Share your natural disaster stories
image credit: NASA / Jesse Allen / Earth Observatory / HIGP Thermal Alerts Team
Share your stories!
Have you experienced a natural disaster? A volcanic eruption?
Earthquake? Hurricane? Flood? Tornado? Wildfire? Share your stories.
Leave a message about your natural disaster experiences for other visitors to the Museum or the website to read.
I've been through a couple tornadoes in my day. One we saw while driving along a country road. It was perfectly sunny out and the tornado was whipping up dust from a newly plowed field. We didn't even feel any wind and it was kind of fun to watch.
The second tornado hit near an office I was working at. We were sitting under our desks for protection and it sounded like a train going over the roof of the building. We were extremely scared. And after it ended, we were reluctant to come out and see what had happened. Lots of windows in the building were blown out.
Well did you get hurt at all?
omg!! there was once this big, giangtic tornodo right outside my window!!! i didnt get hurt because i decidesd to go in my closet!!!it was really scarey!!!!you wouldnt be able to believe it!!!!!o, and then there was once this really big earthquaqe in my town and i was like caught in the middle of it!!!i only escaped because i tied a rope around my waist and then nailed in a screw and then tied the rope around it ---o, and i lso grabbed my cat--she is a very big part of my life(sigh) neway we both survived this very big disaster i also broke my arm------but i did not let my cat go!!!!!!!!!o,actually then aftr that there was this really big wave and it came and swallowed me up whole(im talkin bout the sharks) and then i hit it really hard ibn the nose(thats what ur supposed to do)
more l8er!!!!
ciao
coolkid
oh my gosh that must have been scary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
cool kid
I feel sooooooooooooo bad for you! :{
wow it sounds like u had a crazy life
coolkid: i seriously doubt any of that is true i mean get real. u can ttly tell ur faking it!
i've never been in a natural disaster and i hope i never will be!!! i feel sorry for those who have been in one and i hope you are okay. God Bless.
well this was an eye opening experience... i thought that this exhibit was pretty decent, but i wish they could have live video from the volcano that destroyed pompeii
well how could they have that? this happened in 74 A.D. it'd be impossible to have that.
they didnt have videos back then
Have you had any people you know get hurt from what happened?
Lightning struck my window once...
I was in katrina. top that
ouch!!!!!
i have not been in a torndo before and i hope i never do. if you hve been in a torndo i feel very bad for you.
cat lover
Once when I was flying home from living abroad in China our plane flew over the eye of a hurricane. The turbulence was more severe than anything else I have ever experienced before and our plane actually made a free-fall of approximately 20 feet and then bounced around for another 10 minutes. You could see the clouds swirling below us but the most amazing thing was when we flew over the eye and you were able to see directly down into the middle of it. This is my most extreme experience with nature although I have survived mutiple tornadoes and floods from hurricanes.
wow!!! unexpected hurricane!! how creepy!! i would be freaked out!!!!
We were once in a tornado. We were far from home and didnt know anyone where we were. My youngest daughter was picked up by the wind and I had to pull her back to the ground. We ended up in a drivethru freezer and then when they closed, we ended up going home with a lady and her sister. We stayed there for three hours until all was clear. It was scarey! Hopefully we will never be in a tornado again!
Take Care Leah!
Love,
Chris Ps rachael says hi! so excited about having you here, hope you've seen Muffin!
Wow!!! that must have been really scary, having your daughter get pulled up!!!! i would freak out!! amazing!
Wow that was so lucky you could pull her back down! I am so glad you are okay!! That sounds really scary! Wasn't it cold in a freezer for so long??? Thanks for sharing your story!! I hope I'm never in a tornado
M & M From a family of 7
i was in a flood that was not that bad.the water went up to my knees.i was scared.we were in wisconsin camping.we went in a building to listen to a guy sing.it was windy.then all was clear!we are all fine!
When i was about ten years old, the tornado sirons went off while my sister was babysitting me. she left outside. the end.
Once we were on a family vacation at Myrtle Beach. Everything was crystal clear then we decided to leave, because my aunt said there was some storm clouds coming. When we got to the car it started hailing. I was scared! We drove off to a Hardrock Cafe. That's when the tornado hit. After about 20 min. it had ended. I never want to go the Myrtle Beach after that.
I think you shouldn't be afraid to go back to Myrtle Beach. Tornado's don't happen often, you just got unlucky. If you really liked hangin at the beach with your family i think you should go back. dont let the weather hold you back. you might get unlucky now and again, but i think you should really try it again.
Tabitha
i think tabitha is right. would you have had fun without the tornado? if yes then go back tornados happen from time to time but enjoy life to the max!
When part of my family was in California, a big disaster occured. It was a flaming fire in the neighborhood. It was so scary and we had to evacuate!
