while too....like last week. Hailed like hell for a very small area, stripped the crops, destroyed some buildings. Best thing to do is have insurance.

 

[LadyJeanne]

This here is earthquake country. The theory is my place is built on bedrock, so probably won't have too much damage, but who knows how big the big one will be?

I've have some supplies stocked up, as do my friends to share. And I live on a street well-served by delis and coffee shops, so I can easily walk outside my door and loot some extra beverages and food.

If the quake turns out to be a long-term disaster, it's not a big deal. I just rent here, and have always viewed the place as a temporary home. I'd head back to Chicago to stay with family and/or friends until I got a place of my own.

My kitty cat, financial records, computer and pictures are all I'd really care about, and those are easily portable.

 

[Dar~]

Tornados seem to be the storm DuJour around here. and like Darkness said, very rare this time of year but we've had two this summer. Scary. In alaska the biggee was the three foot deep snow. Schools closed roads were impassable I was trapped in my house for over a week b/c the base has to clear the flight line first. Meh, I grew up with that. In montana, we had floods, aftershock earthquakes and tornados. The big concern in my home town was flooding and electric outages, b/c we have four Hydroelectric damns. they actually called Great Fallls the Electric City.

 

[Guest]

 

[TheEarl]

Nothing. My area of the country is far enough from the sea and high enough to survive anything but cataclismic tsunami in the Atlantic making it across, we're not on a fault line, we're not London and don't house any major politicians, politically significant landmarks or army units and thus is safe from terrorism.

That's quite interesting to think about actually. The only thing I can think of is fallout from a nuclear bomb in London or a 'nearby' (about 50 miles) naval base and even that would depend on the wind direction and speed. No wonder house prices are an atrocity here.

The Earl

 

[tolyk]

Blizzards are the most probable natural disaster around here. We are well stocked with canned goods, and keep a shovel inside to be able to dig our ways out through a window if needed. However, if a serious blizzard happened in this area, it would probably knock out our power, we have laterns and a propane camping stove that we also keep inside in case of that. If it was that serious, it would probably cover most of the house, so would help keep the warmth in, otherwise the camping stove would help.

Prepared enough I think..

 

[iztheo]

Blizzards are the most probable natural disaster around here. We are well stocked with canned goods, and keep a shovel inside to be able to dig our ways out through a window if needed.

Wow, you must be pretty far north to have to keep a shovel inside ... I'll have to remember to not whine about shovelling the driveway this winter.

The worse we had to deal with was the ice storm that hit about 8 years ago. I was lucky enough to live in a building that was next to a convalescent hospital, so we were in a priority area and didn't lose power for too long. Some of the people I worked with didn't have power or land line phones for up to 6 weeks.

Right now, the house we live in has an independant gas fireplace and the barbque is hooked up to the natural gas lines ... so we would be able to stay warm and do some basic cooking. Best of all the neighbours across the street have a generator (which they used to make coffee for their immediate neighbours on the morning of the Eastern Seabord blackout ... I love my neighbours)

 

[Wildcard Ky]

Tornadoes here. No real stockpile of stuff, just an area in the basement to go to. Damage from tornadoes is usually confined to a small area. If my house were to be flattened by a tornado, houses less than a mile away would be undamaged. There's no real need to stockpile food/water etc.

We occasionally get heavy snow, but I've never been in a snow that my truck won't go through.

In the event of global nuclear war, I live maybe 15 miles from Ft. Knox. Me and any supplies that I have will be vaporized in the first strike.

 

[tolyk]

Wow, you must be pretty far north to have to keep a shovel inside ... I'll have to remember to not whine about shovelling the driveway this winter.

Naw, I'm not very far north.. just a preperation as I used to live more northern... it's just something I'm used too. Actually live not far from Ottawa, which is rather southern, as far as Canada goes.

 

[iztheo]

Naw, I'm not very far north.. just a preperation as I used to live more northern... it's just something I'm used too. Actually live not far from Ottawa, which is rather southern, as far as Canada goes.

Perfect ... you and I can bitch about shovelling together.

