There must be some areas of the US not subject to natural disasters.

At least, very infrequently.

But where?

OK, rule out all coastal areas.

Tornado Alley.

Places on a fault line.

Places in a flood zone.

Any others?

global warming.

than other natural disasters. But you do have a point that this "Why do you live where there's natural disasters" canard is a bit disingenuous.

No one can predict (if indedd we are near a tipping point to a major, realtively short-duration whoelsale climate shift) what the new equilibirum will be. For all we know the Sahar will bloom and the American Midwest may become desertified in a century.

It is the flux away from previous (relative) climatological stability, that is the danger here.

Nowhere safe from that, I think. Sorry to be a bummer.

there may be 100 square miles in Tennessee that might be ok......

- No coast (protected by Long Island)
- No Fault lines (no major ones anyway)
- No major flood plains/rivers
- No significant tornado history (a few over the last couple of hundred years, all very tiny ones)
- By the time Hurricanes get here, they are just rainy days.
- NorEasters are very very rare, but no where near as damaging as full tropical hurricanes.

in connecticut? What is the water table like there and the source of the drinking water? How far is it above sea level on the average? All important questions to me if I decided to live there.

Tons and tons and tons of people in CT have well water, not city water.

Growing up, our basement (and everyone elses) had sump-pumps sunk 2-3 feet into the floor to pump out water from the rising water table during exceptionally heavy rains.

Hope that helps.

By water table I take it you mean why the basements flood when it rains and the sump pump drown out?

Much of the state is hilly, and above sea level by at least 50 feet (if not more)

Coastal waters are cool, which prevent very damaging hurricanes.

Live in Pittsburgh, up out of the flood plain, and you're golden.

Hurricanes hit us as lots of rain which cause some low level flooding, but as long as you don't live down in the flood plain you're fine.

Tornados are extremely rare, generally skip off hillsides, and when they do strike they're minor, and fleeting; usually just doing external damage with no injuries.

It's wet enough here that we dont' have major forest fires, at least that I can ever recall.

No Earthquakes either.

What else is there? We're pretty safe here.

Your house falls into a giant sinkhole and disappears, don't go looking for help from FEMA!

And don't think that you're going to get any sympathy from GD residents...after all, you were dumb enough to build in Pittsburgh, where every moron KNOWS they have mine subsidence! Sheesh!

Hurricanes and tornados come through occasionally, but aren't that strong by the time they get here.
Had a big hail storm a few years ago and the occasional minor flooding

We get some blizzards in the winter, but it is very rare to get a tornado or hurricane or flooding. We don't get fires, either since it tends to be pretty moist. And, (I hate to say this, but it is what the forecasters says), compliments of global warming, it is projected to have longer falls & earlier springs with better growing conditions (a very temporary state of about 50 to 100 years before it hits the fan here, but assuming most of us will be dead by then, it looks in our lifetimes a good place to live)....

We aren't on a fault line, (edit again), apparently we do have a fault line but it is highly inactive.

It is beautiful. I invite my fellow DU'ers up to Western MA where I live, Berkshires are GORGEOUS! Plus, if you are gay, you can get married here!

Edit: I went to the Slate article & now I have proof. Massachusetts is No. 2. Conneticut No. 1.

Of the 18 states, only three had a fatality rate lower than 0.01 per thousand for the last decade: Connecticut (0.00587 per thousand), Massachusetts (0.00299), and Rhode Island (0.00286). These figures are somewhat surprising, given that all three of these New England states have ample coastlines and are thus susceptible to fierce storms. But they are also more immune to hurricanes than their southerly counterparts, virtually free of tornadoes, and blessed with relatively cool summers and winters that, although cold, aren't quite North Dakota cold. They're also affluent—all three boast family median incomes above the national average—and, as Hurricane Katrina reminded us, socioeconomics matter when it comes to preserving life during natural disasters.

From disasters.... hurricanes!

There have been many...we're just in a lull.

Don't you remember all the flooding last June of 2006?

Don't kid yourself into a false sense of security.

