What is the worst storm you have gone through?

[White Cat]

2004 hurricanes in Florida were no fun. About a dozen others. Several Ontario ice storms. Always seem to in the wrong place.

 

[DisneyHardin]

I live in Kentucky, so we don't get super monumental storms here. In Sept of 2008, we got the remnants of Hurricane Ike. We had 2 hours of 60-80 mph winds. Trees were ripped out by their roots, roofs were blown off and it wrecked havoc on power lines. There was so school for over a week while they got power restored. We were super lucky and our power never went out, but almost everyone else we knew lost power. Then, a few months later in the winter, we got hit with a monumental (for our area) ice storm and lost another week of school and most of the city was without power again. In the ice storm we did lose power and it was off for 5 days.

These don't sound all that terrible compared to things that have happened in other parts of the country, but it was a pretty big deal for us in Kentucky.

 

[JLTraveling]

Hurricane Ida 2021. I was in Florida during Katrina.

 

[DeeBee3]

A blizzard knocked us out of power for a few days - lots of trees down because it was in October so the leaves were still on. Wearing lots of clothes to bed and cooking on a grill outside for food! Thank goodness we didn't have kids yet.

Kids still showed up for Halloween! My husband sat in the car because we had no lights so he just wanted to see them coming and shine a flashlight. We were afraid someone would fall in the yard (still snow and ice). Kids do not give up on candy! I believe it was "cancelled" that year, but they soldiered on.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I think the longest our town was without power was Hurricane Irene in 2011. It was downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it hit us in New England, but it still did a lot of damage.

I wasn't here yet for the Blizzard of '78, but I've heard lots of stories!

 

[DeeBee3]

Oh and there were some powerful thunderstorms maybe 2 years ago in August (during covid shutdown) - I think it was more like a "mini tornado." We had no power and all of a sudden there was a crack. Well, our big beautiful tree in the front fell into the front and broke a window. Thank goodness that was it other than some siding damage. We also lost a row of trees going down the back. It was a perfect line of trees so that's why I think it was some sort of tornado activity.

We had SO MUCH firewood. And so did everyone else around here. One thing we won't run out of anytime soon!

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

I can think of 2. When I was in elementary school I was on the bus when a tornado went by. It was far enough away not to suck up the bus but close enough that the emergency exits were sucked open and debris broke windows.

A few years ago a microburst hit our house. It came in so quick we didn’t know what it was or have time to go to the basement. That was scary watch everything swirl out the windows.

 

[mjkacmom]

The blizzard of '96. Four feet of wind-driven snow. I remember my Mom and me shoveling a path to the main street from our house (which was on the corner right near this main street) after it was all over. It took us hours to shovel a path maybe 6 feet long to get to the street, where the snowplows were coming through and workmen were digging paths for the plows.

My husband and I took a bus that morning into NYC for an event that was canceled, took us hours to get home by train, my poor dad had to drive a few miles to pick us up at the station, got home and our heat was out (thank goodness we came home, our dog would’ve froze).

 

[luv2cheer92]

Blizzard of 96 in VA, several feet of snow.

Hurricane Isabel in 2003, also in VA. Knocked power out for over a week.

There was a horrible severe weather night in 2019 around Dallas. Over a dozen tornadoes. The closest one was about 2 miles from my house, but all of them were within about 25 miles from my house. That whole night was terrifying and is one of the biggest reasons I decided to move back to VA.

 

[Bamaclan4]

Tornado outbreak in the south April 4, 1974 then tornado outbreak April 27, 2011.

 

[WDWEPCOT]

Blizzard of 1978 - missed a month of school and a construction working parent off work for a long time - not fun when it’s the only working member in house ! I was in grade school at the time - we had to go extra hour every day to make up all that time off

 

[MamaMermaid]

I was only a few months old for Andrew but I guess technically that one? We live in South Florida so have done a lot of hurricanes in the early/mid 2000s. I distinctly remember a period where we had 2-3 back to back. One time (Wilma?) there was no power for about 2 weeks. We've evacuated a few times as well.

I told my husband that when one comes for us next, we are leaving. I don't care the category - I don't want to sit and worry and sweat without power. Ian hit too close to home (literally) and it's just awful.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

I told my husband that when one comes for us next, we are leaving. I don't care the category - I don't want to sit and worry and sweat without power. Ian hit too close to home (literally) and it's just awful.

Very smart. The category doesn't tell nearly the whole story of how bad a hurricane will be. So much also depends on the size and the forward speed. FL is such a hard state to evacuate. It is so long, and small shifts in track can give a hurricane a much different landfall area, that you almost have to go quite far north to be sure to be out of the destruction. Add to that the enormous population that needs to be moved, it's just a crawling mess of traffic for hours and hours. A lot of times if you wait until the track is looking more certain - in the 24-36 hours before landfall, it's almost too late, with traffic and fuel shortages from those already in process of evacuating. And before that, with the path uncertainty, you risk evacuating to a place that then isn't safe either. I feel for everyone in FL that has to make those decisions.

 

[White Cat]

Blizzard of 1978 - missed a month of school and a construction working parent off work for a long time - not fun when it’s the only working member in house ! I was in grade school at the time - we had to go extra hour every day to make up all that time off

Forgot about that one. The school I went to shut down for 3 weeks.