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Across the Fence:  have you experienced a natural disaster?  |
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napafarmhouse1885
True Blue Farmgirl
208 Posts
diane
napa
ca
USA
208 Posts |
 Posted - May 06 2008 : 10:16:28 AM
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i have lived in california all of my life and have experienced numerous fires, earthquakes..even a major flood. i am so grateful that every situation has turned out o.k...my family, friends and home have always been safe. i just wrote a story on my blog www.napafarmhouse1885.blogspot.com about living through natural disasters..please check it out and share your natural disaster stories.either in the comments section of the blog..or here in this forum..thanks
best,
napafarmhouse1885
www.napafarmhouse1885.com
please visit my blog
www.napafarmhouse1885.blogspot.com
"Whatever you can do or dream, begin it"
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe |
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catscharm74
True Blue Farmgirl
4687 Posts
Heather
Texas
USA
4687 Posts |
Posted - May 06 2008 : 10:25:28 AM
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I have been through 2 major hurricanes growing up. The first was a real hum dinger. We had no water, electricity for almost 3 weeks, so we got out the old pop up camper and tents and went camping in the back yard. It was where I first got to drink coffee and honestly, that experience of living simple really impacted me. I loved to snuggle down in my sleeping bag with my kitty, read books in quietness and spend all day outside hunting for arrow heads under all the downed trees. (School got cancelled for 2 weeks). It was crazy!! My dad worked for the power company and they sent a police escort to get him to and from work. Ah..the good old days!!!
Heather
Yee-Haw, I am a cowgirl!!!
FARMGIRL #90 |
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Leezard
True Blue Farmgirl
950 Posts
Elizabeth
Novi
MI
USA
950 Posts |
Posted - May 06 2008 : 10:28:49 AM
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Nope, can't say I have. Thankfully!...we live in a part of the country that doesn't get many natural disasters so I've not had that experience. There have been a few tornados not far away but they've missed us and they also didn't turn out to be as bad as the ones we hear about happening in the middle of the country.
http://ruby--slippers.blogspot.com/
www.leezard.etsy.com |
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Amie C.
True Blue Farmgirl
2099 Posts
Finger Lakes Region
NY
2099 Posts |
Posted - May 06 2008 : 11:32:16 AM
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| Worst thing I can remember is the Ice Storm of 1991. It happened in early March, overnight, when I was in 10th grade. It was very eerie to sit in the dark and listen to the steady beat of the freezing rain on the roof and the cracks and crashes of trees and limbs coming down all around the house. At one point, the huge maple behind our house lost one of its trunks. In the half light of dawn, it looked like a wall of tree falling straight towards my window. We lost power for two weeks, and we couldn't stay in our house because it was too cold. Fortunately, my grandparents (just a few blocks away) had not lost power. So we camped out at their house and didn't need to live out of a shelter. School was only closed for a day or two though, which made the disruption at home annoying. The maple tree survived and was finally cut down just a couple of weeks ago. My dad believes it was at least 100 years old, older than any of the houses around. |
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mikesgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
3659 Posts
Sherri
Elma
WA
USA
3659 Posts |
Posted - May 06 2008 : 12:37:39 PM
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We were in Mt. St. Helen's backyard when it blew up. It really affected our lives for a long time. There was a few inches of ash all over everything for a long time - looked like dirty snow that never would melt. It ruined engines in cars, killed plants, etc. and we were the lucky ones. I can't remember how many but lots of people lost their lives in the blast and the property destruction was massive. Thousands of people suffered serious respiratory problems also. It was pretty amazing to go through something like that. Then there are huge floods in our area with increasing frequency - some of you may have read about the one here in December. It was unbelievably destructive. Flooding has ruined my husband's business which he was a co-owner in - a loss of 5 million dollars in inventory, and flooded my parents house. In this past flood my son and dil were stranded on top of a barn and had to be rescued by boat. Lots of destructive stuff in Washington, but we still stay here - for the beauty I guess.