Berkshire County Tornadoes

http://www.tornadoproject.com/alltorns/matorn.htm

Date-----------Categorey
JLY 12, 1955 - F2
SEP 07, 1958 - F0
OCT 03, 1963 - F1
MAR 01, 1966 - F2
AUG 11, 1966 - F2
JUN 18, 1970 - F1
AUG 28, 1973 - F4 - 4 Killed - 36 injured
JLY 13, 1975 - F2
JLY 27, 1978 - F0
JLY 11, 1984 - F1
MAY 29, 1995 - F3 - 3 killed -24 injured


Massachusetts Disaster History

http://www.fema.gov/news/disasters_state.fema?id=25

Major Disaster Declarations

2007 05/16 Severe Storms and Inland and Coastal Flooding - active disaster
2006 05/25 Severe Storms and Flooding - not active disaster
2005 11/10 Severe Storms and Flooding - not active disaster
2004 04/21 Flooding - not active disaster
2001 04/10 Severe Storms & Flooding - not active disaster
1998 06/23 Heavy Rain And Flooding - not active disaster
1996 10/25 Severe Storms/Flooding - not active disaster
1996 01/24 Blizzard - not active disaster
1992 12/21 Winter Coastal Storm - not active disaster
1991 11/04 Severe Coastal Storm - not active disaster
1991 08/26 Hurricane Bob - not active disaster
1987 04/18 SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING - not active disaster
1985 10/28 HURRICANE GLORIA - not active disaster
1981 12/03 Urban Fire - not active disaster
1978 02/10 Coastal Storms, Flood, Ice, Snow - not active disaster
1973 10/16 Fire (City of Chelsea) - not active disaster
1972 09/28 TOXIC ALGAE IN COASTAL WATERS - not active disaster
1972 03/06 SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING - not active disaster
1955 08/20 HURRICANE, FLOODS - not active disaster
1954 09/02 HURRICANES - not active disaster
1953 06/11 TORNADO



---------------------------------

Hurricane Carol - August 31, 1954.

http://www.geocities.com/hurricanene/hurricanecarol.htm

( Hurricane Carol greeted me into the world!! :party: )


The frightening intensity of Hurricane Carol's storm surge in Rhode Island
is captured in this photograph of Westerly, Rhode Island.

Hurricane Carol is the most destructive tropical cyclone to hit
the northeast Atlantic states since the 1938 hurricane


Carol was more damaging to southeastern Massachusetts than the 1938 hurricane.

After roaring across Long Island and through southeastern Connecticut, Rhode Island,
and the Cape Cod area- Hurricane Carol was still not through. Racing northward,
almost 100-miles inland, the Boston area was hit worse than in 1938. Trees, traffic
lights, and even the steeple of the Old North Church, crashed into the streets. An
estimated 500,000 people in the Boston area lost power during Carol. Although most
tropical cyclones lose their intensity when they reach this far north - Carol, produced
hurricane force gusts into New England. In Concord, New Hampshire, city hall recorded
gusts to 70-mph. Even as far north as Maine, the storm still had hurricane force gusts:
the Augusta State Airport reported an 80-mph peak gust as the weakening tropical storm
passed through. Carol finally died over the cool forests of Canada on September 1st.


In howling winds and a dark sky near 12 noon -
the two-hundred- foot, 148-year old steeple of
the Old North Church crashes into the streets
of Boston during Hurricane Carol in 1954.
The steeple had stood since 1806.

Hurricane Carol killed 66 people, injured several thousand, and left many locations in
Connecticut, Rhode Island, and southeastern Massachusetts in shambles. Although tragic,
the death toll was still far less than the 688 killed in the 38 cyclone. The storm
also left several hundred homeless in southern Rhode Island, and was a major economic blow
to the Rhode Island and Connecticut beach tourist industry. Downtown Providence, Rhode Island,
for the second time in less the 20-years - had suffered a severe storm surge from a tropical cyclone.
The Federal Government and the State of Rhode Island decided that something needed to be done
to protect the capital city of Providence from hurricane storm surge flooding. A few years later
the Providence Hurricane Barrier was constructed to protect the city from tidal flooding.

