What was the worst natural disaster that you experienced in your city or state?
Posted by SignificantStyle4958@reddit | AskAnAmerican | View on Reddit | 540 comments
Up2nogud13@reddit
Hurricane Frederic in '79 and/or Katrina in '05.
HourRoyal2922@reddit
western nc is still not completely healed from hurricane helene.
Scarlett-the-01-TJ@reddit
Hurricane Agnes/Susauehanna River and smaller tributaries flooding in 1972
Expensive_Rest_6773@reddit
Hurricane Hugo
ChilindriPizza@reddit
During my living there? Hurricane Hugo.
I do not think I have experienced a hurricane in my 30 years in Florida that affected my location as much directly.
Expensive_Rest_6773@reddit
Charlotte, NC native. No one and I mean no one expected a still Category 4 storm 125 miles from any coast. We were out of school for 2 + weeks and power was out for about that long. I turned 16 in the dark
Express-Stop7830@reddit
You must be east coast, south of I-4...
ChilindriPizza@reddit
I was not living in Florida yet.
CodUnlikely2052@reddit
Another Hugo Survivor! That’s what I wrote about too!
TarheelCroatInMA@reddit
Growing up in Charlotte in the 90s all I heard about was Hugo. My sister was born during it, probably was told that story 1000 times before I was 10.
clintj1975@reddit
I was looking for another Hugo veteran in the comments. That storm leveled miles and miles of pine forest like a scythe came through, devastated the Charleston area, and took roofs off houses around my sister's house up north of Columbia. Hers was one of the few with proper hurricane ties on the roof trusses in her neighborhood. We lived over in the CSRA and we had some pretty good street flooding in spots.
jannylou2@reddit
I’m in Northern Indiana & the Blizzard of ‘78 was very bad. We had a ranch house & the snow drifted so high we couldn’t see out of a couple windows. I had a 3 year old & a 6 months old. I was almost out of milk, my neighbor next door, a single lady waded through the snow & brought over a gallon of milk she had bought the day before. It was so sweet. My husband helped her dig out. She was a great neighbor.
ThingFuture9079@reddit
Other than an occasional hail storm, there hasn't really been much during my life. The last disaster that I can think of that was the worst was the F5 tornado on May 31, 1985 that stayed on the ground for 47 miles and it started in northeast Ohio and ended in part of western Pennsylvania. It also had winds that were believed to be 300MPH.
grandma-activities@reddit
The worst one that affected me personally? Hurricane Matthew in 2016. We had no power for about three days, the garage and crawlspace were flooded, I lost all of my childhood mementos and books because we were storing my stuff in the garage, we lost our cars, and we had to replace the entire HVAC system, including ductwork. Some houses on the opposite (lower) side of the street had water intrude into the living spaces, which made their repairs even more extensive than ours.
But the cool thing was that the one neighbor with a whole-house generator went around in his kayak to gather up phones to charge and then delivered hot meals with the charged phones! He and his family had only moved in two weeks earlier. We all (about 10 households together) shared food while the waters receded and until power was restored. Then rental cars were in short supply, so we shared and gave each other rides. So even though it was an awful time, I found out that I really do belong to an amazing little community.
For context, I live at about 7 feet above sea level, about 20 miles from the ocean, and very close to a bunch of rivers and swampland. We stay pretty waterlogged around here.
IAmBaconsaur@reddit
My hometown had three "hundred years floods" within a decade. Took ages to clean up every time. I don't have doctor records from before I was 15-17 other than what was reported to the state (vaccines etc) because of one of those floods took out my entire paper record (pre electronic records being standard!).
freecain@reddit
Do you happen to be from EC Maryland?
No_Smile_2619@reddit
I was going to bring this up!
IAmBaconsaur@reddit
Nope, further north. Sad to hear another area had the same thing!
Solid_Reserve_5941@reddit
I was casually looking at homes on Zillow in New England just for fun and saw soooo many listed recently for sale and it kind of surprised me. Later on I was listening to a podcast where one of the hosts is from New Hampshire, and she said her parents listed their home for sale after the roads surrounding it were washed away in a recent flood, leaving them effectively stranded. It clicked for me why I saw so many listings
freecain@reddit
I moved to the area right after the first of the 100 year floods. 2 years later there was a second, and a year or two after that was a third. They really wiped out the downtown. After the second a bug project went in to fix the issue, so we will wait and see. I still don't visit that area during heavy rains
HeatwaveInProgress@reddit
My area had 11 of 500 year floods since 2000. 5 were tropical storms or hurricanes, but even 6 "just floods" seems a bit high!
tomveiltomveil@reddit
The Great DC Earthquake of 2011! It'll probably be the least disastrous disaster in this thread. But hey, it did take a couple years to fix the damage to the Washington Monument and the National Cathedral.
catsandcoconuts@reddit
was this in june 2011?
i was at Senior Week in OCMD, i was literally in the ocean when it happened, we felt nothing.
i remember the cell phones all going out and the chaos that ensued.