Farmgirl Sister #98
Check out my new online store
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napafarmhouse1885
True Blue Farmgirl
208 Posts
diane
napa
ca
USA
208 Posts |
Posted - May 06 2008 : 5:07:06 PM
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sherri..i am so sorry about your husband's business. have you been able to rebuild? my thoughts are with you..and thank god you and your family are all safe.
best,
napafarmhouse1885
www.napafarmhouse1885.com
please visit my blog
www.napafarmhouse1885.blogspot.com
"Whatever you can do or dream, begin it"
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe |
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SheilaC
True Blue Farmgirl
1948 Posts
Sheila
Vermont
USA
1948 Posts |
Posted - May 06 2008 : 6:02:37 PM
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| Amie, I remember that one. I grew up just east of Rochester, now my parents live near in Canadice (near Honeoye). Where in the Finger Lakes are you? |
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Amie C.
True Blue Farmgirl
2099 Posts
Finger Lakes Region
NY
2099 Posts |
Posted - May 07 2008 : 05:21:28 AM
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Sheila, I'm right in the city of Rochester. I have a lot of friends, volunteer jobs, etc. scattered all over the Finger Lakes, so I get around.
Sherri, I'm sorry your family got hit in that flood. My husband's cousins were washed out in heavy flooding in Binghamton, NY two years ago. Seems like rivers have been flooding a lot all over the country lately. |
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lisamarie508
True Blue Farmgirl
2648 Posts
Lisa
Idaho City
ID
USA
2648 Posts |
Posted - May 07 2008 : 05:40:26 AM
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Once, when I was 12 or so, my mom, grandma an us 4 kids went into Lockport, NY for shopping. We were parked at some fast food place when a tornado came through. Gram and us kids were in the car and mom was inside the restaurant. Stone trash cans flew by our car, all the big signs were whipping back and forth our car and others near us were being pushed around and the all the glass windows in the restaurant crashed in. Everybody in the restaurant dove under the tables. It was pretty scary for us. Gram had to vaccuum all the bits of glass out of mom's hair when we got back home. It wasn't much of a tornado but that area was not prone to such things, so nothing was built to withstand it and there was a lot of damage. High winds actually scared me for a few years after that.
Farmgirl Sister #35
"If you can not do great things, do small things in a great way." Napoleon Hill (1883-1970)
my blog: http://lisamariesbasketry.blogspot.com/
My Website:
http://www.freewebs.com/lisamariesbasketry/index.htm |
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sugarplum
True Blue Farmgirl
131 Posts
RoseMarie
MS
USA
131 Posts |
Posted - May 07 2008 : 11:42:08 AM
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I went through Katrina. We had so much damage, but thankfully we were fine. Our back yard still looks like a bomb dropped, but hopefully we'll finally get it cleaned up this summer. For 2 weeks we had no electricity. We used candles for light, praise the Lord I have a candle business.
Hugs, RoseMarie
www.sugarplumcottage.blogspot.com
www.sugarplumcottage.etsy.com
"I try to balance my life, barefoot and with a cookie in both hands" |
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mikesgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
3659 Posts
Sherri
Elma
WA
USA
3659 Posts |
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Amie C.
True Blue Farmgirl
2099 Posts
Finger Lakes Region
NY
2099 Posts |
Posted - May 07 2008 : 12:07:57 PM
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I've heard of small tornadoes occasionally touching down around here, but I've never experienced one. That's amazing.
Supposedly, there is a major faultline running through NYS that only shifts once every 300 years or so. If we ever get a serious earthquake here, it will be a bad, bad situation. |
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KYgurlsrbest
True Blue Farmgirl
4853 Posts
Jonni
Elsmere
Kentucky
USA
4853 Posts |
Posted - May 07 2008 : 12:33:47 PM
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Wow..some of these are just downright scary. Glad you're still here with us!!!
Before I was born, when my mom and dad were dating, she took My grandmother, and my grand's two sisters on vacation to the Badlands and then to the Black Hills and Rapid City, SD.They were in Rapid City the day the terrible flood happened--just after they had parked her brand new, butter yellow and black soft-top custom ordered Chevelle Super Sport and walked into town, they noted all this commotion in town. The Rapid City police approached them and told them they had to evacuate the town immediately because of the flood and the landslide, and my mom said, "ok, we'll just get back in the car!!" but when she turned around, she saw that everything was in the path of the water and debris coming down the hillside...cattle, trees uprooted, cars, etc...
There were many lives lost there that day...she said it was something she would never forget. But, oddly enough, the public lot was spared and they were able to drive out of town the next day.
