Does Oregon experience natural disasters/problems as much as other Western states? (flooding, coastal)

[Smiled]

Cascadia Subduction Zone.

[Yahuchannon]

I believe God told me that Oregon is the most blessed place to live on the entire earth right now. Hopefully it will continue to be. If I had to say where the safest place in Oregon is, I would have to say somewhere in Southwest Oregon between the coastal mountain range and the Cascades.

Wow, Mt. Hood is an active volcano? veeery scarey! Hopefully Portland stays on God's good side. Goooo Trailblazers!!!

Seriously, I don't see Oregon having too many disasters. I think it's a very safe state to live in.

Oh and why wasn't Southern Oregon part of the poll?

[sarvelaj]

Of course the idea that "anything's possible" can't be ruled out of any situation, but the idea of a tsunami reaching the Willamette Valley is, in my head, pure science fiction. I had lived in Oregon for the first 20 years of my life, having driven from the Cascade foothills to the Oregon coast at least twice per year. Let me tell you that the Coast range averages about 1500 feet in elevation as well as the large peaks overlapping more than 30 miles inland at the least. No matter which way you choose to drive there, you will exceed 1000' in elevation. The only remotely plausible scenario would be for the "tidal wave" to push over 100 miles up the Columbia River to reach Portland. The only thing that COULD do that would be some kind of giant meteorite striking immediately off of the coast; i would imagine that if an asteroid of that size were to strike the world in any place, the last thing you would worry about is a tsunami (i.e. your dead). If i were you, I would worry more about the 9.0+ earthquake that is estimated to be more than 200 years overdue. Since the landscape of pretty much the entire western half of Oregon (and Washington for that matter), is soft, loose soil and old volcanic sediment, any massive quaking would cause an immediate liquefaction of the soil, causing it to loose all integrity, and I hope that you know what comes next. No? Okay let me paint a picture. Google search an image of the Portland West Hills (where OHSU and all of the major hospitals in the area are) turning into a brief state of liquid, flowing directly into the Willamette River below, potentially damming the river. But I'm guessing at that point, your all mostly dead. For the most part, Oregon is a safe place ( as scary as it's potential is.) The weather there is mild; severe storms don't happen often, and the volcano threat is more for story than anything. I love Portland and hope to move back someday...Anyways, that's what happens in my head (with a few courses in Geology of Natural Hazards) lol

[Larry Caldwell]

Originally Posted by Silverfall

You all are going to freak people out. We have 5 active volcanos in Oregon.
Dynamic Map Oregon Volcanoes

Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson, 3 sisters, Newberry Calderra, and Crater Lake. Most of Western Oregon and the Bend area would be affected by a volcanic eruption.

If someone is terrified of Volcano's Oregon is not the place for them, but our Volcanos' are not like Hawaii. None of us know what would come spewing out. Let's not freak people out about it.

I have lived in the valley for 20 years and felt an earthquake once. Seriously it knocked a vase off a table and lasted about 10 seconds. Earthquakes occur daily in Oregon and are rarely felt.

Central Oregon volcanoes often open new vents. There are hundreds of small cinder cones in Central Oregon Cascades. The most recent movement of magma was between the North Sister and Mt. Jefferson. Mt. Mazama was actually a cluster of vents before the giant caldera eruption.

[Minervah]

The OP who began this thread a couple of years ago also included "stable economy" in his post. I would be a lot more fearful of Oregon's economy than I would it's volcanos.

[mwruckman]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

Let's just note that neither of those towns were there at those respective times. (i.e. Orting couldn't have really been buried if it wasn't there).

You are right but I only use these community names as indications of place. If there were any witnesses they would have been native Americans! A lot of these memorable disasters are passed down in their oral traditions. For example they remeber the massive landslides that partially damed the Columbia Gorge during the 1701 Megaquake and Tsunami. The same is true with natives in Central Oregon and the last major eruptions of the Three Sisters, Newberry Crater and on the MacKenzie Pass 700-900 years ago.

[pw72]

I see Oregon's natural disaster potential from a Tsunami from an off shore quake that would mostly cause damage along the Oregon coast.

As for volcanos, I was reading the old posts here, and yes, I had the lava thing wrong. However, the lava flows were thousands of years ago as I understand it. Most recent eruptions have been ash and mud flows. This isn't to say lava is not possible again. It just seems we are in a different mode right now with Cascade volcanos. And I don't see any recent lava evidence in Washington State. The most recent danger assessment from Rainier is lahars. (mud, debris, water).

[Random_Walk]

Tsunamis:
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It would have to be one mother of a tsunami to hit Portland.
Now out here on the coast? A somewhat more present worry, and to that end, any town with more than 500 people in it is going to have evacuation routes to get you towards high ground. The amount of time you have to make that distance depends on where the tsunami-generating earthquake happened... if we get a repeat of last year's Japanese tsunami, you have a few hours before you need to worry about it (and even then, last year's tsunami wasn't this big apocalyptic thing... it was a whopping 2' tall. Enough to maybe knock your kid off his feet.) OTOH, it is possible to get something ugly, and to that end, just keep a mental note of where the evacuation route is. If you hear the sirens, or notice that the ocean got sucked waaaaaaaaaaaaay down below low tide, take that as a cue to get your butt up the hill, ASAP.


Volcanoes:
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Two big ones in the PDX neighborhood: Mt Hood (dormant), and Mt St. Helens in Washington (which rudely spewed an inch or two of ash on PDX metro last time it went off - it's currently the best bet for an eruption again, sometime within our lifetimes.)


Earthquakes:
========
Minor at best... don't hold your breath waiting for something San Francisco-sized. I think the absolute worst one I've felt was in PDX, which resulted in a picture frame being tilted approximately 0.02 degrees off-level (a slight exaggeration, yeah). Long story short, you'd stand a better chance of some kid's rice-rocket exhaust reverberating more damage than you would from an earthquake.

Hurricanes:
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Believe it or not, those technically happen out here on the beach, and sometimes they happen inland. Any storm with winds over 62 mph is technically a hurricane, after all. Just keep the loose stuff secured, your trash cans in the garage, and make sure the satellite dish installer puts a real solid set of bolts in.

Alien Invasion:
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Like clockwork, every time they host the Rose Festival.


...did I miss anything?

Oh, wait! I did... Tillamook had a funnel cloud over the past weekend. Didn't really do anything of note, but it scared the bejeebers out of some local farmers and a herd of cows.

[pw72]

Just a slight disagreement on earthquakes. A large subduction quake off the Pacific coast (8.0-9.0) could be catastrophic for the coast, and would certainly be felt inland and possibly causing damage in the Willamette Valley and Portland. The last one was in 1700. The window is 300-500 years, so as I said earlier in this thread, we are now in the window.

[dkloregonlover]

There are tons of lava beds in the Bend and Central Oregon area! I lived in Salem Oregon in the early '90's when there was a 5.2 earthquake there. Portland, Oregon is due for a major 9.0 earthquake.