What are the least disaster-prone regions in the US?

[Armstead]

The threat facing New Orleans got me wondering whether there are any regions that are safe from predictable disasters.

By predictable, I mean the natural disasters that occur regularly because of a region's characteristics. This is in contrasts to flukes that catch everyone by surprise because it is unexpected.

The southeast-Gulf Coast faces hurricanes every year. As bad as they are, they are a perennial Sword of Damacles hanging over every community there. They are part of summer.

Up here in New England, summer is usually benign. Wicked summer storms are rare enough that we don't usually have to worry about them...But for us, winther is the trecherous season. We face the annual threat of severe Noreasters and otehr storms that can be just as devesating as hurricanes -- with the added problems of frigid temperatures and being trapped by walls of snow.

People in Tornado Alley face the perennial threat of twisters.

I'm just wondering if there are any regions that don't have to live with some accepted real or potential threat that is a regular part of life.

[JesterCS]

1. well.

Ohio. nothing happens here ever

[sickinohio]

2. Sometimes we have blizzards

or blizzard conditions.

[NV Whino]

3. Except election fraud

:rofl:

[JesterCS]

7. hehe

well.... election fraud ya, but,, thats widespread, not just ohio =p

[sickinohio]

8. Oh yea - we have that too!!

And don't forget - crooked convicted governors, rePukes investing in coin-gate, etc, etc, etc

[ohio_liberal]

9. Not true

Ohio has flooding, dangerous winter storms, and the Ohio River is one big fault line. We have, so far, minor tremors.

[sickinohio]

11. Also, we've had plenty

tornadoes

[ohio_liberal]

19. That too for sure n/t

[JesterCS]

20. ya

well depends on how close you live to the river valley. i live about 30 miles north of the river.. and we dont get much flooding. Blizzards.. not really. last winter was lame.. more cold air than anything.

And i know we got that small fault down south of the river. apparently its growing every year

[ohio_liberal]

28. Two years ago we got 29 inches of snow in 48 hours

And we're not considered part of the snow belt.

[Individualist]

14. Xenia, 1974

was nothing?

[ohio_liberal]

25. Shadyside, OH 1990 as well

http://www.weather.com/encyclopedia/flood/shady90.html

[JDPriestly]

16. Is Ohio on an earthquake faultline?

Earthquakes can occur suddenly even if there has never been one within memory. Parts of the midwest are on a faultline. I was thinking it was Ohio, but I'm not sure.

[ohio_liberal]

22. Yes

The Ohio River runs along a fault line. We've had some minor quakes, nothing significant. Just bad enough to rattle the dishes in the cupboards.

[sickinohio]

23. We must be -

I remember about ten or so years ago, sitting in a restaurant in Toledo and there was a very slight earthquake and felt the building just sway very slightly. I thought I had just gotten a little dizzy, and then heard on the news that there had been a slight earthquake.

[proud2BlibKansan]

45. I remember a horrible

tornado in Ohio back in the 70s.

[JohnLocke]

53. Wyoming; Colorado; Utah; West Virginia (except mining accidents).

[Lorien]

64. Lol!

I grew up in Ohio and faced floods, tornadoes, and crippling blizzards ('76 was, er, "fun"). Xenia was pretty much destroyed by a tornado. Maybe you haven't lived there for very long?

[Canuckistanian]

4. Anywhere Dick Cheney goes

Heh.
Probably places like Ohio, Illinois, Monatana, Idaho.
Inland places that don't see either sea storms or tornadoes.

[HereSince1628]

47. You beat me to it, safest place is an undisclosed location...

[NV Whino]

5. There's always California

A little shake and bake once in a while, but otherwise pretty calm.

[Armstead]

10. I was thinking there....

...The weather there seems comparatively benign.

But I'm not sure if the prospect of The Big One cancels that out on the Safe-O-Meter.

[NV Whino]

34. The thing is...

California builds to combat earthquake damage. Not much you can do to combat hurricane or tornado damage, andt they come every effing year. That is not to say the the reeeealy big one wouldn't cause devistation, but the little ones 6, 7 and even 8 don't cause much damage these days. And yeah, don't build on a cliff edge (duh) or in a flood plain. But that goes for anywhere.


Weather is mostly good. We've been having a really hot summer, here in the Napa Valley, but we're low on humidity so it's bearable--and I don't have air conditioning.

[Armstead]

36. Maybe a floating home in CA is the answer

If someone could build the technology to buildf a home that floats a few feet off the ground and thus impervious to earthquakes.

Then you get the great California weather without being subject to the whims of the geological plates. :)

[NV Whino]

48. That's pretty much what the new earthquake

contruction is about. The buildings float and flex. It is the rigid construction that fails. Most all old buildings have been retrofitted these days.