My Great Aunt and Uncle lost their car in an earthquake in Alaska in the 1950's. It fell right into a crevice and they bought another cadillac in Gnome and drove back home to Ohio. I still have the original purchase receipt :)
Farmgirl Sister #80, thanks to a very special farmgirl from the Bluegrass..."She was built like a watch, a study in balance ... with a neck and head so refined, like a drawing by DaVinci"...
NY Newsday sportswriter Bill Nack describing filly, Ruffian.
http://www.buyhandmade.org/ |
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Kathie
True Blue Farmgirl
2436 Posts
Kathie
Thonotosassa
Florida
USA
2436 Posts |
Posted - May 07 2008 : 1:40:03 PM
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Where I live Here In Florida..
(just like several other states of course..)
We have our Ohhhh So Fun Hurricane Season.. Wich can usually run from about June to November.. & yes.. there always seems to be at least one or Two OR MORE brewing out there at a time.. few seldom reach us.. & fewer still really are much of a threat..
But when they they do.. & are.. the Company I work for can't afford a complete office shut down.. we have two major offices.. one in Tampa & one in Orlando.. so As the Weather keeps churning.. there are folks that naturally continually watch whats happening.. & if it looks as if we'll have to close both offices I get sent to Salt Lake or Houston ! (We used to have an office in Kansas City a few years ago..) some changes had been made & thats no longer there But when it was.. THAT was where we were shipped.. So.. what ordinarily was the work of say.. 1500 people.. & then the 75 in My role.. Now becomes 20 at the very most!
& it's around the clock.. until we can get an all clear..!
It's nerve wracking.. because it is VERY exhausting work.. tiring because of course your NOT sleeping much.. AND your worried about whats happening at YOUR OWN HOME & WITH YOUR OWN FAMILY!! But.. it's Exciting too.. so your really working on adrenaline!
One year we had THREE Major hurricanes hit us in as many weeks!
I was gone for most of that time!
My kids are all grown.. so i don't have that worry.. but I still worry as a Mother for my Babies of course.. Just not wee ones!
While I was in Kansas City several days there I was assisting a mother in Illinois track her early 20's son who had been on his way down TO FLORIDA .. who just so happened to be on his VERY first "ALL BY HIS SELF "road trip! Can you imagine THAT mother's fears!!!
i was able to speak with the boy.. AND the Mother.. but for some reason.. THEY couldn't reach each other.. But my lines of course although were 'Kansas City' were actually an Orlando Tie Line.. So it was as if i was calling out from Florida.. (Weird I know..) Anyway.. he was being stubborn.. & pushing through.. & insisting on driving in.. when what he REALLY should have been doing was settle in somewhere..! & she was in melt down mode!.. & I was just trying to get him safely 'here'! & there of course was a Curfew in so many of the Towns.. So I had to help him ease through these areas!! Finally getting him safely put. & all the while relocating hundreds of other people while being so many states away!
I was to the point of just telling him to stay put & having my husband go pick the little dummy up himself.. but he finally made it in!!
When i got home the last time after that 3rd Hurricane.. we'd lost power yet again.. & had NO power for at least 3 weeks..
We did have a Generator.. but the gas never seems to last long really.. does it? plus.. your fairly limited as to how many things your running..
& then of course there's the neighs that DON'T have a Generator!!!
We lost our land line for so long we decided finally that we probably really didn't need it after-all.. & then of course.. there's the back of my house.. that USED to be there.............
We'd lost some of THAT too....
& Ummmmmum.... Not sure WHERE that tree went to.. or WHERE THAT other one came from but.. ok....
AND!!!
WE still HAD our House.. & Our Families..
So.. we were in pretty great shape!!!
INSURANCE Laws In Florida.. TEE HEE!!
Nah.. Not happening Girls..
They just don't care to offer it to ya really..
