Natural Disasters and Bad Weather

[Cameron Cayman]

Are you all being serious about this bad-weather thing? You all really worry about stuff like that? Would ya'll seriously NOT move somewhere because there "might" be one or two tornado warnings here and there? Trust me on this, I live in Tennessee and I can assure you that it's really OK 99% of the time.

[CAtoGA]

I don't think that I'd let the chance of tornados stop me. You have natural disasters no matter where you go. It just makes me nervous because I've never had to deal with it before. I hear lots of people say they'd never want to live in CA because of earthquakes. Having grown up in the SF Bay Area, I know earthquakes, and they aren't that bad in the scheme of things. I figure if I can live daily with the uncertainty of earthquakes, and constantly being told that the "big one" can happen at any time, tornados or hurricanes shouldn't be too awfully difficult to get used to. At least you have some warning.

[Tek_Freek]

In an apartment complex (no basement), what do you do when you get a tornado warning?

Go to the bathroom (an interior one is best) get in the bathtub and pull a mattress over you. Hold on to it for dear life. And no, this not a joke.

So, I went to Neighboroo again and looked up Oak Ridge (327 miles east of Memphis) and Earthquakes and found out Oak Ridge (in East TN) has an earthquake rating higher than the US average and four times higher than where I live now. (although waaaay lower than the rating for Memphis.)

When we were in TN last July we heard there were earthquakes around, I think, Gatlinburg. We were in FFG and never felt a thing.

Are you all being serious about this bad-weather thing? You all really worry about stuff like that? Would ya'll seriously NOT move somewhere because there "might" be one or two tornado warnings here and there?

Coming from Iowa? Absolutely not!

If you are moving to an area where there are tornadoes and you are building a house, why not build one that is tornado resistant? If nothing else build a tornado room in the basement (if you dig one or live on a slope so you have one) or in the center of your house out of reinforced concrete?

I'm planning on one in our basement. If that sounds extreme keep in mind that I'm not at all afraid of tornadoes, I routinely go out and watch them go by. But if gets close enough (been through that TWICE) I run for cover. I may not be afraid of them, but I'm not stupid.

By the way, one of the best shelters for tornadoes is a fruit cellar. For those of you that have never seen one (the majority of the population now that we have grocery stores on every corner) it is a hole dug into the ground deep enough so the bottom is below the frost line (4 feet here), with a roof over it and covered with soil. The roof is built high enough that you can walk in the cellar (or stoop if you're my size). Good place to hide and there's plenty to eat!

Here's a site about them if you're interested. Pretty tough to build in TN rock!

http://waltonfeed.com/old/cellar4.html (broken link)

Here's an interesting site with numerous ideas. I would think that some of these would also be fairly fire-resistant also.

http://www.adobemachine.com/tornadoproof.htm

[hiknapster]

Sorry for the delayed response. I've been away from a computer all day.

I'm not sorry that I moved here, but the wild weather does scare me. In order for hail to break our living room window, it met it was hitting the house at an angle, just to give you an idea how bad it can get. I should explain that we are renting a mobile home and that is a contributing factor in my terror. I am taking the weather into consideration when looking for a home to purchase.

Also, as far as I know, tornadoes are more prevalent in middle and west
Tennessee.

I have considered the dams during an earthquake. I guess I should research this further.

Honestly, I don't know where you could live that is completely safe. All in all, I am very happy with my decision on moving here.

Well, here's something for now. According to the TVA:

"Dam safety at TVA

Every TVA dam is checked regularly to make sure it that it is safe and the equipment used to operate it is working properly.

Because many of these dams were built in the 1930s, TVA has had to do a lot of work on them to make sure that they meet modern safety regulations. These ensure that TVA’s dams can stand up to the biggest flood or earthquake that we would ever expect to see in the Tennessee Valley."

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by heatwave13

Are you all being serious about this bad-weather thing? You all really worry about stuff like that? Would ya'll seriously NOT move somewhere because there "might" be one or two tornado warnings here and there? Trust me on this, I live in Tennessee and I can assure you that it's really OK 99% of the time.

No, but the 1% could be you undoing if you have no idea of what you are supposed to do when it happens. It's like families who haven't told their children what to do in case of a fire. The odds of your house burning down is small but have you told your kids what to do if it should happen?

But the real point is to find out what you are supposed to do for some things you may never have even considered because of where you lived before...like native Floridians who have never driven on icy roads, for example, and are now moving to the mountains of Tennessee. Or people who lived on the beach and may know all about flooding and hurricanes but are now moving to the woods and wouldn't know what to do about themselves or their house if there was a wildfire in their area.

[CAtoGA]

Speaking of natural disasters, we had an earthquake just this morning in northern CA that measured 3.8. Not too awfully bad. Woke me up about 3:30 this morning. Sounded like a really strong gust of wind, then a little wiggling of the bed and it was done. It was centered about 5-10 miles northeast of us.

[akm4]

You may have said already, but your profile doesn't say where you are.

Sac? SF? Eureka? Where was the epicenter?

[CAtoGA]

We're about an hour north of SF in Sonoma County. The epicenter was about 5 miles northeast of us.

[willowslady]

West Knox just had an earthquake about 2 weeks ago....2.6 on the scale.
Where you want to live around Knoxville depends on what you do or don't want. To the East sits farms, to the West is the newest area being built up and soon overun by all sorts of people. The other way, well, rural as well.