TarheelCroatInMA@reddit
Couldn’t have been June cuz I was in DC and I went there to start college in Fall 2011. I did an early move in program and it was during that early move in. I was pretty scared tbh I had no idea what the fuck was happening but there was a kid from Alaska who knew what it was and took control of the situation.
catsandcoconuts@reddit
OHHHHH ur right it wasn’t during senior week it was after that. august maybe?
TarheelCroatInMA@reddit
Had to be, it was week before school started so mid-late August. (To anyone reading this exchange who thinks “just google it” I stick out my tongue at them, trying to remember is more fun)
catsandcoconuts@reddit
lmao facts, thank you!
GalaxyFrog1@reddit
Yah, DC gets a little of everything, but nothing too bad. The 2012 derecho caused a bunch of damage
Express-Stop7830@reddit
Hurricane Gaston also caused horrible flooding in Old Town Alexandria. Lots of businesses never reopened.
And Snowpocalypse 2010 caused a bunch of chaos.
IthurielSpear@reddit
We lost everything in the Paradise, California fire that wiped out the entire town.
And also I was in the Loma Prieta earthquake in the Bay Area California.
I’ve also had a couple of close calls with tornadoes and hurricane helene.
Subterranean44@reddit
Mine is also Camp Fire. Hope you’re doing ok, neighbor.
pook1029@reddit
I had just moved from Paradise several months before the fire. My former home was gone, too.
IthurielSpear@reddit
There were really only a handful of homes that survived
manic-pixie-attorney@reddit
Hurricane Floyd, central NC 1999
It exceeded 500 year flood levels throughout the eastern half of the state. 85 people died.
bigredwillie622@reddit
Came here looking for Floyd, tarboro was an island for a week and my school was a shelter. Also got to see president Clinton from a distance.
ketonat@reddit
When I lived in SE Texas, Hurricane Rita did about $30k worth of damage to my property, and we had no power to our home for 6 weeks. Probably 25% of the homes in my neighborhood had large pine and oak trees fall through them and we had friends 20 minutes from us have 6 feet of storm surge in their home.
getbacklorettma@reddit
I live in Kerrville Texas. On July 4th 2025 our community had a 1,000 year flood. The Guadalupe River flooded and in our county alone, 119 died~including 25 children & 2 counselors from Camp Mystic.
aelizsecretsecret@reddit
Devastating floods last summer. Killed a bunch of girls at a summer camp:
Bettysgir@reddit
Katrina~ beyond comprehension. The hurricane hit Waveland, MS (not New Orleans) and obliterated it. The destruction from the actual hurricane, followed by the destruction from the storm surge and flooding (which did hit New Orleans) was just indescribable. If it weren’t for the tens of thousands of volunteers from absolutely everywhere, it would not have recovered. Thanks y’all.
cmyorke@reddit
The worst would be the May Floyd's of 2010 in the Nashville/Middle Tennessee area. We received about 14 inches of rain in a 48 hour period. The Cumberland River and all tributaries hit flood stage. Houses commercial buildings and warehouses along multiple rivers and streams were inundated with water levels that reached 6ft high or more. Musicians lost millions of dollars in instruments that were stored in warehouses between touring or recording, retail locations were closed for months while rebuilding, entire houses were picked up from their foundations and carried downstream, the entire house floating down the street that had 4-5 ft of moving water.
Next would probably be the ice storm of 94. It was 60ish one day and overnight the temps dropped into the 20s and rain started falling. The rain quickly froze when it hit tree branches and overhead lines. This caused multiple power outages throughout the city and there was no good way to communicate with friends and family about where you were out couldn't get to us at the time.
Most recent would be the winter storm of 2025-26. My family personally list our for about 60 hours. We know people that went much longer. Area in Nashville went almost 2 weeks with no electricity and downed trees blocking any exit paths so the people could not really leave their house to even go somewhere they may be able to get help.
Chumptopia@reddit
Mt St Helen's blew and rained down a mountain of ash on us. It was like living on the moon for weeks.
Elendril333@reddit
2004 Hurricane Ivan remnants flood Pittsburgh. Millvale was closed for days. Google "floating dumpster 2004" and you'll see the photo that launched a meme.
INS_Stop_Angela@reddit
Oct 17, 1989, 5:04 pm
Madrona88@reddit
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. I was fine. My parents house had a small amount of damage. My future husbands house had the chimney fall.