Although the total number of buildings damaged by Hurricane Carol was less than in the 38 storm,
property values had increased greatly. Carol had produced destruction from Long Island to Canada;
however, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and southeastern Massachusetts suffered the greatest destruction.
Carol was the most expensive hurricane to ever strike the United States up to that date (1954).
Losses were nearly $500 million.($6.4 billion in 2004 dollars).

We have the odd tornado in the spring, but only in a certain areas--I could name you the usual counties. Our winter weather has not been severe for quite a few years now. Every year the lakes freeze over at a later date; last year it was sometime in January I believe. In the spring some areas have limited flooding if we get a lot of rain. Just don't buy a house that's in a flood plain. We don't have forest fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, droughts, or tsunamis though. The most liberal progressive areas are the Madison area and west of there, around Spring Green and the Kickapoo River valley. :)

In between ... there's always meteors.

"Indiana: 2 Billion Years Tidal Wave Free"

We do have a major fault line, but it is not very active. Hurricanes mostly dissipate by the time they get up here. Catastrophic climate change will take the lower elevation seacoast, but we will manage to survive that. Tornados very rare.

that depends on where the disaster is! ;)

We just had severe flooding in '06 & '07!!

We had floods, unusual for our area, but hardly severe compared to major flooding events in this country and around the world. We do not have risks here on the order of what just happened in California, or what happened in New Orleans, or what happened with the Great Christmas Tsunami. That was the point.

Safest place to live in the US: Honolulu, Hawaii

Safest in the continental US: Boise City, Idaho

Least safe: Monroe, La.

http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/2005/08/30/safestplaces-insurance-realestate-cx_sc_0830home_ls.html

It's pretty safe here in West Virginia. There are few tornadoes and they, as well as other strong winds, are deflected by our hills. No earthquakes. No hurricanes. No brush fires. We sometimes have forest fires but they usually amount to just as slow burning of the leaf litter, with no danger to people or structures.

Some years are drier than others but it's hard to imagine a scenario where we would be in danger of running out of water.

Edit: I forgot floods until I saw that mentioned upthread. We do have them, that's for sure. But the thing is, you don't build on a flood plain. I live up on a hillside overlooking a small river.

I would have figured that there was a risk of tsunamis there.

In the article I linked they explained their thought process:



Looks like they put a lot of emphasis on historical data, but I don't think they should have discounted the potential danger of hurricanes, tsunamis, and volcanoes in the future.

why hurricanes don't get to the them that otten

The City and County of Honolulu covers the entire island of O'ahu. Right now, a number of forest reserves on the island's west side are closed due to fire risk. We also just passed the one-year anniversary of the Kona earthquake (island-wide blackout all day up here).

Then there are hurricanes; 'Iniki in 1992 swerved away from us at the last moment, striking Kaua'i instead -- on Sept. 11!

Every now and then a hillside home succumbs to a mudslide. There was even an incident a few years ago in which a massive boulder tore loose from a hillside and plowed right into a house, killing a young woman.

Tsunami? Heck yeah. I once saw a grove of ironwood trees (as the name implies, extremely hard wood) that were growing bent, like walking sticks. Turns out they were bent that way by the tsunami of 1960.

So if this is the safest place in the country, the rest of you ought to be :scared: :scared: :scared: !!

...whether by sea or air.

My best guess is that the lens of fresh water is going fast. Any breakdown (i.e. strikes) in shipping brings hardship, and if gods forbid there were an actual collapse of shipping by sea and air, then whoever lives there will be in deep trouble.

Nearly every other place in the US you have the option of walking out or driving out if you need to, but not Hawaii. 3,000 miles is a long way to swim.

My point is that the Hawaiian Islands are very vulnerable to man-made disasters, much more so than to natural disasters.

Hekate

Stay away, people.

of the most catastophe benign. He did mention our occassional floods, but overall a very quiet place.

we have plenty of good water.

we have ample wood if oil sources crash.

winters are hard but not at all impossible.

and I'm knocking on wood as I'm saying that too. We do have a stray tornado once in awhile, most hurricanes and massive snowstorms either peter out or haven't picked up enough steam by the time they reach us.

