Worst natural disaster to hit your state in your lifetime? (schools, tornado)

[censusdata]

I'd say the worst one in Kentucky since my birth in 1983 was the March 1997 Flooding which left 30 dead statewide and nearly wiped out the town of Falmouth

[Widowmaker2k]

Hmm, I guess for California, the worst natural disaster in my lifetime would have to be the Northridge Earthquake. 72 Killed, 9,000 injured, $20 Billion in damage.

[bobsmith]

I actually can't think of any truly terrible natural disasters that took place in Pennsylvania in the last couple of decades. The best I can come up with is the many floods that affect the low-lying river towns across the state, for example Hurricane Floyd in 1999 and many since, but those have claimed few lives but significant property damage.

[ajf131]

The Great Flood of 1993 without a doubt, and I even have a picture of me as a little kid standing by the floodwater which people flocked to see. The Missouri and Mississippi overflowing was a catastrophe. You can still see remnants of that flood today...certain areas of Missouri and Illinois have newly formed lakes from the flooding. As far as the greatest disaster ever to hit Missouri, I would say the New Madrid Earthquake is definitely number 1. They said that whole landscapes were swallowed up, the Mississippi actually flowed backwards for a time, and the quake was so powerful that it made church bells ring in Boston. The entire geological area of that region was changed back in the early 1800s when it happened.

[Bydand]

I really cannot think of any major Natural Disaster to hit Michigan in the past few decades. Maybe the closest would be the flooding last year, but while it caused numerous roads to wash out and several bridges to wash out, that is about it. A few tornadoes over the years. and some wind storms; but nothing major.

[DgoNative]

The worst for Colorado would be the forest fires in the summer of 2002

The Hayman Fire:



and The Missionary Ridge Fire:

[ATX Homeboy]

In my lifetime there have been many natural disasters but none that I can classify as worse than any other. There have been many flashfloods in central Texas, at least one each decade. Lots of Hurricanes but nothing on the level of Katrina or Andrew. Hail storms in west Texas get nasty, as big as softballs and large grapefruits. Snow in the panhandle but that's regional. Wildfires especially during the 70's. Droughts like the one we're in currently. I guess the worst single thing that happened in my lifetime would have to be the F5 Tornado that literally wiped Jarrell, Texas off the map.

[Verseau]

The Northeast seems to be spared from the most deadly natural disasters, although there have been some exceptions, such as the New England Hurricane of 1938 and the Worcester Tornado of 1953. The most frequent threats are blizzards and Nor'easters (e.g. the Blizzard of '78).

As for my lifetime, there haven't been any disasters in New Hampshire on the scale of those out west or down south, but these were the worst:

-Ice storm of 1998
-Floods of 2006
-Tornadoes, floods of 2008
-Ice storm of 2008

It's a bit frightening how frequent these major weather events are becoming. Wide-scale flooding has never been a serious threat in New England, but the flooding in May 2006 was probably the most significant of all these disasters. The dams on the principal river running through my town were in danger of breaking; the downtown was evacuated and the national guard was called in. Fortunately, the situation was resolved before much damage was done, but it was still one of the more exciting thing's that happened in my town.

There were also smaller flooding events in 2005 and 2007 that resulted in some deaths. The flash flooding in the summer of 2008 also caused at least one death that I know of -- and the entire season was marked by unusually strong storms (including hailstorms, which are an extreme rarity in this part of the country) and even tornadoes, which also led to several deaths.

The ice storm back in December didn't result in any casualties that I know of (aside from road accidents, perhaps), but the impact on the electricity supply in the state was quite significant. Some people were without power for up to 2 weeks.

[fromdust]

probably the tornado outbreak on may 3 1999. something like 66 tornadoes in oklahoma, and one super massive that tore through the okc metro. the ef5 had 320 mi/hr winds, strongest winds ever recorded on earth. pretty freaky evening as i recall.

[grapico]

Hurricane Andrew... I remember our schools wouldn't use wood in shop class because they needed it to rebuild Miami.

or 2004 when it got hit by 4 cat4/5's That was the last summer I spent in FL.