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Thanks for all the information! Certainly from what I've read, hurricanes would not preclude me from living in Rhode Island. I agree -- I'd much rather deal with a hurricane risk than a tornado risk, for precisely the reason that you have warning and typically have time to evacuate.
Being close to water is a typically strong preference for me because of allergies -- I find it makes a huge difference -- but I'd be looking most likely at Providence or immediate suburbs, so that's a little further inland than, say, Newport.
Cancelling insurance in places that need insurance always seemed unethical to me, but I guess that's how it goes. That's like saying Kansans can't buy tornado insurance (is there such a thing?), but people in California can. LOL
Thanks for all the information and detailed informaton!
Just one more final note to keep in mind………(ah, us climate geeks could go on all day)……………
There is this common false perception that a tornado is as bad or worse than a hurricane. Or that severe thunderstorms and straight-line winds can do as much damage as major hurricane. Straight-line winds (gust fronts) usually don’t have winds of 160-mph for hour and half or lift the tide up 20-feet above normal and carry your house into the ocean. A major hurricane is 10 times worse than any tornado or severe thunderstorm!
The damage path of 90% of all tornadoes is about 1-miles wide. About 75% of all tornadoes last for an average of 30-seconds or less at one point (say, over your house). Terrible as the damage may be on your street, or group of streets – a few blocks away are untouched and things are functioning perfectly normal.
This is not the case with a major hurricane. The damaged area around a major hurricane can be 100-miles wide (at times much more). Tornadoes damage homes or streets – hurricanes damage sections of whole states. Hurricane Andrew in 1992 destroyed an area as big as the city of Chicago – one could not go a few streets over, or 30-miles away, since everything was destroyed everywhere. Katrina leveled an area the size of southern Rhode Island. Most hurricanes last about 1 to 3 hours - not 30 seconds.
You are much more likely to get help very quick after a tornado, since a very short distance away, roads, electricity, medical tretment, and stores are functional. In a major hurricane, the complete collapse of modern society is what your left with. Roads are blocked 40-miles from where you are, the don’t just have to repair the wires on your street to get the power back up – but have to repair hundreds of miles of wires, finding medical attention from your doctor in the next town may be difficult - when his or her own office was blow away and they are very likely dealing with their own problems (house damage, injuries…etc.)
Again go Hurricane Andrew or to HURRICANE OF 1938 and read about how the 1938 Hurricane and Hurricane Andrew completely and full destroyed the regions that they hit in for a long time. Just look at Katrina – almost 500,000 people (bigger than the city of Boston!) left the city never to return because the infrstructure was so full destroyed. The US Government has tried to keep that fact somewhat out of the spotlight – but its fact proven by the US Census Bureau 2007 data.
Typhoons in Asia have killed 300,000 people in three hours (as recent as 1991). Even in the United States 10,000 were killed in Texas in 1900. So again rare events - but it seems to make sense that if you are moving to an area that has had a major disaster in the not to distant past – it makes sense to be prepared. Don’t use a tornado or thunderstorm as reference. Humans are no match for a tropical cyclone.
At the time of Hurricane Gloria, I lived on Great Island in Narragansett. I had to evacuate to a friend's house in Wakefield. I brought a stray cat with me whom I had befriended and was worried about. The hurricane was predicted to be a monster - it was Category 5 for a while - and the anticipation was nerve wracking. The morning of the hurricane, my friend and I went to Almac's in Wakefield to buy food, and when we got back to the parking lot the wind was starting. It howled for hours.
The hurricane had weakened considerably and, surprisingly, there was no rain. I think one person in Wakefield was killed by an electric wire that had fallen. It just was a fairly tense time indoors, waiting for the power to go out, which it eventually did. I remember hearing a URI instructor complain later about how long it was taking to restore his power. But I think power was restored fairly quickly in Wakefield and Narragansett.
The other thing I remember is that the fall foliage was ruined that year. No colors. Just brown. I had been looking forward to the foliage and was disappointed. I heard somewhere that if the hurricane had come at a slightly different time, it might have harmed the trees so that they never produced fall colors again. I don't know how true that is, though.
I was told that Hurricane Bob did more damage. I was back in NYC by then, but I spent part of a visit helping my friend repair the damage to her garden.
What concerns me about Gloria is that there was all this hype and the reality fell far short of it. Needless to say, it's good that the hurricane was not a monster, but the bullet dodging may have led to real complacency, which is very dangerous.
Yes, hurricanes are fairly rare. So, in terms of likelihood, the risk is small. But in terms of impact, the risk is huge. All you need is one hurricane to thoroughly disrupt your life. Think of the evacuation, the fear, the losses, the cleanup, the expenses and then the fights with the insurance companies who want to nickel and dime you after you've paid hefty premiums for years, if not decades. Think of Hurricane Katrina. And that hit land, I believe, as a Category 3.
