Ever been displaced by a natural disaster?

[cilla4progress]

Reading the news out of HI on the Kiluea volcano, my heart aches for those having to upend their lives.

I'm curious who here, how many, have ever been displaced by a natural disaster? It's disorienting, terribly stressful, could cause someone already financially precarious to lose ground difficult or impossible to regain.

We lost our home to a wildfire in 1994. Our then 18 mo. old daughter, many pets and farm animals and we came through Ok. We had a lot of help from family and privilege, and were insured.

[CrispyQ]

1. Not me.

My hiking partner was flooded out of her home for three months back in 2013. The house wasn't flooded, she lived on a hill. But the road & her driveway were destroyed. They had scheduled times with the county when they could go check on their property. I've worked with lots of people who have had to evacuate because of flood or forest fires, but my friend was displaced the longest of anyone I've known.

If you don't have money or a great support network, I don't know how you do it.

[LisaM]

2. No, but.....

my mother was on the Parks Commission for a number of years, and in our family, we are all acutely aware of how important it is not to live on flood plains, or in an assumed path of some other natural disaster besides flooding. I know, of course, that not all people who suffer from natural disasters are located in dangerous places, but some are. For example, there was a horrible landslide in Oso, Washington a few years back and a lot of houses and lives were lost. In looking back at the records, it was clear that people had been specifically advised not to log and build on that site, yet they did so anyway.

I know that in places like New Orleans, the answers are not so clear cut as the town is there and people have been there for centuries, and that engineering can mitigate some of it.

I am not trying to cast blame on people who are the victims of natural disasters; far from it. The pictures and devastation I see are horrifying and my heart goes out to them. I guess we can just do what we can do to combine common sense with peoples' need for shelter, and not rebuild on the same spots, or at least (as with hurricanes) stiffen building codes and do what we can manage on our end. I can't imagine how horrible it must be to lose everything.

[lpbk2713]

3. Power's been out up to five days from hurricanes.

But never chose to leave. The Central Florida summer time
heat and humidity was kind of intense but we waited it out.

[DrDan]

4. had to leave our home several time due to hurricanes - including each of the past two years

Had some home damage on several occasions, but nothing major. We could move back into our home when we returned.

To me the stress came from not knowing what damage we were getting until we returned.

[Hekate]

5. Thomas Fire: 11 pm mandatory evac, no warning, power out, woke my husband, leashed the dog...

...threw our Rx meds in a basket, woke my husband again, insisted he come outside and look at the sky for gods' sake, so he shuffled slowly down the hall, after which he grabbed the big binder with all our financials in it, and we took our two old cars and headed out of the canyon.

Other than that, the clothes on our backs. The quick action and their sequence were reflexive after a lifetime of mental preparation.

We are very fortunate on many counts: first, I was awake. The wind was up, the dog and I were both edgy, and the last thing I read on FB before the lights went out was a post from a friend in Santa Paula saying there was a fire there. I went down the hall in the dark and woke my husband to tell him that -- he said no worries, it's 10 miles away. Less than an hour later it was practically in our backyard. Our new home has double paned windows -- I did not hear a damned thing when the cops drove up and down the street with their loud-hailers. Instead, in the corner of one window I saw blue and red flashing lights, went out on the front porch and hailed a passing civilian car to ask what was going on.

Second, we had someplace to go to, namely hubby's brother and wife who live only a few miles away in a flatlands tract and not in the foothills -- tho it was iffy for awhile everywhere, and the fire came right to the back door of City Hall. We stayed with them for two weeks.

Third, our neighborhood was spared, all except one house. The first night the fire passed over, and the next day when it came back from the other direction the water-dropping helicopters were able to do their job. The surrounding hills, tho, were black for months. We looked at a lot of houses last Spring, and many of them are gone.

Well, that's all for now. We all have our stories...

[cilla4progress]

8. Thanks for your very moving

Account!

Glad you were spared.

[LanternWaste]

6. A tornado in 2000 blew through Ft Worth and made the apartment complex I lived

A tornado in 2000 blew through Ft Worth and made the apartment complex I lived in uninhabitable (though it didn't technically destroy the property). Mandatory Renter's Insurance saved my bacon.

I stayed with friends for a month, and then moved into the urban blight located between Dallas and Ft Worth the residents call Arlington.

[cilla4progress]

10. Oh...

😞

So sorry, Lantern!

[Dem_4_Life]

7. I have a friend that was displaced after Katrina

It was extremely hard. Luckily she found work pretty easily but it was hard to start over with 3 kids and only a bag full of clothes. She started out with an apartment and then went to get a TV and DVD player, basic dishes and food so the kids could have some normalcy. It took awhile to truly get back on her feet but once she went back to see if she could salvage anything from her old house and realized it was hopeless sh decided to stay put in San Antonio.

[cilla4progress]

9. Heartbreaking!

Thank you for sharing your friend’s story with us, Dem.

[kentuck]

11. Flood

Home was underwater for 3 days. Lost everything.

[cilla4progress]

14. Oh my, Kentuck!

When was this?

So sorry

[kentuck]

15. It was a long time ago..

..in 1977. I moved to Atlanta soon after and later settled in Colorado.

[cilla4progress]

19. Not

Phoenix?

Glad you survived and thrived...

[Tommy_Carcetti]

12. Considered leaving when we were in Irma's path but ultimately stayed.

Florida was in the direct path of what was at one time projected to be a Cat 4 or 5 storm. I told myself I'd consider leaving if we were in a direct path of a 4 or 5.

The problem was that the storm's path covered all of the state of Florida, and we are in the South part. I have family up in North Florida, but they were just as much in the path as we were. You'd have to go up to North Georgia to be safe. And there are only two major north south routes leading out of Florida, that being Interstate 95 and 75. Predictably, those roads would be at a near standstill and there was the risk of getting trapped as well as fuel shortages.

In the end, we stayed. We got tropical storm force winds (40-60 mph) for over a day which wasn't fun but not nearly as bad as what we felt during Hurricane Wilma, where we saw winds over 100 mph. We didn't even lose power at our house.

[cilla4progress]

17. Oh my...

Damned if you do..yadda yadda!

Glad you were safe, TC!

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

13. I have been-twice

It is disorienting and depressing. It can be expensive-if you can find alternate lodging. It's hard to work, because you're distracted and for me, I couldn't even take a shower for a couple of days each time. You're disconnected from everything you take for granted that makes for a normal life. It takes a long time to get back to feeling normal again. It just sucks, and I had a home that I could eventually go back to that wasn't damaged too badly. I'm still feeling a little off kilter just thinking about it.

[lame54]

16. Like a mother-in-law?

[cilla4progress]

18. Haha! Funny you should mention.....

I am going to spend 5 days (through the holiday weekend...) with my 90 yr. old MIL who recently broke her arm.

My theory: as we age, and lose our capacities, we can either become bitter, or sweet.

My MIL, dear Alyce, has chosen the former.

I am graced to spend some special time with her.

I do hear you, though, lame!