Kathie.. Farm Girl Sister #29
"In a World Where you Can Be Anything, Be Yourself".. |
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CountryBorn
True Blue Farmgirl
1545 Posts
Mary Jane
New York
USA
1545 Posts |
Posted - May 07 2008 : 2:25:53 PM
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The worst I guess, would be the snow storm here in, I think it was 77 and that ice storm that Amie talked about there was also the tornado that supposedly touched down in a nearby town. It had strong enough side winds that it picked up a very large and heavy tent style greenhouse and set the corner of it in the other one. I can honestly say, that none of the storms really bothered us. We have our own big tractor with wide scoop and also a 4 wheel drive truck with snowplow. We live so far off the road we have to be pretty self sufficent. We never experienced the electrical outages that the rest of the areas did. We have been very blessed. Can I asked you ladies a question? I am truly interested in why people stay in the same areas that keep having the floods or tornados or hurricanes over and over again ? I in no way mean this as a judgemental question. I really would like to know how you can deal with it over and over again and live with the fear or knowledge that it can happen again at any time. You are so much braver that I would ever be. I would have that happen once and I would be out of there. I would be absolutely terrified of it happening again. Please help me understand how you can handle this?
MJ
There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do. Freya Stark |
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Tina Michelle
True Blue Farmgirl
6948 Posts
Tina
sunshine state
FL
USA
6948 Posts |
Posted - May 07 2008 : 3:45:21 PM
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we were always evacuating here in the florida panhandle due to hurricanes. we stayed one yr. through a category 1..which actually caused more damage than the category 3 a few weeks after it..it was all in the direction of the wind. the category one storm..we lived right on the water at the time..and the way it blew in blew the rain straight at the back of the house/sliding glass doors..we were having to mop up the terrazo floors the whole time...and move furniture into the hall ways.
about a year or so ago we had 16 hurricane notifications/which meant keeping the suitcases packed for several months at a time..ready to head out. when you live in what is known as "hurricane alley" you get a system downpat.
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I had a little "natural disaster" this weekend...not nature made...but enough to cause some excitement here.
read about it on my blog...it's funny now..but wasn't a few days ago.
~Seize the Day! Live, Love, Laugh~
visit me at:
http://gardengoose.blogspot.com/
and at www.stliving.net
you can also check out my etsy shops at:http://GardenGooseGifts.etsy.com |
Edited by - Tina Michelle on May 07 2008 3:51:39 PM |
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lisamarie508
True Blue Farmgirl
2648 Posts
Lisa
Idaho City
ID
USA
2648 Posts |
Posted - May 07 2008 : 5:22:28 PM
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Mary Jane, you remember the Blizzard of '77? I had so much fun during that that I never really considered it a disaster. But I guess it was. I was 14 then.
I remember being sent home from school early because of the snow. For some reason they sent the jr and sr high school home first and by the time the buses went to go back for the elementary kids, they couldn't get through. So, my sister and 2 brothers ended up spending the night at school! The next day, folks with snowmobiles drove one kid home at a time and all my siblings were home by nightfall. We had just gone back to school after Christmas vacation and that storm gave us another 2 weeks off. I was lovin' it!
Those same folks with the snowmobiles were taking grocery orders and going to get necessities for everybody who was snowed in. I remember winters after that whenever the forecaster said ANYTHING about a big snow storm coming; people flocked to the stores and bought everything in sight! That used to make my mom so mad that folks would walk out of the store with 10 gallons of milk leaving nothing for anybody else.
I remember snow drifts as high as our house and the high winds and the temps were in the minus 20's or so. I have no idea what the windchill was. Our furnace was working overtime and finally blew up in the middle of the 3rd night sending us all running out in our pj's. The house was fine, but the furnace was toast. No repairman could come out to fix it and someone brought a big propane tank and a little heater over on their snowmobiles. So, we all huddled together in front of this little heater in the living room. I remember "Roots" was on for the first time and because we had no school, we all got to stay up to watch it every night. We never did lose power that I remember.
With heat only in the living room, the rest of the house froze. All the plumbing broke, the water in the toilet bowl was solid ice. Even the drip from the tub faucet froze. Nobody wanted to go fix dinner in the freezing kitchen and so we lived on sandwiches and stuff for a while. Melted snow for water and RAN to the outhouse when we had to go. Mom had put in the outhouse so we wouldn't track water through the house after swimming. Turned out to be a really smart move on her part.
Mom finally got the furnace fixed shortly after the storm ended but couldn't get the plumbing fixed until spring. We used to fill gallon milk jugs with melted snow and set them out in the greenhouse by the heat vent. After dark, we could go out and take a shower. One jug per person per shower. That was interesting.
That summer, we installed 2 wood stoves. One in the living room and one in the kitchen. Mom was not about to go through that again! I remember Johnny Carson making fun of us and WNY winters for years on his show!