One of the reasons I want to leave Brooklyn is the risk of hurricanes. Again, not a big risk in terms of likelihood, but in terms of impact, a huge one. The congestion and traffic of NYC would make it almost impossible to evacuate in time. And the bridges and tunnels, bottlenecks at the best of times, might be out of commission altogether.
BTW, I left Rhode Island and returned to NYC because of a family emergency, but I also disliked the attitude in RI. I don't plan on moving back, although I suppose anything is possible. I do have friends there. I do visit every Christmas and I'm planning to visit next weekend. I need my fix of Narragansett Beach and the General Stanton Flea Market! I saw a video on Youtube about Narragansett Beach and that set me off.
As far as tornadoes vs hurricanes... I've only been in one hurricane (Opal in 1995), but I felt this sense that I could evacuate further inland if I needed to (I was already quite a ways inland). With tornadoes, the scary part is the suddenness and unpredictability. No question, hurricane damage is far worse. But the unpredictabilty of tornadoes causes a level of stress that is hard to describe unless you've lived in a tornado-prone area for a while. Neither one is fun, though.
Just curious -- when you say you disliked the attitude in RI, what do you mean by that? What did you dislike?
Just curious -- when you say you disliked the attitude in RI, what do you mean by that? What did you dislike?
Hard to say. People seemed remote and unfriendly. Often I felt judged. I had several bad experiences. One time I worked for a week with Merry Maids and the people I worked with were downright hostile.
Overall, the environment just seemed uncongenial. I had a childhood friend who already lived there, but other than my friend and her friends, I had almost nobody. I made one friend apart from the social circle I already knew.
My experience in Rhode Island was lonely, alienating and depressing. Maybe part of the problem was me, but I do not consistently have that problem in New York or in southern Vermont. Or anywhere else I have been. I did once have a similar bad feeling in an agricultural area in New Hampshire, when I stopped to eat in a luncheonette.
I'm going to Rhode Island this weekend. I want to go to Narragansett Beach and to the General Stanton Flea Market. I love where that river meets the ocean on that beach. I also visit every Christmas to spend the holiday with my friend and her family and friends. But there is always a part of me that goes with tension, self-consciousness and trepidation.
People in Vermont are reserved, but usually not indifferent or unfriendly. In NYC, people are not reserved and usually not unfriendly. Rudeness usually takes other forms in NYC. But in my experience, I prefer Vermont and New York to Rhode Island.
I very strongly doubt I will ever return to Rhode Island to live.
This has all been tremendously informative! Storm surges and Nor'easters concern me about moving to the East Coast. I heard insurance companies were starting to make coverage difficult in Maine, too. Is there a website where a person could look into that for areas north of Boston? When you combine property taxes with insurance rates, an affordable home may not be affordable.
I am also hoping to move near the water for my allergies' sake and I wonder where how far inland a person can go and still get the benefit of the sea air.
I live in a southern Indiana tornado area but the odds of any particular house getting hit is very small, unless you are in one of the mini-tornado alleys--I made a point of plotting tornado sightings and touchdowns on a map before buying and in 15+ years I've done very well. My nephew grew up in northern Indiana where they had the famous Easter Sunday tornadoes and was so spooked that he prefers earthquakes in southern California to tornadoes! If he had to live through "The Big One" he might feel differently, though. I gather that safe rooms are all the rage on the Great Plains anymore for tornado protection. Here, I'll still go with an inside bathroom that has no windows.
Rhode Island has a moderate risk to hurricanes. The 1938 'Great New England Hurricane' left 13 feet of water in parts of downtown Providence. Though much has been done to lower risks of a similar event like this happening again.
Most of New England -especially eastern New England 'juts' out into the Atlantic, making it vulnerable to hurricanes, tropical storms and 'nor' easters' . With climate change- the region might increase its risk factors of hurricanes, sea rise and other storms causing flooding and or damage.
Home owners insurance will rise as one lives closer to hurricane and flood prone areas. The same has happened in coastal Connecticut.
As for insurance premiums- the cost could be $1,000 a year or more in Newport- to half that in greater Providence.
Try $1700+ per year for homeowners insurance for anything within a mile of the water in Newport for a 2+ bedroom house or condo.
Just read an article on the hurricane insurance premium issues in Rhode Island, and wondered... how big of a concern are hurricanes? I am certainly aware they can hit.. but does anyone have personal experience with hurricanes in Rhode Island?
Also, when they say high premiums... how high is high? And how much of the state does it affect? Newport, I can understand, but what about the Providence area?
Thanks everyone!
One hit us years ago and its more likely to hit us again beacuse of the
climate change...and yes it would hit providence to.
I'm assumming that further inland in Rhody is a considerably lower risk for flooding. I live on top of a hill in Western Cranston, so I'm hoping that flooding wouldn't be as much of an issue. (Although lord knows the drainage system in this city could be a bit better.)
I guess that's one of the perks for not getting to live close to the water.
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