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So what's preventing it from happening again, worse, and inside of the city? O I forgot, just because it's phoenix.......We've already addressed the point ur trying to make, but If you want to, go ahead and believe nothing can happen because it's phoenix...........I don't even care any more. Im coming to the conclusion, that a lot of people in AZ are just stupid and naive. People say Arizonans can't drive, it's not we cant drive, so many people are just plain stupid and don't pay attention at all.
Like I said before, people like u are the reason someone always has to die before anything is done about an issue or threat.
It's also nice to know being next to a dry shallow riverbed we are at low risk from a flood, or an overflowing river though. Also we don't see any lightning here according to you, you really should get into meteorology. If not that maybe emergency planning? That wuld be a pretty easy job here huh? As long as nothing happens.
The whole point of this thread was to answer the question of whether or not Phoenix is safe from most natural disasters and the answer is a resounding YES. You are dwelling on "what ifs" that could occur anywhere. One cannot prevent danger, but, in the normal course of events, Phoenix doesn't have all the risks that most of the rest of the country experiences fairly regularly. There are risks everywhere, but the odds of any of these things happening in Phoenix are slimmer than practically everywhere else in the country. If you want to develop ulcers worrying about things or chide everyone else for being complacent, that's your perogative. But it just doesn't make much sense.
PHXGUY, there were NO tornadoes in PHX area in the recent winter event. Untrained people reported seeing them, the NWS investigated and determined they were clouds. That is not to say we can't or haven't had tornadoes, because we have. The probability is very low and the probability of a significant tornado is even lower. When we do have tornadoes here, they tend occur around the seasonal changes - beginning and end of monsoon. So watch out! It's going to be tornado season soon!
PHX was NOT isolated - the freeways in and out were wide open with the exception of 17 north. FLAGSTAFF was briefly isolated while snow was cleared. That happens fairly frequently. That is not a disaster. Oak Creek was evacuated partially - it always is as a number of homes there are in the floodplain. In this case, it did not flood though. The water never reached the predicted level. Anyhow, Oak Creek and Aguila and Flagstaff are not part of Phoenix.
In short, the storm this year was NOT a disaster except on the Navajo Rez. It was a bonafide disaster there because they WERE cut off - for weeks. That happens a lot too.
Believe your own hyperbole if you must, but the fact remains that PHX is one of the safest cities in the world in terms of freedom from natural catastrophe. Of course, no place has zero probability. Nobody is arguing that. Flooding is the major concern, but thanks to floodplain zoning and the work of the county Flood Control District, the typical resident can go to bed in the middle of a major rainstorm and wake up with his feet and floor dry.
Well to you those storms seemed like a cookie to you but to me it was probably my first major winter storm that has caused much damage to the state. I've lived here all my life so almost 20 years. But I also do remember watching the news and an alarm was sounding off on tv, you know that beeping severe weather annoncement on the bottom of the tv, and it was reporting a cyclonic storm head 8 miles north of Scottsdale. Sure enough the tornado was REPORTED to have touched down later that night.
I lived in snowy and icy areas and in earthquake country. In L.A. the dagger of "the big one" hangs over us.
In Phoenix there are no natural threats. It would, however, be smart to check out flood maps. Las Vegas had severe flooding a few years ago. It was a 100 year flood.
As for the individual discussing blackouts on the first page - RIDICULOUS! I never heard of rolling blackouts in Phoenix! Not saying it won't happen. But if it does I will be in my car with A/C!
For homeowners, it's a good idea to get a diesel generator to provide power for such emergencies. If I was a homeowner I would look into solar photovoltaic power for just enough to power the A/C through the whole house during the daytime.
