Are You In Flo's Path?

[Julie Moriarty]

Highest death toll comparison between hurricanes and earthquakes in the contiguous US from 1900 to date:
1. 1900 Galveston hurricane - 6-12K deaths (I read the book Issac's Storm, it was pretty grisly - You could smell death approaching the city.)
2. 1906 San Francisco earthquake - 3K+ deaths
3. 2017 Hurricane Maria - 2,982
4. 1928 Okeechobee hurricane - 2,823
5. 2005 Hurricane Katrina - 1,245–1,836 (Met a lady last week who lived there then and heard another "smell of death" story.)
6. 1919 Florida Keys hurricane - 745
7. 1938 New England hurricane - 682–800
8. 1957 Hurricane Audrey - 416
9. 1935 Labor Day hurricane - 408

When it comes to cost of damage, hurricanes win that one too. But we get far more hurricanes than earthquakes here.

[Frederick Skelly]

Both quakes and hurricanes are BAD news. Good luck to all of those in the path of this beast.

(Julie, I read that book too. I can only imagine how terrifying it was for them.)

Fred

[Keith Outten]

SawMill Creek is currently in an area that is under mandatory evacuation.

I will make an announcement sometime tonight concerning what may be an extended shutdown.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Be safe Keith! You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers.

[Dave Cav]

Living with the possibility of an earthquake is nothing when compared to living with the likelihood of hurricanes. It is not my cup of tea.

jtk

Both of which were factors in my moving away from Houston, and later, Puget Sound. Plus the volcanoes, of course.

[Howard Garner]

I road out hurricane Hugo in the Charleston SC area. The eye went directly over my house. 20 minutes of relative quiet. NEVER AGAIN. Once was enough.
If you are in the area, please follow the evacuation orders.

Howard Garner

[Jim Koepke]

Both of which were factors in my moving away from Houston, and later, Puget Sound. Plus the volcanoes, of course.

By the luck of a few minutes my life was spared during the Loma Prieta Earthquake. Around the area it was often referred to as the "pretty big one" as opposed to the big one.

As far as volcanoes go, every time the view is clear when we go to town we see Mt St. Helens about 60 miles to the east. It reminds us of the geological disruptions in the area where we live. Most of the volcanoes along the west coast are sitting dormant. They usually give some warning before major activity.

In my 55+ years in the San Francisco area there were many earthquakes. Many were noticed, many passed without much more than thinking a big truck just went by.

Surely there have been years without major storms wiping out parts of the east coast. In my lifetime only three earthquakes come to mind along the west coast with major impacts, Northridge, Loma Prieta and Alaska's Good Friday earthquake of 1964. The effects of the Alaska quake caused minor damage to boats as far away as Los Angeles. In Freeport, TX tide gauges recorded waves similar to seismic surface waves.

The Alaska earthquake caused the most wide ranging damage. It was also at the time the second most powerful earthquake ever recorded. 600 miles of the fault ruptured and moved as much as 60 feet.

The Loma Prieta caused a lot of devastation, fortunately the loss of life was not as high as first thought. There is still a newspaper from the day after stashed in one of my drawers. A big difference after an earthquake is the only worries about flooding are in the coastal areas. Most people know this and will head for high ground after a big shaker.

An interesting oddity with the Loma Prieta quake is the SF Giants and the Oakland Athletics were scheduled to play the third of their World Series games. A lot of people were at home waiting to watch the game. The double deck freeway that collapsed was carrying very light traffic at a time when it would have normally been packed. My knowledge of the traffic is from having been on that section of freeway just a minute or two before the quake hit. This ended up being the longest delay between World Series Games. The previous holder of that record was the World Series in 1911 between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Athletics.

The Northridge was also devastating. It was over 400 miles from my location so there wasn't any first hand experience.

jtk

[Scott Donley]

The 2001 Nisqually earthquake occurred at 10:54:32 local time on February 28, 2001. The intraslab earthquake had a moment magnitude of 6.8 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII
The quake injured around 400 people and was rated at a magnitude 6.8 for the amount of energy it released. Nobody died as a direct result of failing bricks or debris. A heart attack victim was the only fatality associated with the quake. Damage estimates were placed at several billion dollars.

[Lee DeRaud]

The Northridge was also devastating. It was over 400 miles from my location so there wasn't any first hand experience.

It definitely got my attention, as it lit off about 10 seconds after I hit the snooze button on the alarm. It's also the only earthquake I ever came close to getting injured: the shaking had more or less stopped and I was walking around the foot of the bed and got cut off at the knees by a 34-lb Corgi at full speed heading for his "safe space".

(Loma Prieta could have been a lot worse for me personally: we were vacationing in Santa Cruz the week before.)

[Lee DeRaud]

Both of which were factors in my moving away from Houston, and later, Puget Sound. Plus the volcanoes, of course.

So...how far are you from the Yellowstone caldera?

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Please evacuate if you are in the path. The reason is not just for your safety, but also so that work crews can do their jobs after the storms, and so that rescue crews don't have to risk their lives saving your butt. We are on an island, so there was not an option to evacuate.

PLEASE READ THIS- I have been through two cat 5 hurricanes. I can tell you that if you are in a stick framed house, you are doomed. Get out. Do not try to ride it out. I live in a solid stone and concrete house with solid walls 18" thick- even thicker in the downstairs. My whole house shook. My neighbor's home is built the same and his windows blew IN- into the house- frame, bricks, and all. I saw concrete buildings leveled. Please don't try to ride this out. There is a huge difference in this size of storm. I have ridden out many storms and believe me there is a VERY big difference between a 3, a 4, and a 5. 20, 30, or 40 MPH is a lot more wind. It makes a big difference. Even if your house is a fortress, what happens when your neighbor's house smashes into it, or a tree crashes on top of it? That happened here. I saw homes literally taken off their foundations. One concrete church was blown to pieces. 90% of all power lines were down. Most poles were down. Our homes are built to withstand this kind of thing. We get hurricanes all the time and it's like a blizzard for you guys up north- the schools close for a few days, and we recover. This is different. I am telling you, with a Cat 4 or 5 a stick framed house is going to be pulverized.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Both I-26 and US 501 were reversed today to allow both sides to be used for evacuation. Only outbound traffic, no inbound traffic. UNC Wilmington has MANDATORY evacuation for all students in dorms. Not sure where some of them are going to stay. Currently, storm track has shifted south of us, into the SC / NC border area. Flooding may effect folks as far as Asheville. Many areas east of I-95 in both NC, and SC are only a few feet above sea level, so flooding from storm surge alone could come in as much as 100 miles, plus some areas are expected to get as much as 40" of rain.

[Julie Moriarty]

Just watched Tropical Tidbits on YouTube - definitely the best explanation of storms - looks like Flo is going to stall at the coast and maybe drift west or even possible a bit south.

Isaac is being hit by wind shear, keeping it from forming a hurricane for now.

[Dave Cav]

So...how far are you from the Yellowstone caldera?

Probably not far enough, but no place is perfect. I'm a lot less worried about Yellowstone than I was about hurricanes, large subduction earthquakes and lahars. I rode out the Nisqually earthquake in Everett at the Port on an area of fill and it wasn't much fun.

[Julie Moriarty]

Looks like Tropical Tidbits got it right. This morning it seems most forecasting has the storm possibly stalling right at the coast then heading west or even south. Tropical storm warnings now go down the Charleston, NC.