During Hurricane Katrina my family and i were on a cruise in the gulf of mexico.This caused the boat to rock alot and we had to turn back around cause the waves were so rough.Luckily we didnt dock until after it was done.
<3
what were you on a cruise for? did they refund you for the tickets?
when i was 9 i went to mexico and we heard that hurricane wilma was past mexico. but it wasn't. i was in a shelter for about a week. we were supposed to leave on the 22nd but ended up come home on the 27th. thankfully no one we knew got hurt. but when we looked out side trees were uprooted and houses were ditroyed.
it was storm so bad that the lighting pole almost fallon me.
I've gotten caught in a huge thunderstorm onthe highway. My dad had to slow down to 30 mph it was so bad.
yesterday, my mother came into my room and bellowed with such force that my room was a disaster area and needed to be evacuated immediatly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! archeologists were called in and declared that these living conditions were uninhabitalbe--therefor i left---this is why you are reading my very sad posted message
hey yo i am now in a wheelchair because i got caught in a tornado--it was dreadful!!it is not very comfortable
mad,sad,angry girl n wheelchair
p.s.i hate natural disasters
My friends, family, and I were camping and were just a couple miles away from a tornado!!! it was pretty awsome but scary at the same time... i never thought i would ever be that close to a tornado before..it was a great expierence ...but awful at the same time......
I went through a terrible flood in Dhaka, Bangladesh in May/June 1998. The water was about 7or 8 inches high. There were snakes and other venemous animals in the water. I also lived in El Salvador for 2 years where I witnessed may earthquakes, one volcanic eruption of the Santa Ana Volcano and a Hurricane called Stan , which actually flooded our house.
that musta been scary being in so much water!!
once my family was camping adn a tornado touched down about a mile from the campsites. the rangers made everyone go into the girls bathroom until it passed. coincedentaly, the bathrooms were just pit toilets. i dont remember much of the storm, since i was only about 4 or so. the tornado passed about half an hour later and no one got hurt.
i was once in a house fire. i wuz really little and dont remember much. that has nothing 2 do with natural events but oh well.
I was little and a tornado went over my house and the tree to your friends house fell on them. My brother sleeped through the intirer thing
One day we had a really big wind storm and it almost blew my trampoline away.
one time i was in a storm and our trampoline bent in half. my bff's trampoline net blew off in a diffrent storm.
I've never been in anything weird at all but my boyfriends dad was in Biloxi, Mississippi when hurricane Katrina hit. I was really worried about what might happen to him but he came though it alright. He has since come back with pictures and everything. The most horrible part to me anyway about what has happened with hurricane Katrina was that my boyfriend was down there visiting his family and he left at the cut off if he wouldn't have been able to get on the plane that he did he wouldn't have been able to leave until the whole thing blow over. TG
I would never want to be in a tornado or volcano or any other natural disaster. I am glad I have not been through anything like that. My Grandma says the same thing. It would be really scary.
i am terrified of thunder storms, tornados and im almost an old women now. my children have to comfort me!!!!
so if u are afraid of bad weather your not alone.
i would love to have lived in pompeii. just... before the erruption please.
True dat Normandi.. true dat
I have lived through a couple hurricanes but we were only hit by tropical storm force winds. It was a bit scary but not too bad. Luckily our home was fine.
when i was playing babseball and there was a storm during our goame and we could see the funnel clound and we were right ynder it
I remember a tornado from when i was younger. Everyone in my house had to go into our basement. I dont remember much, but i remember being scared.
Me and my Dad were outside campping when there was a bigstorm. the tornado sirens wentoff. luckily, there was no tornado!
emily's dads friends nephew was on the bridge over the mississippi river when it was collapsing. he called somebody on his cell, and the person told him to forget the car, RUN!, and get off the bridge! thankfully, he survived! YAY!!!
Hello omg theses storys are absolutley terrifying! i live in england an we dont get this extreme weather that you guys seem to get an hope we never will i would be absolutly petrified if i was ever caught in a tornado! when we get thunder storms wich is quite rare im terrified and hiding under m y covers hehe x x x x
in Minnesota we get tornados every once and a while. but it's not to scary.
were i live is in glenwood their are never any tornados becuase we live in a hole and the thunderstorms arnt that bad so the tornados cant touch ground though becuase were to deep in a hole Glenwood MN
I lived in Oregon at the time Mt. St. Helens erupted. I was 11 at the time. I remember the ash covering our cars. My brother and I collected ash outside. Everyone wore t-shirts that said "where were you when the Mountain blew?"
Everyone wore dust masks when they went outside. We lived approx 50 air miles from mt. st. helens in scappoose,OR
Thats amazing
I was living in western Montana, working as a logger in 1980. The ash on our homes and cars was still aboout 2-3 inches deep and of the same consistancy as flour. It fouled our chainsaws and equipment for the next 2 years and created havoc with fish and wildlife 300 miles from the mountain.