Farmgirl Sister #35
"If you can not do great things, do small things in a great way." Napoleon Hill (1883-1970)
my blog: http://lisamariesbasketry.blogspot.com/
My Website:
http://www.freewebs.com/lisamariesbasketry/index.htm |
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CountryBorn
True Blue Farmgirl
1545 Posts
Mary Jane
New York
USA
1545 Posts |
Posted - May 07 2008 : 5:50:19 PM
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Lisa, I sure do remember it! I was 29 at the time, the kids were 11 and 7. We were of one of the people with snowmobiles. My husband went to the school by snowmobile and picked up our kids and brought them home. He went and checked on neighbors and generally had a good time with all the snowmobile buddies. We have a woodstove so we never worried about heat. I also had a gas stove so we could cook if we needed to without electricity. It's funny I can't remember if the electric went out or not. But, I remember the snow drifts!! It took days for the main and side roads to get plowed. We were plowed out. For all the good it did!! We took the snowmobile down the"roads", it was unbelievable. When they did plow the sides of the roads were like tunnels. That was one wild snow storm. We had a really good time though.Nuts weren't we?
MJ
There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do. Freya Stark |
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handyam
True Blue Farmgirl
394 Posts
Ada Mae
Greensburg
KY.
USA
394 Posts |
Posted - May 07 2008 : 6:51:59 PM
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My husband and I and 4 of our neighbors have been in a tornado. They have no basement, we have a cellar with an outside entrance. They always come here and we go to the cellar. For some reason we stayed in the den and watched the weather on TV. All of a sudden we heard the "train whistle" sound. We started out the back door to go to the cellar, but it was too late. It blew the glass out of the door. We all ran to the next room and huddled in the corner. Our house was spared, but we lost 1 barn completely, damaged another one and an unattached garage, uprooted all our fruit trees and many trees in the fence lines, leveled the swimming pool, sucked the center out of all the shutters on the house and moved the porch posts over a couple of inches. Fortunately no people or animals were hurt. Since that time, if a tornado warning is given, we head to the cellar pronto!!!
www.adasadorableaprons.blogspot.com
This is the day that the Lord has made. |
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lisamarie508
True Blue Farmgirl
2648 Posts
Lisa
Idaho City
ID
USA
2648 Posts |
Posted - May 07 2008 : 7:24:09 PM
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This is so fun, Mary Jane. You're the first person in years who even knew what I was talking about. I'm glad you had fun that year, too.
Ada Mae, your experience sounded really scary. Too bad you lost a barn, but at least you, your animals and your home were spared.
Hurricanes would terrify me as they don't just touch down and leave. I've never felt a big earthquake; just the little wigglers. Hopefully, I never do. But at least here, we don't have any multi-story buildings or stacked freeways to worry about.
I've always wondered, too, how folks who live in areas prone to such things can continue to live there. I mean, it would be so nerve wracking to think every windy rain storm or tiny little quake could be the next budding disaster. I don't know how they do it.
Farmgirl Sister #35
"If you can not do great things, do small things in a great way." Napoleon Hill (1883-1970)
my blog: http://lisamariesbasketry.blogspot.com/
My Website:
http://www.freewebs.com/lisamariesbasketry/index.htm |
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catscharm74
True Blue Farmgirl
4687 Posts
Heather
Texas
USA
4687 Posts |
Posted - May 07 2008 : 8:12:49 PM
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Lisa- you are talking the big east coast blizzard right? I was only 4 at the time but I remember my sister was sent to school with 4 dozen Christmas cookies and never made it passed the bus stop. Everyone was sent home, cookies and all, and boy, was I happy!! We had about 5 neighborhood kids in our house because it was just up the road from the bus stop and the parents were stuck at work. I remember once it stopped, we had a fun time digging paths in the snow and sledding!!!!
Heather
Yee-Haw, I am a cowgirl!!!
FARMGIRL #90 |
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queenofdreamsz4u
True Blue Farmgirl
3845 Posts
Stephanie Suzanne
Smoky Mountains Tennessee
USA
3845 Posts |
Posted - May 07 2008 : 10:25:53 PM
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Way too many tropical storms and hurricanes..Mine began with Hurricane Camille (1969) in Biloxi, Misssissippi when I was 11 years old...didn't think I'd ever see anything worse than that...I was wrong! There are more storms than I care to count anymore. Hurricane Katrina broke the camels back for me. I left the area altogether and will never live on the coast again..had wanted to go back to the mountains anyway so I guess that was the kick start to get me moving.
