Before this week, I would have said that we don't have large threats from natural disasters. HOWEVER, this past Tuesday, we experienced the first significant earthquake of my lifetime, and we are now being pounded by Hurricane Irene (which is rare also).

Wv seems to be blessed with the absence of all of these disasters. We,ve had an occasional tornado many years ago, no hurricanes, localized fires when it gets very dry, local flooding, but all in all, no major issues, which is good!

Here in Arizona it is the threat of fire. This summer Arizona had the biggest fire ever right here where I live. It was touch and go for a couple of weeks with high winds and no rain in sight. Many thousands of acres were burned but thankfully there was no loss of life. Now the area outside of town that was hit the worse faces damage from floods since there is no longer trees and shrubs on the mountains to hold the soil in place.

When I lived in coastal SC, we worried about hurricanes annually. But here in Alabama, it's the threat of tornadoes AND hurricanes.

Here in western WA, flooding is a problem every few years.

We get an occasional earthquake, but flooding is the main thing.

Alabama has been not so blessed, due tornadoes.

Biggie close to me was the F-5 tornado in April.

Still people are reeling from that diasaster.

My health club has boxes that are kept filled to help disaster victims.

Tornados do a lot of damage in Oklahoma. Then over the winter when there is so much dry vegetation its wild fires, which we have a serious problem with this summer, because of the drought we are in.

Moni

Tornadoes are probably the biggest threat to the area I live in, but other areas in Missouri are along the Mississippi or Missouri rivers and are prone to flooding. We also live near one of the biggest fault lines in the US - the New Madrid Fault. We've never had anything more than a small tremor that I recall though... but the 'big one' could happen in my lifetime.

Earthquakes here in Central California, and flooding in the winter storms.

Don't forget the man-made disasters... like the propane train tank car explosion last week that evacuated 5000 homes in Lincoln, CA, or the natural gas pipeline explosion that destroyed more than 30 homes and a lot of deaths in San Bruno, CA, in September 2010. It can happen where you live, too.

Until this week I thought I lived in an area with few natural disasters but an earthquake on Tuesday and now I'm in the middle of a hurricane with wind gusts, so I guess not.

Here in northern VA the school where I taught was hit on the roof by a tornado, we have plenty of hurricanes and I'm on the FEMA emergency response team for those and now we have had an earthquake. Fire departments are busy all the time and they are wonderful and need a ton more money so they can actually live in this town.Now if I won the lottery - the big one I would give them lots of money.

hurricanes
lightning-I read lightning kills more people each year then hurricanes. Central FL is the lightning capital of the US

less known dangers, but not disasters
riptides
sink holes

Here in my area of Georgia, a tornado is our biggest worry, although we've been fortunate that they've gone around us every time. A hail storm did the most damage around here.

In Massachusetts it's hurricanes like the one we are having right now. Blizzards and northeasters can be a problem too causing flooding and power outages.

Tornados, floods, blizzards

California has earthquakes, wild fires, mudslides and sometimes, tsunamis.....and riots.

Tornadoes, floods, ice storms and blizzards in Iowa. We have crappy weather but wonderful people.

Here in southeastern Minnesota it would be tornadoes, blizzards, and Iowan drivers!

Just kidding, Linda.

Ron

Here in Johnstown we have had 3 major floods, and we face ice/blizzard conditions every few years it seems. But at least we can somewhat prepare and protect ourselves from those. They aren't as frightening as the tornadoes and hurricanes.

Ours probably would be lightening. Windsor gets more lightening strikes than anywhere else in Canada. I don't know if I would call it a natural disaster though. I think most of us around here are more worried about the Fermi Nuclear plant in Michigan or the pollution that comes from Michigan. We are also a hotbed for cancer.

Anne

Here is a link that might be useful: Windsor Lightening

North Dakota, blizzards/white outs winter tornados any time/now flooding. Yes even an earthquake.==oh yes straight line winds.

Our natural disasters (in Wisc)

1. A few tornadoes. The destructive path tends to be narrow.

2. Wind fronts (downbursts)

3. Lightening strikes. In my county, there are 2 to 5 house strikes per year resulting in damage or fire.

4. An occasional blizzard, Happens maybe once every 5 years.

5. Tripple snowstorms. Three big snows within 8 days can be hazardeous. Happens rarely, but can overload roofs and generally slow down commerce.

6. Cold snaps. Really severe ones that go to temperatures lower than -20 F for more than one day is rough to deal with in case of equipment failure either with the auto or home heating system. Temps this cold happen maybe once in 30 years.

There is a town in Pennsylvania that has been on fire for almost 40 YEARS!
http://www.offroaders.com/album/centralia/centralia.htm

Heavy snows that down electrical lines are our most frequent problem. Living near Lake Michigan is usually beneficial. Most storms, including tornados, veer off. The location works agains us in winter. The NE winds that cool us in summer bring us an extra helping of 'lake effect' snow.

lydia1959 -- How do you pronounce New Madrid? Is it 'Nu MAH-dred'? It's not pronounced like the Spanish city it's named for, right?

Snow. Then again, we had an earthquake last Tuesday and Hurricane Irene yesterday.