 

[tolyk]

Perfect ... you and I can bitch about shovelling together.

Naw, not really.. finally broke down and bought a snowblower last year..

 

[iztheo]

Naw, not really.. finally broke down and bought a snowblower last year..

Feel free to drop by anytime we get more than 10 cm ....

 

[BlackShanglan]

Sometimes it's less the severity of the event than the preparedness of the community. The worst trouble I've ever seen from a winter storm was in Charleston, South Carolina. The storm wasn't that bad by the standards I'd grown up with in the north, but it was hitting a town with no snowplows and with insulation, plumbing, and electrical cabling based on the theory that a foot and a half of snow would not occur. We were without water for several days, but mercifully the power held out. Nothing compared to the aftermath of Hugo, of course, in terms of how long we were without basic supplies - but possibly more life-threatening if the power (and heating) went.

Here, it's mostly tornados and flash flooding. We have a house emergency plan that include the animals and we know where to head. I might point out, as well, that no one is immune from personal disaster. Everyone should have a plan for fires, and that should include a secondary exit route in case the main exit is blocked. We try to keep leashes and cat carriers somewhere near the two primary exits so that the pets can be rescued from either side of the house. It's also worth considering what to do if a fire begins in or reaches your garage, depriving you of the cars you might have been counting on to help effect your escape.

Shanglan

 

[Weird Harold]

The only thing that comes to mind on that scale would be if something happened at/to Palo Verde. The largest nuclear power plant in the country is right outside Phoenix, something that's always made me a wee bit uncomfortable especially since 9/11.

As for any kind of natural disaster, we have flash floods and during the monsoon there's always buildings damaged from microbursts, but both are always very localized.

I was stationed at Luke AFB in 1973 for the "200 year flood" that wiped out a bridge designed for a hundred year flood about six weeks after it opened.

Have you ever seen the Black Canyon Freeway full of water to the overpasses? Most of the "Valley of the Sun" was the "Lake of the Sun" for about a week.

Earthquakes, hail, drought, flash floods, landslides... but the buildings here are pretty tough so it'd have to be a real doozy of an earthquake to do much - the once every thirty years kind. Worst 'flooding' we had was the sewer backing up onto our lawn.

I was really thinking more in terms of a "300 year" event like Katrina -- the absolute worst thing that could happen to your community/area.

When I was a kid, I saw that movie Red Dawn, where Russians invade America and it freaked me the hell out. I think since then, I've always had some sort of escape/survival stratergy brewing.

I grew up in the time of "Duck and Cover drills" and "home fallout shelters." The habit of keeping the larer stocked for thirty days without re-supply comes from that Mindset; I've just change the wworst possible threat from "Those Commie Bastards" to "Mother Nature."

Tornados. Not a big threat this time of year, but possible.

You really can't prepare for a tornado. We get weak ones around here. The big thing to know is where the nearest hardened (and preferably burried) shelter is. Have some food and water and a good flash light.

I think we've gotten some F3's around here...mostly just F2's and the occassional F1.

You know, you sound earily like some of the comments made by the people who participated in New Orleans hurricane excercises like last year's "Hurricane Pam."

The thing that stuck in my mind from a 2000 article on the "Hurricane Zebra" excercise: "A storm like the one in the excercise is extremly unlikely, so I think we're well prepared for anythingwe're likely to face."

In spite of the way I worded the original question about what if it happened today, I was thinking more in terms of "what is the worst that could happen to your city at the time it is most at risk and are you ready to survive it?"

I doubt that any of the Northern area are at much risk from a blizzard in the next week or so, but how they prepare for the possibility of long periods without heat or power when blizzards are likely is what I was asking about.

Has Katrina changed anyone's thoughts about how the losing surrounding infrastructure would affect your survival plans?

It hasn't changed mine much because most of the threat in my case has always been to the surrounding infrastructure and isolation if it's compromised. It would take a serious flood to threaten my apartment complex directly, but the main street at the only access into and out of the complex is sometime impassible because of high water even during a normal monsoon season storm.