Hurricane Katrina's 38 foot tidal surge greeted my sister and neices properties. My sister suffered a complete loss of her main home (the slab was left) and three rental properties, my neice lost her home (the front steps were all that was left)..the roof was laying neatly over part of the neighbors house. They both lived a block off the beach in Gulfport, MS.. Both of my stepsons lost everything they owned in their rented condos...One was in Slidell, LA and the other in Chalmette, LA...14 feet of water engulfed their homes.
The insurance companies refused to pay the claims for my sister and neices home loss...on top of relocating to other states they fought feverishly for almost two years after the storm to get a settlement. Unfortunately, the settlements came after joining the big lawsuit against the insurance companies. NOT the way to recover money for premiums you've been paying on for 30+ years!
I lived inland at the time on 40 acres with 16 acres of in as ponds with beautiful cedars...looked just like a swap, had my dairy goat herd, chickens, etc....suffered so much damage from it but not a loss...It was just too emotional to continue riding the wave of the storms anymore...had to be some better quality of life than that had become..so made a major life change and got out of the area..haven't regretted it for a minute.
So it wasn't just about what the storm did it was the energy that filtered through the area over the months...total oppresion, depression..sad, sad, story....most of the folks in the US don't have a clue how bad the detruction was and still is now almost 3 years later.
Of course, now I have to dodge tornados..LOL I guess we just have to "pick our poison" and deal with it.
I will always ride out the hurricanes "in spirit" since they were part of over half my life I guess.
Kathie and Tina....y'all understand alot of what I've just said...Florida has caught hell along with the Alabama and Mississippi coastlines.
Stephanie
www.queenofdreamsz.blogspot.com
www.dreamkingdomdesigns.blogspot.com
www.dreamkingdomdesigns.com |
Edited by - queenofdreamsz4u on May 07 2008 10:26:27 PM |
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lisamarie508
True Blue Farmgirl
2648 Posts
Lisa
Idaho City
ID
USA
2648 Posts |
Posted - May 08 2008 : 05:22:38 AM
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Heather, I'm not sure how much area that blizzard had covered. I only remember that it had affected all of WNY and PA. Yeah, my sister, brothers and I had a great time after it was over, too. We had one snow drift as high as our house that was right next to it. It actually buried mom's car so that you didn't even know that it was there! We climbed that drift and walked around on the roof until mom hollered at us for being up there and it made a great sled run.
Stephanie, I can certainly understand why you moved. I don't think I could have weathered that many storms myself before leaving the area.
Farmgirl Sister #35
"If you can not do great things, do small things in a great way." Napoleon Hill (1883-1970)
my blog: http://lisamariesbasketry.blogspot.com/
My Website:
http://www.freewebs.com/lisamariesbasketry/index.htm |
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frannie
True Blue Farmgirl
2246 Posts
fran
bonham
texas
USA
2246 Posts |
Posted - May 08 2008 : 08:57:45 AM
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i grew up on the gulf coast of texas, galveston county, so i lived through numerous hurricanes. the one that i really remember was hurricaine carla, because we evacuated in the middle of the night. it is the only hurricaine my family ever evacuated for. its funny what you remeber. i was 11 years old and recently when my sister came for a visit, i asked her if she remembered the drive to kerrville in the middle of the night. she had no memory of it either. what i do remember was dan rather reporting from one of the tall buildings in galveston throughout the whole storm, for some silly reason it gave me a feeling of safety to know that he was there, and could have been reporting from houston.
the return home brought no real destruction to our family home, but we lost our family dog which was very important to me as a kid.
after the storm i went with my dad on the ferry to bid repair jobs on bolivar peninsula and saw the destruction up close to homes, business, and livestock.it was a surreal site that i can remember to this day. our home was about 15 miles from the bay, and a boat, like a tug boat washed up and settled about 2 miles from our home, where it remained for decades, it may still be there.
as a child we grew up hearing from my grandmother about the 1900 storm which was a huge natural disaster of its time.
everyone on the gulf coast has their hurricaine stories and family stories. i think the accounts of the 1900 storm affected the texas gulf coast even until this time.