Our entire existence is tenuous at best. Safety is a lie we tell our children.

Way to fuck up my day. I'm going back to bed.

;)

A huge asteroid that hit the planet 65 million years ago is believed to have killed off the dinosaurs. It could happen to us at any time.

Have a nice day.

You'll ruin my weekend.

Gotta go find my happy place. SERENITY NOW!

:D

Mountains, beaches, the bay, and not so many natural disasters.

We don't have natural disasters here too frequently. Every couple of years we might get a tornado touch down, but they usually only do very isolated damage. In 1990 (I think it was), hurricane Hugo barreled up here and caused a lot of problems. And we are experiencing a drought. Other than that, it is pretty quiet. NO earthquakes, no tidal waves, no blizzards...not much of anything like that.

But we have rednecks. So. Pick your poison.

They get a lot more snow and ice than I'd have imagined. Also, tornados and the occasional hurricane blowing through.

But I guess all in all, not a bad area to live in.

appreciable snow in seven years. And the last hurricane that did anything here was Hugo seventeen years ago. When we watched The Day After Tomorrow, the devestating ice field stopped in Charlotte, so we would have been OK. When you look at the projections for the absolute worst case scenario of flooding from global warming, we are OK. In fact, I think we get to be a coastal community. Like I said, not a lot to worry about from natural disasters here. The drought sucks and that's a big problem here, though.

Yes, the coastal areas can get hurricane hits. But they're rare. Apart from that, its a pretty benign area. Mild winters, hot but tolerable summers, no weather or environmental extremes.

For example, the ice storm of 1998 and the 2007 storm. There is no "safe" place, imo, where nature cannot adversely affect.

Sure, we have the occasional blizzard, Nor'Easter,
or ice storm, but people pretty much understand how
to deal with these. (Have a little food and fuel
stored ahead, have a back-up generator, especially
if your heat depends on electricity, and don't treat
your neighbors like something you stepped in on
the sidewalk).

And for the money you didn't spend on your house in
the first place (at least in more-rural New England),
you can buy an awful lot of heating fuel or, better
still, house insulation.

Tesha

see up thread. ;)

Tornadoes are thankfully rare. Floods are mostly confined by our
topology to individual river valleys. Hurricanes? We really haven't
had a bad one here in a long, long time.

Tesha

As long as you don't call Daley a natural disaster.

Aside from the rare Lake Erie floods . . . oh, and the 7-8 months of cold weather (at least 3-4 months of it brutally cold to the point that it burns).

building that is appropriate for every part of the country, but look at the malls and suburban developments that are identical coast to coast. You can't lay down a housing tract in the middle of arid brush that normally burns every few years without changing the design, but that's what we've done. My favorite illustration: Wal-Mart has been using it's standard superstore design in my neighborhood and has had roofs collapse from the snow load at two different stores!

but we haven't had a really big one since 1964. Other than that, Anchorage is pretty mellow.


Ed. Well, I guess I should say other than the 7.9 one in 2002, but it didn't cause any damage here.

heh. Yep. That's where they put them, wouldn't you?

In geological terms, no one is safe. Then there is history.

Studying history makes you wiser, and gives you a survival advantage. If there is a flood every year in a certain place, it's possible to find that out. If there might be a flood of horrifying proportions, but only every 100 years, that can also be learned--but maybe not so well trusted.

I know some places I think are safe, but I could be wrong. And besides, i live there, and millions of refugees would make it less safe indeed.

Anyway, for those who know history, it is easy to spot the safe places. You just can't always live there. To say nothing if you are, say Bangladeshi, or in the Mariana Islands.

And anyway, since we have dumped more poison into our oceans and aquifers than can possibly be survived, none of us has very long on this earth. The oceans will die first, and we will follow soon after, don't know exactly when, but probably only long enough to try to be happy and love your family right now while you have the chance wherever you might be.

Considering those who, every time there's a post about a natural disaster, sniff and say "serves them right for living there".