A few years ago I went to Flordia. While we were there Hurricane Francis came. We were told to stay in our hotels until the storm was over or died down a bit. We thankfully weren't in the really bad area, since we were closer to The Magic Kingdom and Disney World then the ocean. I think it was actually quite interesting to go through that. It'll be something to tell my friends about for years to come!
i was scared out of my wits,being a cali girl,when i was,like, at mall of america and they announced that everyone had to leave the amusement park area,because i think people were on tornado watch. they didnt want people to be under the glass celing when the storm hit. i was scared, but eventually the storm blew over and everything was hunky dory once again!! o/:)))))
i was doing my homework when a tornado hit the power was out for about a week.
I'd quit doing homework then!
The images shown, the way Pompii was literally frozen in time, is heart wrenching. The exibit also showed us that much of their culture is found in ours today. The casts of the bodies and dog was amazing, disturbing, and beautiful all at the same time. God Bless Those Souls who perished Aug. 24, 79 AD.
wen i livd in florida my house was flooded!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! my family was ok
wow, that sounds scary good thing you are ok.
i was at home the day the 35W bridge collapsed, my mom and dad both used to work downtown, but they don't any more. i guess we are really lucky, it was soooooooo scary i didn't know if one of my relatives was in the wreckage or not. but no one i knew/know was on the bridge when it collapsed.
the day the 35W bridge collapsed, i was at home, luckily both of my parents who used to work in downtown, don't anymore so they didn't get hurt. but it was really scary i didn't know if one of my relitives or one of my friends was hurt or worse. i was lucky none of my friends or family was hurt or killed. it was really scary, but neither of my parents work downtown, so we don't have to go across the bridge, or anything like that, i feel bad for the people who lost loved ones or friends. i know what that feels like. but yeah i was SUPER lucky.
I know this guy who was on the bridge when it collasped. HE was 16 and actually swam out of his car climbed up the bank and caught a ride home where he just went up to his room and went to sleep. The next day his mom asked him where the car was...to which he replied..."at the bottom of the mississippi."
At 3 am I expereanced Ear splitting thunder and lighting as bright as a flash lights in your face!!!!!
I've experienced just about every type of natural disaster in the last 40 years. Was living in Hawaii when it was his by a tidal wave. We were given some warning so no one was hurt except for a few dummies who tried to surf the waves. Lived in Spokane WA when St Helens blew it's top. Had just planted a half acre of grass and saw this hugh cloud with strange pillows under it. Then it started to snow ash. Thought it was fallout from a nucular blast until I turned on theTV. When living in Woodbury, MN took a number of short films of Tornado's. My house was on the highest spot of WA and Ramsey counties. Even a twin headed one that hit Newport in the 90's. Recntly, at my home in Elk, WA have seen hugh forest fires. From a distance anyway.
wow. Those are somethings to tell your grand-kids about!
IF YOU LIVED THROUGH A MAJOR DISASTER I WOULD LIKE YOU HEAR FORM YOU!
Some of us have experienced a horrific disaster and I would like to know how you coped. What was the first thing you did? How did you get help and from whom and how soon? My objective is to compile these stories and offer tips to others to ease their burden. Please help! Thanks.
My Cousin was on the 35W Bridghe and survived but the lady in front of him died because glass shattered and the guy n back of him broke his back! And my Cousin was on the news and the radio!
My first year of camp, there were three tornadoes. We had to evacuate out of our tents to the place where we ate. We borught our sleeping bags and slept there. I hadto sleep on the outside of the group. I di pretty well for a 1st grader...
i would hate to be in a tornado without my parents there. D:
The scariest thing that ever happened t o me wa sI got really close to a wildefire. We were in the black hills, South Dakota in the middle of the summer and this really big fire started and we all had to evacuate... luckily it didn't last that long and everybody was okay.
i was in a tornado and it was cool
I was in a tornado once. I was so scared. Tornado bent our trampoline in half. We were able to fix our trampoline though.
when i was 6 i had to go through a hurricane and it was my first one i wasn't used to it so all i mostly did was sit in bed and cry
When I was 10 I shattered my leg.
I was cought in a tornado once when I was taking a bath!!!! It was really freaky and I had to run down into the basement in my bathrobe. The town next to us was completely wiped out, and when my dad drove to work the next morning there were couches, televisions, dead animals, and pieces of wood and tin all over the road! We were lucky not to get hurt, though.
cool Vic
did that realy happen?
How sad
scarry!!!veryscary!
awsome!!!
this one time i was at a soccer game watching my sister,
and we looked over to the side lines to see all the players' hair sticking straight up from the electricity in the air from lightening!
it was super scary!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!wow did ur hair stick up to?