in some ways galveston was never the same. but the recovery it seems was faster than the recovery has been for katrina. it seems strange to me that folks in the 1900s could recover more quickly than we can now with all our advances and technology. like galveston, i wonder if new orleans will ever be the same. i think there was room for improvement in new orleans, but it makes me sad to think that it will change so much. i was never a new orleans fan until i spent a month there when my grandson was born. then i kinda got hooked. it was truly a unique, authentic spot in the world.
stephanie, i am really glad you have found your spot inland and feel safer now. i too have traded the gulf coast life and hurricanes for living in the world of tornadoes. but i still have a love for the gulf coast. i think ya never really get that salt water out of your veins, and maybe thats why some folks stay there in spite of the storms. i dont know.
love
frannie in texas
(http://farmfolks-frannie.blogspot.com/)
(http://abunnystale.blogspot.com/) |
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KYgurlsrbest
True Blue Farmgirl
4853 Posts
Jonni
Elsmere
Kentucky
USA
4853 Posts |
Posted - May 08 2008 : 09:10:52 AM
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Oh Frannie...how frightening. I've always had a fear of water and fire...and I guess rightly so. I don't recall Carla, but during Katrina, they showed the actual footage taken in 1900 in Galveston Harbor, probably most of which your grandmother saw and spoke of. It was eerie--the devastation made so much more surreal by the black and white filming and everyone moving like in a silent picture. Spooky.
I know my half sister lived in a little town in Lousiana (Holly Beach?) in pretty much a seaside shanty and she lost everything in Katrina...but we're not that close, so I don't know much more than that.
I think you're right about people staying on the coast once it's in your veins. I know a great deal of people on the Outerbanks and Ocracoke Island have been there their whole lives and wouldn't think of leaving, storm or no. My constitution isn't that strong, I don't think.
Lisa Marie...I have a picture of me at 3 in 1977, in a snow suit bundled up to my eyes, standing on top of a snow drift much like you mention. The blizzard of 77 was EVERYWHERE, even in Kentucky. The Ohio River froze over and they drove cars across it!!!!
Farmgirl Sister #80, thanks to a very special farmgirl from the Bluegrass..."She was built like a watch, a study in balance ... with a neck and head so refined, like a drawing by DaVinci"...
NY Newsday sportswriter Bill Nack describing filly, Ruffian.
http://www.buyhandmade.org/ |
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frannie
True Blue Farmgirl
2246 Posts
fran
bonham
texas
USA
2246 Posts |
Posted - May 08 2008 : 09:26:24 AM
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jonni,
the devastation in galveston was incredible from what i heard. my grandmother was 12 and rode the storm out on the roof of her house with family. one of her cousins was washed off and his body was recovered later. my grandma didnt really volunteer stories but i was always a little curious tyke and drove everyone crazy with questions. my moms mother wasliving in brooklyn when the storm hit. and it so terrified her that years later when she came to galveston to marry my grandfather she made him promise that she would never be buried in galveston and when she died when my mom was 6 they made a trip to new york and she is buried there in brooklyn.
most of the disasters that i remember as a child were not natural disasters but refinery explosions. those really impacted my life more than the hurricanes cause there was no warning and you could hear the loud speakers all over the town with the emergency workers and you could see the smoke and fires and while my dad never worked there all your friends did and you would worry that someones dad or mom was injured or killed. the last time i stayed with my mom which was about 6 years ago, there was an explosion and the air was full of the the sounds of the emergency.
i love the gulf coast myself and the people are wonderful, but i was eager to leave not because of the natural disasters but because of the man made disasters. i still miss the natural smells of the gulf coast and the food and the beauty of the beaches and the sky there and the coastal plains, but the pollution and the man made disasters really take its toll on you after a while.
galveston island has some beautiful architecture, and the vegetation is wonderful, it is a gardeners paradise, it really has all the charm of a small island but unfortunately the industry shifted after ww II to petrochemical industry and all that entails. i hope i live long enough to see the end of the heyday of the petrochemical empire. ooops i guess i'm just getting off the subject as i can do.....but i guess a girl can have her dreams.
love
frannie in texas
(http://farmfolks-frannie.blogspot.com/)
(http://abunnystale.blogspot.com/) |
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Across the Fence: have you experienced a natural disaster? |
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have you experienced a natural disaster?
