(inspired by Bonnie & Charlie) What bad storms have you experienced?

[llij]

Blizzard of '96 (and this was bad only b/c I was in pre-term labor and had to get to the hospital in my neighbor's 4 wheel drive to stop it. ) Let me tell you, that was a fun trip!

Other than that, Isabel last year - no water, no power, trees in our yard that are still leaning from it!

 

[monarchsfan16]

Originally posted by Virgo10

The April Fools day Blizzard, 1997. Yeah, just want you want, 28 inches of snow on the first of April.

LOL. The 27 inches we got here got me out of school. That was all that matters. And in April it's the wet stuff. Had some awesome snowball fights. I had forgotten about that storm. I was in the 4th grade and that was exciting stuff. (Who am I kidding blizzards are STILL exciting).

 

[Poohbear123]

I believe it was Hurricane Betsy circa 1962-1963 which was my first storm. I was about 4 or so, and we lived in a wood frame house on blocks. I remember being in the doorway of the kitchen, in a chair, with my Mom and Brother, singing "row row row your boat" while the house Lifted up on one end, and set down, and lifted up on the other end, and set down. Not a plesant experience to say the least.

 

[christineann]

Hurricane Hugo in 1989. We lost essentially everything except what we had taken with us (2 changes of clothes for a night or two in a hotel out of town). We had two hotel rooms with 4 adults, my two very young children and 4 dogs (found a pet friendly hotel about 120 miles inland). We had some tornados and 3-4 feet of salt water in the house, which ruined everything. You get your priorities straight though - I have always been very very sentimental, but you just can't cry over stuff. Didn't see a FEMA adjustor for 2 months and then it took 4 more months to rebuild. That really built some character!

The news stations here try to whip everyone up into a frenzy every time a tropical storm comes up, but most folks around here don't get upset unless the winds are over 100 mph.

What would really frighten me would be to live in an area that has a frequent tornados or earthquakes - no warning!

 

[BC]

I was born in July 1954 and Hurricane Hazel-Category 5 hit in October of 1954. I was only 3 months old, but I have heard many stories and seen pictures. Next came Hurricane Diana in 1985, Bertha and Fran in 1996, Floyd, Bonnie, and many others that we have gotten bad weather from but were not direct hits. I live near the Intracoastal waterway and ocean and the Cape Fear River is here also. It has become a joke that there is a sign inviting hurricanes up the river to our area as many of them head our way. We are having rain now from Bonnie and expect heavy rain and some wind from Charley on Saturday. I guess that is the price you pay to live on the coast.

 

[preshi]

We had a bad snow storm in Tahoe that I remember, I also went through Tropical Storm Gabrielle... wasn't that bad really but nothing that I had ever experienced before.

 

[Dan Murphy]

WOw, lots of storms here.

For me in Chicago, blizzards of '67 and '79 (my dad died in the '79 one), the '67 tornados, the heat wave of '95 (over 700 deaths).

 

[SplshMtn99]

Here's the ones I remember:

Blizzard of '78 ---a good 3 ft of snow (lived near MA/RI border); no school for a week; governor banned all traffic on roads -- LOL - uh --can't drive in 3 ft of snow anyway. Walked 3 miles & back for bread to find grocery shelves EMPTY!

Hurricane Gloria --- my first week working at grocery store -no power for 5 days & lost all the weeping willows in our yard; one fell into the kitchen of our house.

Hurricane Bob -- Oct -- ??? ('90 something I think) what year was that.

Followed by the "No Name Storm" same month. "The Perfect Storm" is based on that storm.

The April Fool's Blizzard.

And some blizzard in the 60's that I have pictures of...but I was probably only 4 yrs old.

Several good Nor'easters while we lived in Worcester...several of 30" of snow or more.

That's all I can remember.

 

[lsyorke]

Hurricane Gloria.... on a cruise ship from Bermuda.... 70 foot seas.... enough said!!!!

I fly everywhere now!!

 

[KatieBelle]

We were staying at the Polynesian in Sept 1999 when WDW had to shut down the Magic Kingdom in preparation for an approaching hurricane.

Fortunately, the hurricane turned at the last moment and we were spared (except for an overnight storm).

Only the Animal Kingdom was opened the next day, and just to resort guests. It was reported to be the first time the Magic Kingdom had closed for a full day since its opening.

I have pic's somewhere and I'll try to find them. The castle's glass windows were all boarded up. There were sandbags around all of the hotel entrances. We had to move from 1st floor to 3rd and were told not to go out.

The best part was the "Hurricane Party" that were threw together on the 3rd floor of Hawaii with the help of the cast members who were told to bunk-in for the night just in case they were needed.

I imagine they have already made the decision to board things up in preparation for Charlie (if they hadn't done so for Bonnie). WDW will do everything they can to take care of its guests.

 

[LizardCop]

Originally posted by Kitty 34
What storms or natural disasters have you been thru?

The earliest I remember was a hurricane in the keys in 1953. I was 2, and remember the green awning from the front porch covering the window and I thought is was a green ghost trying to get in.

Hurricane Donna in 1960, from Charleston, SC

All those hurricanes that hit the keys from 1961 through 1969, including Alma-1966, Betsy-1965, Carla-1961, Camille-1969, Gladys-1968, and Inez-1966 to name a few. Also went through 2 hurricanes in 1971-1972 here in the panhandle of Florida.

Then there was a white-out blizzard north of Detroit in 1973. I was north of Detroit for the tornado break-out when Xenia got hit, we had a dozen tornados drop around us.

Multiple white-outs in Greenland.

Back here in NW Florida, Erin and Opal in 1995, Albert in 1994, Elena-1985, to name a few.

It's a good thing I've always been in emergency services type of work, either paid or volunteer...

 

[mariethecat]

Hurricane Juan last Sept-thousands of trees came down and 5 people killed in my city. No electricity anywhere in the area for 2 to 14 days. Schools cancelled for a full week.
Then we got a record snowfall in February 2004 that was named the White Juan. A state of emergency was again declared and no school for another week
It was very unusual to have 2 major events happen so close together.

 

[olena]

Numerous tornados and Hurricane Opal went right through my college campus.

 

[CourtasanSatine]

one close call twister before Spring Break this year(F1 if I remember right but break started a day early for the school here) and the 4th of July weekened flood in '02

 

[Tiggerlover91]

Hurricane Hugo in 1985...made a BIG UTURN and came right through Columbia SC. Out of power for about 3-4 days!

Hurricane Erin in August of 1995! No one expected her do the damage she did! Lived on base and was blessed to not lose power.

Hurricane Opal in October of 1995! That one was devasting! They evacuated several counties and mine was one of them! DH was military then and we couldn't leave until they told him to. We left at 10am that morning and didn't make it to Warner Robbins AFB GA til almost 8pm that night. The trip should have only taken about 5 hours. Instead it took 10 because so many were trying to leave. I remember calling friends on and off base and hearing the stories and power was out for almost a week some places. DH and I returned home 4 days after we evacuated and the base had just restored power the day before we came home. They also cut down a tree right next to our home just hours before Opal made landfall...otherwise, we would have had a brand new accessory in our living room.

Been blessed and haven't been through anymore hurricanes. Did go through some small earthquakes while living in Alaska, 4s and smaller on the richter scale, but nothing major thank goodness.