I guess what I don't understand is why people are always running away from different places because of "disasters". Do people in this country fear death that much? It seems really stupid to me. I've lived in Southern CA, Washington State, Texas and now Phoenix, but my reason for moving has never been anything like "I'm scared of earthquakes or volcanoes or floods or whatever. There is absolutely no place on earth that is 100% safe. When your time comes, YOU DIE! The government is not there to save everybody from LIFE. Disasters are part of life. Whether it's by accident, disaster, cancer (now there's a word that puts the fear of God in some people) or some other disease, war, nuclear plant blowup... The only thing that helps is being educated and having some common sense (like don't do stupid things, and have some survival skills if something happens. People that sit around freaking out and "waiting to be saved" from life deserve what they get. Whatever happened to the american spirit that helped those pioneers flourish in spite of circumstances?
I can not remember ever having a "rolling" blackout here and I have been here 35 years or so. That is nonsense. Clouds reached a mile high? 5000 feet, really? Sounds more like the cloud base elevation to me. Also your lapse rate is nonsense. Your whole post for that matter is nonsense. It scares me to think that you are involved in disaster planning, but I really don't think you are.
BTW, heat is not a disaster in the desert; it is the climate. We don't even have heat waves. It gradually gets hotter and hotter then stays that way.
Monsoon storms can be nasty, but they cause localized damage and I don't think they rise to the level of disasters. If you look at disaster declarations in Arizona they are all from floods in our part of the state and some from excessive snowfall in the NE quadrant.
Good catch Ponderosa. I must not have had my Wheaties that day. It should read that the storms extended to 12 miles into the atmosphere. At this height, the temps at the tops of those clouds was -110F. It produced a very serious LEWP thundersorm on 8/28/08. These types of t-storms are not common in Phoenix. It took out power in some areas for as long as 48 hours for some and thousands of trees were lost. The NWS in Tempe clocked winds at 84 mph. But this was a rare storm and not a typical monsoon.
I guess I was thinking more along the lines of a hazard vulnerability in stating extreme heat vs. a natural disaster. All-in-all, Phoenix is a pretty safe area in terms of natural disasters.
The whole point of this thread was to answer the question of whether or not Phoenix is safe from most natural disasters and the answer is a resounding YES. You are dwelling on "what ifs" that could occur anywhere. One cannot prevent danger, but, in the normal course of events, Phoenix doesn't have all the risks that most of the rest of the country experiences fairly regularly. There are risks everywhere, but the odds of any of these things happening in Phoenix are slimmer than practically everywhere else in the country. If you want to develop ulcers worrying about things or chide everyone else for being complacent, that's your perogative. But it just doesn't make much sense.
We are talking about natural DISASTERS not natural occurrences. You obviously haven't read the conversation I was having with some others or you would know. Of course everywhere else has natural occurrences and they see tornadoes, floods, and other things more often than phoenix. That's NOT the point of this thread. a tornado that occurs in the middle of nowhere, or a funnel cloud that forms over a city is not a natural disaster, It's a natural occurrence, when there are major deaths or damage it is a disaster caused by nature, which makes it a natural disaster. Are the risks greater in other places? again, yes because they have the occurrences more often and therefore there is a better chance. But Is Phoenix quote on quote safe?
If there was a serial shooter on the loose, and you took cover in a house, you would be a lot more safe than say if you were out in the open right?. But if I told you the doors were unlocked and there's a small chance the shooter culd enter, even though there is a smaller chance you would be harmed, could you honestly say you were safe?
IMO im not safe unless there is a absolute 0% chance.
I can tell you seriously haven't read anything I wrote other than wat u think u culd challenge, because I'm obviously not developing ulcers about anything, or chiding anybody else. I really culd care less even if I was the only one in Phoenix who didn't think we where immune to disasters and I've stated that before.....Honestly if something did happen I'd much rather be the one who took it seriously and looked crazy in the end of the event of an emergency, than the person who ignored authorities and died cuz "this is phoenix, this stuff doesn't happen here"...........So like I said I culd give two F's
Uh, that was my point. 5K would not be a high cloud top. 50000 would be. There's been quite a bit of work done to control flooding. In 1923, Phoenix built a dam to control flooding of downtown from Cave Creek, but it was inadequate. Cave Buttes Dam replaced the old dam in 1979 and tamed Cave Creek. The old dam is still there as a historic monument.