[JDPriestly]

12. Mud slides, but you don't have to buy property

on a hillside.

[Blue Belle]

38. Mudslides and wild fires....

I'm surprised there haven't been more fires there this summer.

[JDPriestly]

61. Me too. Of course there is always September.

I think people are cutting and burning brush more effectively this year. Everyone is aware of the extreme danger of fires this year.

[salin]

44. in my time there - a major earthquake in the south... and huge mudslides

in the north... all in just five years. I missed the major wildfires by a year or two.

Now I am in tornado alley (where northern airfronts collide with the gulf stream) in Indiana.

Imagine most areas are prone to one or more natural disasters.

[MnFats]

6. probably those up us in the upper midwest...Mn, Wi. Mich...

and the Dakotas...

We sit on some of the oldest granite on the planet....but there have been a couple of mild earthquakes in my lifetime.
And We do have tornados -- seemingly increasing in number and severity in recent years...
and there's the occasional blizzard of biblical proportions.
And a few times each winter, deadly -35 or more cold. Don't get caught ill-equipped out in the countryside, and don't slide into the ditch.
and after all that snow piles up, it has to melt and we may get major flooding...

OK, maybe not.

But fortunately, forecasting has reached a point where we know this shit is coming. We probably will not have another Armistice Day blizzard that killed dozens of hunters, or a killer storm that sank the Edmond Fitzgerald....probably, anyway.

[etherealtruth]

33. I read an interesting article a couple of years ago ...

... the gist of which was: with global warming, diminishing resources ... the Great Lakes region was going to be akin to paradise (Of course I don't have a link and only have the vaguest memory r/t the arguments made).

That said, there are certainly drawbacks to Southeastern Michigan, but our weather definitely milder than other areas at the same latitude.

[getmeouttahere]

50. It really makes sense...

moving to Canada looks better every day, politically and weather-wise

[Payne]

13. PA seems pretty calm

Although there was some flooding near Pittsburgh at the time of the hurricanes last year,other then that it's pretty good.

[Armstead]

26. PA seems to get its share of blizzards

But maybe they aren't usually on the same epic scale

[ordinaryaveragegirl]

15. Not KS...

Sure, we're known for tornadoes. But ice storms and flooding are the worse culprits here. The Kansas Turnpike is a death trap in flash flood conditions.

[getmeouttahere]

17. that's easy....pacific northwest!

when was the last time you heard about a major disaster in the pnw?

[hobbit709]

24. 1981

Mt. St. Helens

[getmeouttahere]

35. But how many people did that affect?

and it was 24 yrs ago!

[Armstead]

29. I used to live in Seattle

Except for the volcano threat, you may be right.

Possibly the worst threat there is depression from winter greys.

I loved it there, and appreciated the lack of winter. But -- paradoxically, I got to missing changes in season too.

[ThoughtCriminal]

32. Significant geologic hazards

Tsunami in Puget Sound would be bad.

Mt Rainier is considered the most dangerous volcano in the lower 48.

[Pobeka]

41. We're going to have our "big one" earthquake sooner or later.

As in Richter 8,9 or even 10. If one of those happens, the death toll will be in the 10's of thousands here in Puget Sound. Eastern washington is looking pretty good given that perspective.

Mt. Rainier, as pointed out is an active volcanoe. Last time it went off (300 years ago I think), a wall of mud something like 20 or 30 feet high came roaring down the Puyallup river valley at 60 miles and hour, scouring everything in it's path. Now the river floodplain is all built up because it's flat and cheap to build there. Death tolls could again be in the thousands, if not 10's of thousands.

But the 2 weeks of summer we have here are great!

[Blue Belle]

46. Mt Hood is also an active volcano... and St. Helens is still very active..

But you're right about the 2 weeks of summer. Why yesterday, it was even sunny on the coast (although right now it's raining).

[Blue Belle]

43. Sure... if you don't mind the earthquakes, floods, and volcanos...

it ain't that bad a place to live. Just make sure you know the Tsunami route out of the coastal town you visit... and have an unbrella with you at all times (even the sunny days). :-)

[getmeouttahere]

49. How often do you think these things happen?

Even in L.A., the two major earthquakes in the last 35 years came 23 years apart ('71 & '94) and happened within 5 miles of each other. Quake activity in PNW is negligible. And even the volcanic activity affects an extremely small percentage of the population. Meanwhile, millions are affected by hurricanes in the south EVERY YEAR. That's not even taking into account every day living, with almost no humidity throughout the west coast, particularly compared to most of the rest of the country.

[hobbit709]

54. Check out the info here

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/12/1208_031208_tsunami.html

And get ready to head for the hills.

[getmeouttahere]

57. Yeah, I'm heading for the hills over something that could...

happen 200 years from now, for all we know, and the scientists too, for that matter. To me, that is not unlike someone who headed for the hills the last time some fundie nutjob predicted the second coming.

