Natural Disasters

***Nate*** · #1 02-03-2005, 08:09 PM

I don't know if this was reported on the news anywhere else but on Wednesday the state of Victoria got 120+ mm of rain in 24 hours so much of the region was flooded. The Yarra river broke its banks and almost washed out the casino (which could possibly be construed as an Act of God). All this despite it being the middle of summer - in fact it even snowed on the mountaintops!

I personally was caught in the middle of one of the worst traffic jams in our history as a river overflowed a freeway. Only trucks and 4WDs were allowed through. Everyone else got turned back - only problem is that there was nowhere to turn to.

It took me two hours to get out of the traffic jam and get two thirds of the way to work (that distance normally takes 40 minutes) only to find the detour road washed out also - so I turned around and went home. Only problem was I made an error of judgement about where the freeway flood was located and got on at the wrong place - it took me an hour to travel 1km so I succumbed to the dark side and drove into the emergency lane (which I hated myself for doing but it did save me another hour of waiting to get to the next exit).

So, has anyone else been caught it any sort of natural disaster?

***Alcar*** · #2 02-04-2005, 02:43 AM

Wow, I'm glad Sydney Harbour is a valley area. I wouldn't want our Luna Park ending up like Melbourne's. Looks really bad, and a real nuisance. Though I wouldn't have minded the snow

Alcar...

AquaticAmbi · #3 02-04-2005, 06:40 AM

Hmm... When I was maybe 7 years old, one day my mother and I were coming home from shopping at the mall. The weather had been horrible all day, and while we were driving it only got worse by the minute. Rain, hail, extremely strong winds, etc. Then all of a sudden the sky went black and all the cars around us slowed to a stop; a tornado was forming right in front of our eyes.

Now, I don't know how far away it was from our car because I know my memory of it must is distorted because of my age. But to my memory, the distance looked like it was only 20-30 feet.

We finally turned around and went back to the mall until the weather cleared up. I remember how I kept repeating, "Stupid tornado! It's so mean! Look at all the trees it killed!"

Biggy Bro Slig · #4 02-04-2005, 08:29 AM

I got caught in a Hurrciane (Ugghh, horrible things, I was scared.)

Abeguy · #5 02-04-2005, 08:33 AM

No, I haven't
My town of Meridian is a natural haven from such.

Not near any faults, so no earthquakes
Doesn't snow much anymore, so no snow days
to bumpy terrain, so no tornados
No floods
No Hail
No reason to fear
except our polution

nads · #6 02-04-2005, 08:59 AM

I get snowed in every winter and that's about it.

Ohh, and I was around for the perfect storm that hit right where I live.

Reptile · #7 02-04-2005, 10:13 AM

One day, I was driving with dad on an icy road, it crashed and I was impaled in my left hand, severing a nerve. My left hand is paralysed.

Godlesswanderer · #8 02-04-2005, 12:22 PM

Ouch! That must of hurt!

I've never been in any kind of natural disaster. Stuff like that never happens around where I live.

TheRaisin · #9 02-04-2005, 02:40 PM

Meridian? I don't suppose you live in Alabama, do you?

Rich · #10 02-05-2005, 04:27 AM

:

I've never been in any kind of natural disaster. Stuff like that never happens around where I live.

Same here. England has no disasters of great significance.
The only thing that springs to mind is the Dudley earthquake that occured last year or in 2003. But I slept through that so I don't know what all the fuss was about.

Languor · #11 02-05-2005, 07:42 AM

I'm just south of Tornado Valley in the U.S. (a region of the midwest-U.S. where, obviously, tornados are common) so no tornados. No earthquakes... hurricanes... snow... anything of that nature. It's pretty safe here.

***Wil*** · #12 02-05-2005, 01:33 PM

Last winter, Norwich was submerged under a couple of millimetres of snow. For some reason, people have become utter morons and decided to clog up the roads by all leaving work early, and then decided to blame the council for not gritting the roads. The council, of course, were gritting the roads, but couldn't get anywhere because of all the idiots on the roads. Though that's not really natural, nor a disaster.

The arterial road off of which I live was deserted, and in the dark and snow it was so beautiful.

TheRaisin · #13 02-06-2005, 01:28 PM

More of an artificial nuisance.

Languor, it's called Tornado Alley, for the record.

This region isn't much for disasters. The most common disaster (if you can call it that) is drought. We rely on melting snow in the mountains to provide us with water during the summer and fall. If we have a relatively snowless/iceless year (like this one, the least snowy winter I can remember, it really only lasted about three weeks then it was like spring), we're in trouble. Especially since we're an agricultural community. Hmm. I wonder who thought of putting a bunch of orchards and farms in the middle of a desert?

On the other hand, some years we have enough snow and low enough temperatures to qualify as a disaster.

In the spring a mixture of melting snow and heavy rainfall can sometimes cause our rivers to flood, washing out roads and whatnot.

***Nate*** · #14 02-06-2005, 01:47 PM

Of course the irony is that we've been in the middle of a drought for years. This added to the reservoirs quite nicely.

On my way home from work on friday I took a few pictures. This is two days after the rain so it had cleared up to a large degree but I still couldn't travel down my usual route home.

note: pics taken with a crappy 2.1MP camera that I got for free which would explain the shoddyness of the entire shebang.

Rich · #15 02-07-2005, 11:25 AM

Those pictures could pass for England...