I was with my mom when it happened. We were almost swallowed by a tornado. We were out driving with some friends when the alert was boomed over the radio. We quickly pulled into a random driveway, thankfully it was a kind family who lived in the house and they let us stay in their basement with them.
Even now i look back and i am frightened by the thought that i barely escaped. Now however, i am alive and well. Every night i pray for other people who have the very same unfortunate fate as me
one time i was outside and the tornado sirens went off because a big tornado was coming and smashed a city already. we went inside and the tornado was really close and we knew that because we saw it before we came inside. it almost hit our house but died away before it hit. we found out later that it was an F4. lucky we didn't get hit by it.
that was in kansas, 2005.
i saw a tornado and it made me feel scared. i ran to the basement with my mommy.
one time a tornado touched down 3 miles from our neighborhood (we live out in the country) and our neighbors didn't know! we had to call them before we went in our basement to make sure they were ok. another time, when i was about 6 or 7, we were camping in a HUGE rainstorm in KS, and we had to take down in it.i had to hold our awning to make sure it didn't tear while my brother and parents took the camper down!
When I was 4, my mother drove through a hurricane. I remember seeing a sign from a waffle house that was at least 10 blocks ahead of where we were fly down the road. My mom was an explosion of profanities as another large object barreled down the road. I just remember it was the scariest thing I've ever known.
I live at the base of Mount St. Helens and witnessed the main eruption on May 18th 1980. We were driving on Interstate 5 the day of the eruption in Portland, OR and the day turned to night. Ash fell for hours covering nearly everything withing about a 100 mile radius of the mountain. For weeks people would not go outside without wearing a paper mask to protect their lungs from the harmful ash. We had to shovel ash from out roads and yards not to mention the chaos it caused with our gutters. Since then there have not been any MAJOR eruptions. We see steam periodically and frequent the many resevoires the mountain has to offer. The water is the cleanest in the state (my oppinion) and usually is quite warm compared to the many lakes and rivers in the area. I hope it never erupts as big as it did in 1980, but I have to say it was an experience I will never forget.
Enjoy the Pompei exibit I hope to go there to see it one day!
Timothy Day
Vancouver, WA
When i was 5 years old, i was at a health club with my family, and suddently tornado sirens started going off. it destroyed a lot of my grandmas house, but non of us were hurt
Well, I haven't been in any tornadoes or anything, but we did once have strait line winds. I was in the trailer at the time, and it was almost a tornado.
Anyways, we got up the next morning, and the whole place was trashed. This one person had their giant willow tree fall RIGHT on their SUV. It completely crumpled the front, like a peice of paper. Pretty cool for the bystander, but I feel sorry for them.
-David
If you put pixie stix in light[not dark]pop it will fizz like a volcano if you drink it right away it tastes really good put it is easy to choke because it is very fizzy.
I was in a tornado as well a couple years back. It was rather unexciting, and I spent the whole time in the basement reading...
I have not seen any tornadoes in my life. But, I have seen or experenced a major severe thunderstorm wind event, known as a "derecho" or "straight-line wind damage" Presumably, this happen around late summer last year, just before the Minnesota state fair; I was already fast asleep at home when I heard and therefore, awaken by the sound of a massive freight train simulation from outside. Yet, I turn on the clock radio next to me, which was broadcasting a NOAA weather radio alert message; I realized that a severe thunderstorm or a line of them were passing through the Saint Paul area around three in the morning. The storm knock down large tress across the neighborhood with little or no advance warning. Even my phone and internet system was off for the whole day, which forced me to call my local telephone provider on a neighbor's phone down the street the next day. Hence, the storm could had been much worse if it happened around the State Fair week.
I was born in a blizzard, than i was by a flood than a tornado went two miles away from our house.
Have i, no and i hope i dont
Valcanoes are a big part of the world. They kill alot of people.
i'm a freek about hail storms. especially when the hail is the size of a soft ball! i also hate tornados.i really don't like them because i live in tornado alley! i Keep thinking when i hear tornado stories that someday that might be me!!!!!!!!!!!
I was very scared i hid from this volcanoe i hope it never happens again
A huge straight-line-wind storm blew the electrical wires down and blew down two big trees. for a split-second, the tornado was in the basement. We called 911, but nothing came through. Enjoy the reveiw!
"Share your natural disaster stories" looking for Terry Zoesch who posted this title old friend from California.
i haven't been in a natural disaster before, but my family in the Philippines has. There were like 2 floods. And there was also a landslide near by them.. My aunt's house got washed away cause it wasn't very sturdy. And the church my my grandma's house was flooded, there was garbage everywhere in the church and some damages. I prayed so much that none of my family members would get hurt, i also prayed that no one else would get hurt..luckily no one from my family got hurt. But of course lots of people were affected, but i still thank God !
God bless everyone (:
Your prayers had been accepted! Happy tp hear all of your family is good.
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