[Blue Belle]

55. We get small earthquakes here on the Oregon coast all the time...

If you don't believe me, check out the volcanic activity maps on the US geological web site. And while you are right in saying large earthquakes only happen every once in a while, a large earthquake 8.0 or higher could devistate cities who are built on marshy bogs such as Seattle or Portland as well as whipe out coastal communities should a Tsunami occur. I know this is largly "what if" sentiment, but we never know when it's going to happen - and they (the geoligists and siesmologists)are predicting it to happen.

The flooding does happen almost every year though...

[getmeouttahere]

58. So are you planning on moving to Michigan because....

scientists are predicting something that could happen 200 years from now.

BTW, I grew up in Southern Oregon.

[Blue Belle]

81. I'm not planning on moving to Michigan...

I'm just saying it isn't the calm pastorial perfect setting you make it out to be. I don't think such a place exists...

[all.of.me]

18. north central new mexico

it's very calm here, as far as natural disasters. but there are a lot of defunct volcanoes, so there is the possibility of that acting up again, but it's not in the foreseeable future. we have winter, we have summer, but we don't have tornadoes or hurricanes or earthquakes. now, the rest of the state is another matter!

[Tallison]

37. What about drought? nt

[all.of.me]

69. i don't think of a drought as a natural disaster

we've been in one for ten years. there is water, just not what the area has been used to over a long period of time.

i'd say it is a LONG TERM disaster, though, because people don't conserve. in santa fe and albuquerque, there have been bans on construction, because of how much water it uses. but not here in taos! nooooo, we think water will last forever, so we just suck it up, wash sidewalks with hoses, water mass areas of grass in the middle of hot, windy days, plant more grass and build build build. the desert can only handle so many people, and .... what was that cliche term so popular a few years ago? critical mass! that's it! i think we are reaching critical mass as far as water vs. population, especially wasteful second homes. ok. i am ranting now. time for bed, methinks.

[Cleita]

21. I don't think so. Every area has its drawbacks.

I personally am more scared of strong winds like tornadoes and hurricanes than I am earthquakes. The only scary thing about earthquakes is that they hit without warning, so you don't really have time to get out of the way of the things that might fall on you, like walls and cielings. :-)

[hobbit709]

27. I figure if you don't live

below sea level, where the ground moves or mountains smoke you're reasonably safe. Ordinary weather like thunderstorms, blizzards and the like you can ride out with reasonable precautions.

[ThoughtCriminal]

30. Not much happening in Arizona

The summer monsoon can bring some high winds, lightning and flash floods. But these are seldom life threatening except for an occasional motorist who tries to drive across a flooded stream. Tornadoes are rare and generally small. Duststorms can cause major traffic accidents.

The mountains and northern part of the state can get heavy snow, but the areas are sparsely populated and rarely reach what we would call a disaster.

Heat waves can kill a significant number of people, like this summer, but so do heat waves in the east.

Forrest fires are a major problem, but they are mainly a threat to property, not lives (exception - fighting the fires is a dangerous job).

Earthquakes are also rare and not very strong.

There are volcanoes, none active or threatening. I think the most recent activity was about 1000-1200 years ago - not long for a volcano.

The only way we would get a Tsunami is if a really big asteroid landed off the California coast.

[getmeouttahere]

39. I'll take the relative cool....

of a PNW summer, with almost no humidity, over the god-awful heat in AZ any day. Earthquakes just don't happen often enough, even in calif, for that to be a consideration for me.

[ThoughtCriminal]

59. The heat is a health problem

but not really a "Disaster". I moved here from Alabama and found that it really wasn't as uncomfortable as the muggy heat there - until it hits 115 F+.

As for me, I put up with the heat for 20 years and then moved up to 5000-feet. Not bad at all here.

[Tallison]

40. Exposure can be an issue

for illegals crossing in from the border. The barreness and drought around Tucson is pretty incompatible with life.

[Pharlo]

31. The world's population has increased so drastically,

that every minor meteorlogical or geographical hiccup has the potential to be a 'disaster'.

Really, there's nowhere to go to 'get away'.

Tornados, earthquakes, mud slides, fires, floods, extreme heat or cold, drought, tsunamis.....

Then, of course, there's the local wildlife or fauna...

Fellow humans (Iraq, Darfur). Our own stupidity (ie. Darwin Award Recipients)...


I hear Heaven is supposed to be safe, but getting there can be a bumpy ride and, based upon the state of religion worldwide today, I'm not certain I'd want to associate with many of the individuals who are convinced that shall be their final respite.... :shrug:

I'm from Wisconsin....Tornadoes, floods, droughts, heat, cold, snow. May not know exactly when you'll get hit, but you know eventually you'll get it.