 

[minsue]

I was stationed at Luke AFB in 1973 for the "200 year flood" that wiped out a bridge designed for a hundred year flood about six weeks after it opened.

Have you ever seen the Black Canyon Freeway full of water to the overpasses? Most of the "Valley of the Sun" was the "Lake of the Sun" for about a week.

I wasn't there for that one, but I recall when the bridge over the Salt River was taken out by a flood and seeing the bridge that had been built before that one (which was taken out of commission decades ago for not being safe to drive on anymore) still standing. I kind of miss the way Tempe would be cut off from the rest of the valley whenever the Salt would come up over the bridge during a flood. *sigh* It just doesn't happen like that anymore. Damn dams.

I'm uphill from the Green Belt, an ingenious system of parks and golf courses that double as a large wash with all the nearby streets angling the water down to it. The valley may flood, but my worry would be more about not having access to other areas and facilities that had flooded than about my home itself being part of it.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Has Katrina changed anyone's thoughts about how the losing surrounding infrastructure would affect your survival plans?

I think the main thing it's made me aware of is the need for water. We generally have enough dry food and canned goods in the home to survive for a week, but I realized from Katrina how fragile the roads and bridges can really be, and how difficult it might become to get fresh water. That's something I plan to address by stocking some in, just in case.

Shanglan

 

[Liar]

Got nothing even remotely dangerous to worry about here.

Except maybe trees. There is dense pine and birch forest in every direction from where I live. A dry summer and a spark at the wrong place would suck.

 

[ElizabethWest]

Tornadoes here. No real stockpile of stuff, just an area in the basement to go to. Damage from tornadoes is usually confined to a small area. If my house were to be flattened by a tornado, houses less than a mile away would be undamaged. There's no real need to stockpile food/water etc.

We occasionally get heavy snow, but I've never been in a snow that my truck won't go through.

In the event of global nuclear war, I live maybe 15 miles from Ft. Knox. Me and any supplies that I have will be vaporized in the first strike.

Ditto.

(I live just down the road. )

 

[Weird Harold]

I wasn't there for that one, but I recall when the bridge over the Salt River was taken out by a flood and seeing the bridge that had been built before that one (which was taken out of commission decades ago for not being safe to drive on anymore) still standing. I kind of miss the way Tempe would be cut off from the rest of the valley whenever the Salt would come up over the bridge during a flood. *sigh* It just doesn't happen like that anymore. Damn dams.

The Bridge that washed out just weeks after it's much hyped opening was over the Agua Fria river out Near Luke AFB -- on Indian School Road, IIRC

I'm uphill from the Green Belt, an ingenious system of parks and golf courses that double as a large wash with all the nearby streets angling the water down to it. The valley may flood, but my worry would be more about not having access to other areas and facilities that had flooded than about my home itself being part of it.

That not being able to "get there from here" is what caused most of the problems in 1973. There were actually very few neighborhoods destroyed, but hundreds of neighborhoods cut off with no power or water and no way to resupply any of them for about three days and a dozen or so that stayed cut off for about a week with only helicopter contact with the rest of the valley.

I think the Green Belt is probably there because of the problems encountered in 73.

People bitch about the amount of money Cark County spends on flood control projects, but it's mostly new people who have never had to deal with the problems even the incomplete flood control project have cured -- like the infamous "Charelston Underpass," which used to flood any time it rained anwhere in the valley; or sometimes "if the humidity just got too high" (as the standing complaint about it went.)

Still, while the County is doing a great deal to manage the problem, I also see new construction going up in areas that routinely flooded just ten years ago because people think the flood control project will protect those areas from ALL flooding instead of the most common level of flooding. If mother nature decides to treat the Las Vegas Vally like it did the Valey of the Sun in 1973, they'll be astonished at how faliure of the flood control project makes the flooding the most destructive in the areas it protected best from lesser storms.

Some of the most destructive flooding in American History has been the result of dams and levees failing -- including the current problem in New Orleans -- in part because the dams or levees make people feel safe and don't plan ahead for failures.