Safest Cities from natural disasters (New York, Buffalo: moving to, homeless, suburbs)

[bellafinzi]

Safest of the North with my factors added.

Madison, Wisconsin
Grand Rapids, MI
Scranton, PA
Fort Wayne, IN
Syracuse, NY
Allentown, PA
Columbus, OH
Rochester, NY
Youngstown, OH
Akron, OH

[bellafinzi]

Air quality was a factor and really hurt Pittsburgh. Flooding is also a potential issue there.

[bellafinzi]

Chicago and Buffalo almost made the list, main factors that kicked them out of top 10 was crime and not much higher in elevation of the large body of water they are near.

[bellafinzi]

Safest in the Western US with my factors added.

Boise
Colorado Springs
Denver
Phoenix
Spokane

[RocketSci]

Originally Posted by bellafinzi

Chicago and Buffalo almost made the list, main factors that kicked them out of top 10 was crime and not much higher in elevation of the large body of water they are near.

Flooding from the Great Lakes is very limited to low lying areas directly along the lakeshore, and potentially along parts of the Chicago and Buffalo Rivers, which flow into Lake Michigan and Lake Erie, respectively. These areas are well known, and these areas are designed for floods of this type. The cities are built tens of feet above high lake levels, with most of Buffalo 30 to 130 feet higher than the lake, and Chicago 20 to 70 feet higher. While there may be seiches caused by high winds and storm fronts that may locally raise water levels a few feet for a very short period of time in a small area, it is nothing like the rising water from tides, tsunamis, or storm surges on ocean fronts, or even like inland river flooding affecting tens or hundreds of square miles.

Local flooding from heavy rains can occur here, like everywhere. "Flooding" usually means some water in the basement or standing water in underpasses. There are no storm swept torrents washing away homes or standing water in living areas.

I also wouldn't necessarily call crime a natural disaster, and even if counted it is always very localized to a few square miles or less of the thousands of square miles of city regions. One suburb of Buffalo has made the top 5 safest places from crime in the US, for example, and was even number one for a couple of years.

Regarding your southern list, Austin has had many catastrophic flood events in the past as it sometimes receives tropical storm moisture from the Gulf with flash flooding. It also experiences long drought conditions, and recent years has experienced large wildfires within the area and parts of the city itself. While technically not a natural disaster, it is also damn hot, its aquifer is threatened, and the dry line separating West and East Texas is moving and will be east of Austin in the near future, if not already there today. Not sure why it made your list.

[bellafinzi]

Thanks for the feedback, the lower crime rate in Austin was the only thing that made them jump onto the list. The map doesn't make that part of Texas look that bad, so what you say is interesting and helps me form a better list in the future.

I added many more safety factors to the list and it is subjective based on what factors are more important to each person.

[bellafinzi]

I'm going to remove Fort Wayne from the list since the MSA total population doesn't exceed the 500,000 threshold. I was mistaken and using the CSA numbers.

[ckhthankgod]

So, to keep it Syracuse, what criteria does it need to improve on to be higher on the list?

I’d also say that a thread in the General US forum would be great, given the more national tenor of the list/information.

[hotkarl]

Originally Posted by RocketSci

Flooding from the Great Lakes is very limited to low lying areas directly along the lakeshore, and potentially along parts of the Chicago and Buffalo Rivers, which flow into Lake Michigan and Lake Erie, respectively. These areas are well known, and these areas are designed for floods of this type. The cities are built tens of feet above high lake levels, with most of Buffalo 30 to 130 feet higher than the lake, and Chicago 20 to 70 feet higher. While there may be seiches caused by high winds and storm fronts that may locally raise water levels a few feet for a very short period of time in a small area, it is nothing like the rising water from tides, tsunamis, or storm surges on ocean fronts, or even like inland river flooding affecting tens or hundreds of square miles.

Local flooding from heavy rains can occur here, like everywhere. "Flooding" usually means some water in the basement or standing water in underpasses. There are no storm swept torrents washing away homes or standing water in living areas.

Irene caused massive damage in the Schoharie valley, damn near completely wiped out Prattsville.
Many homes did get damaged beyond repair due to foundations getting washed out and such, but alas, that storm was considered a fluke, not very likely to happen again anytime soon.
And thankfully many of the municipalities have been very proactive in flood mitigation with adding/updating culverts, grading and all that fun stuff. Lessons learned.

There’s always the chance for the spring flash flooding, with the melting of the snow & ice in the creeks coupled with spring rains. Again thankfully, it’s mostly an inconvenience most of the time. Streets will get flooded & impassable temporarily, maybe some basements will flood, some roadway washouts etc…

[bellafinzi]

If Syracuse had a crime rate lower than Madison, Wisconsin it would probably be number one on my list.

I'll probably add Buffalo to my list since most of the metropolitan area is more than a 100 feet higher in elevation than Lake Erie. So a freak huge wave wouldn't do as much damage as I originally thought.