[troubleinwinter]

42. The earth does not care about you

she is hurtling through space along her orbit, captive of the sun, pulled by the moon, spinning on her axis, with her hot guts roiling. Volcanoes spew, currents of the sea press and push, air spins hot and cold. Frozen caps, blistering deserts, shifting plates.

It's a dangerous place, wherever you live your teensy dust-speck of a life on this amazing ball.

[Armstead]

62. Gee thanks

That was reassuring.

I sorta had that one figured out years ago though. But it's more like where the odds are better.

[troubleinwinter]

67. Paris?

[Pepperbelly]

51. STFA from Rudy Giuliani when he shows up somewhere! nt

[Armstead]

63. Or GW

[JNelson6563]

52. Michigan

Sometimes we get a lot of snow but other than that, nothing hard to live with. Most of the state is pretty hilly so tornadoes happen rarely.

Julie

[CabalPowered]

56. Lots of companies have backup colocation facilities around Burns, OR

There are dozens dotting Highway 20.

[VADem11]

60. Virginia seems pretty good

We hardly have hurricanes or extreme blizards. Isabel in 2003 was the exception. We don't seem to hgave any real extreme weather that hangs over us.

[bribri16]

65. DC metro area.... no doubt about it. n/t

[Digit]

77. unafforable and ripe for bubble bursting

When I left the area in 1996, a one bedroom condo in Skyline Towers (Falls Church, Va) was approx $60,000. Now, they go for $270,000.

I was a Realtor up there for many, many years and my best friend still is a Realtor up there. Oh, and he owns a couple of condos in Skyline Towers.

[Digit]

79. I forgot....it is a target as well. eom

[sakabatou]

66. Oregon?

[Xithras]

68. Most of California

The coast has quakes, but there are vast sections of this state that experience no natural disasters at all.

[Sgent]

70. I would say

central and eastern TN and KY would be fairly good, probably into the Carolinas.

Other than the occasional tornado (not a big deal unless you live in a trailer), your in good shape.

[Flaxbee]

78. my little corner of western North Carolina's a paradise...

about 1/2 hour north of the Georgia/NC border, about 1 hour southwest of Asheville.

Snow in the winter, but nothing horrible... we're in a nice valley that seems to shelter us from the worst of winter storms. Some summer humidity, but NOTHING like other parts of the east coast. I'm from Southern California, and while the climate there is lovely, the population density seems to me like a disaster in and of itself.

And I don't care how much people talk about building safety in Cal., if you're in the wrong place in an earthquake, ain't nothing gonna keep you safe when the bridge collapses, or the ground opens up and swallows the car.

[oda]

71. New Jersey

Hot Summers, Cold Winters... Hurricanes will give us good waves, not deadly, never seen a tsunami and I beleive the biggest earthquake was under 2.0 on the richter

[Stinky The Clown]

72. Baltimore-Washington metro area

We get all sorts of weather, but always the mini versions.

There are actually earthquakes here ....... generally so small they're not felt.

There are hurricanes here, but we're far enough inland that they don't hurt nearly as bad as they do in coastal regions.

There are winter storms here and we've had two really bad ones in the nearly 30 years I've lived here, but that's way less than lots of other areas.

There was an F5 tornado in a town in Maryland, about 30 miles southeast of DC, a year or three ago.

But on balance, we seem to be pretty well located with respect to ongoing high rish natural disaster danger.

Our biggest 'natural disaster' is summer heat and humidity ..... we can easily rival Houston and New Orleans in that regard.

[sundog]

73. nothing ever happens in new mexico

but then again, nothing ever does happen in new mexico... in an all around sense

[immoderate]

74. Arizona

Phoenix can be a little hot in the summer. But no blizzards, quakes, tornadoes or floods. Oh yeah, most of the people there never heard of sarcasm.

--IMM

[ElsewheresDaughter]

75. upstate NY

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

76. Chicago's been good to me

Tornadoes don't form this close to Lake Michigan. We get some damn hot summers and some damn cold winters, and the occasional blizzard, and sometimes violent thunderstorms are accompanied by winds that can uproot weaker trees and damage buildings. People are also a little edgy about the West Nile virus spread by mosquitoes, as cases have been on the rise this year. But otherwise Chicago experiences no natural disasters.

In years to come the New Madrid fault could make things interesting, especially with all the highrises and nuclear plants in the area. And if global warming continues to raise lake levels a lot of highly developed land could be permanently flooded.

But so far, so good.

[zulchzulu]

80. Madison, Wisconsin

Yeah, it gets cold...so what. Ice is nice. It's far enough away from the New Madrid fault line. It's very liveable and progressive.

South of Madison, you might find tornados...but the city is quite safe if you can handle winters.