I lived in snowy and icy areas and in earthquake country. In L.A. the dagger of "the big one" hangs over us.
In Phoenix there are no natural threats. It would, however, be smart to check out flood maps. Las Vegas had severe flooding a few years ago. It was a 100 year flood.
As for the individual discussing blackouts on the first page - RIDICULOUS! I never heard of rolling blackouts in Phoenix! Not saying it won't happen. But if it does I will be in my car with A/C!
For homeowners, it's a good idea to get a diesel generator to provide power for such emergencies. If I was a homeowner I would look into solar photovoltaic power for just enough to power the A/C through the whole house during the daytime.
Phoenix has NO natural threats????????? We are not even gonna touch on that one any more.
How does vegas has a larger natural threat than phoenix and they dont even really get any severe storms compared to phoenix. Vegas floods because of the topography which is a smaller version of phoenix, but we have dams, canals, etc, not just washes like vegas. I say Phoenix has a way greater threat than vegas, which is why we've spent millions on a huge flood protection project, and even have a flood warning system which is monitored 24 hours.
Like I said we aren't even gonna touch on the phoenix thing anymore.
Good catch Ponderosa. I must not have had my Wheaties that day. It should read that the storms extended to 12 miles into the atmosphere. At this height, the temps at the tops of those clouds was -110F. It produced a very serious LEWP thundersorm on 8/28/08. These types of t-storms are not common in Phoenix. It took out power in some areas for as long as 48 hours for some and thousands of trees were lost. The NWS in Tempe clocked winds at 84 mph. But this was a rare storm and not a typical monsoon.
I guess I was thinking more along the lines of a hazard vulnerability in stating extreme heat vs. a natural disaster. All-in-all, Phoenix is a pretty safe area in terms of natural disasters.
Here is a link to the Maricopa County Emergency Management Hazard Mitigation Plan for 2009, basically the answer to this thread from professionals, some facts might surprise you.
Are the risks greater in other places? again, yes because they have the occurrences more often and therefore there is a better chance. But Is Phoenix quote on quote safe?
Your argument is weak..actually it's down right assinine. No place is technically safe because any place on this planet is prone to some natural occurrence that could kill people. This is why you examine statistics and assess odds. Furthermore, when people ask these questions, they are asking them relative to other areas. This is why they have reading comprehension or verbal sections on standardized tests. They want to assess if people can think and apply simple concepts like context. What is the context of this question. Is the OP asking if a tornado or another natural "occurrence" EVER occurred in Arizona or he is asking about the odds of experiencing one here versus some place else? Unless you are a complete moron, you know the answer to that.
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If there was a serial shooter on the loose, and you took cover in a house, you would be a lot more safe than say if you were out in the open right?. But if I told you the doors were unlocked and there's a small chance the shooter could enter, even though there is a smaller chance you would be harmed, could you honestly say you were safe?
Again, your argument fails to account for relative risk. Technically anyone could step outside of their home and be killed by lightning. Based on your argument, that place is no longer safe even though only 90 people in the entire United States are killed by lightning each year. So again, you are argument is futile because you aren't accounting for odds.
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IMO im not safe unless there is a absolute 0% chance.
Then you aren't safe anywhere in the world.
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Honestly if something did happen I'd much rather be the one who took it seriously and looked crazy in the end of the event of an emergency, than the person who ignored authorities and died cuz "this is phoenix, this stuff doesn't happen here"...........So like I said I culd give two F's
That's fine, you can waste your energy preparing and getting worried about an event that has an extremely low risk of occurring and we will spend that time actually being productive. Based on your "unique" deductive reasoning skills, I will take you criticism of Arizona residents' thinking skills as a compliment.
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