FireCorgi12@reddit
I’m about two hours from Joplin. The whole SW side of the state got hit in some way during the 2011 tornado. My husband and his family traveled back and forth for days cleaning up and helping with recovery. I still think about it.
JustAudra@reddit
I was literally outside in the dead center of the Joplin tornado. Thankfully my husband and I got out with just some minor scratches and scrapes, and our house was missed by a few blocks. Our car (which we hopped out of) was completely totalled though.
Thanks you to your husband's family for their help! We all still appreciate everyone who came to help.
Express-Stop7830@reddit
The way the community came together for recovery efforts to rebuild the space is a beautiful tale. I was incredibly impressed with the park/memorial space.
Auntie_Venom@reddit
That was so bad! I’m in KC and we were all on the edge of our seats and praying for everyone down there. A lot of us went down to help.
I can’t think of anything as devastating as that since I’ve been alive in Missouri or Kansas.
pterrible_ptarmigan@reddit
Flood of 93 is the only other thing that's close but it was a different sort of thing
Auntie_Venom@reddit
Omg! I forgot all about the flood of 93!!! I-64 (40/61 back then) was closed a long time in Chesterfield where the levees broke back then. Whenever I drive thru there still I think, was it really wise to develop this area so much? It’s still a flood plain.
esquirlo_espianacho@reddit
Joplin was pretty bad…
purdueaaron@reddit
My fiancee ended up in Joplin in the aftermath as a pharmacy tech because all but one or two pharmacies were leveled and they needed all hands. After 3 weeks they had to start figuring out if prescriptions not picked up was due to those people moving away or if they’d died.
No_Water_5997@reddit
I’m from Florida pick a hurricane.
Kellzy1212@reddit
I grew up in South Florida, so take your pick. I moved 6 years ago, but prepping for cat 5 storms is generally stressful and ptsd is common. It doesn’t help that the media makes the coverage so dramatic, nothing like hearing the forecast say mass loss of live repeatedly.
Express-Stop7830@reddit
And yet, people still don't evacuate. And then call for rescue during peak of winds and we simply cannot risk first resoonders' lives to go get them.
crispynarwhal@reddit
There are a lot of moving pieces to this though. If you live in Florida, by the time you know whether you need to evacuate or not, chances are good it's too late- roads are clogged, shelters are full, hotels are full. And if you're not at least comfortably middle class or are disabled, it's 10x harder.
Express-Stop7830@reddit
And this is why people need to make decisions for themselves and take accountability. Those who can evacuate, should. You do not need to go hundreds of miles, just get out of the evac zone and into a structure that is built to withstand the wind.
The evacuation call is the hail Mary, get out now. Anyone with the means to go elsewhere (a friend or family's house outside of the evacuation zone) should. Shelters are lifeboats for those who have no other option.
crispynarwhal@reddit
Yeah. It's why I'd never buy a house at the beach, even if I could afford one- or in a flood zone. Assuming the financial privilege to buy a house in the first place, a good deal of hurricane prep comes in not letting your realtor talk you into doing something dumb.
Express-Stop7830@reddit
Everyone has their own cost benefit analysis to run. Some people find the daily lifestyle worth the occasional threat. As long as they are aware of the decision they are making, then I wouldn't call it dumb. When it is a problem is when someone lives in an uninsured trailer on the beach and everything they have is in it. When there is no contingency plan.
Emotional-Dog8118@reddit
Hurricane Irene all the way up in Vermont!! 🧐.
gardenofthought@reddit
Snowmageddon 2021. It was truly horrific. Texas wasn’t prepared at all. People died in their homes because it was so cold inside. People were burning their furniture and cutting down trees in the park. Grocery stores were empty and there was no way to cook food. There were house fires and apartment floods because of the storm’s effects.
Then, many were left without clean drinking water for weeks afterwards.
The worst, though, was folks in other states shaking their fingers saying we deserved it for voting republican despite Texas being gerrymandered to hell.
esquirlo_espianacho@reddit
I am in TX. I am going with the floods last year in the Hill Country. The number of kids taken by that flood was shockingly sad.
angrylilewok13@reddit
One little girl is still missing. Weived in San Antonio and knew people out that way. It was absolutely devastating.
OwlTraps@reddit
My friend lost family in it and getting updates each time one of them was found was absolutely heartbreaking.
Grungemaster@reddit
Don’t forget our Senator abandoning us for a tropical vacation
whatevendoidoyall@reddit
I lived in Oklahoma during that. It was crazy. I lost water because the water treatment plant froze over. I've lived through a ton of winter storms in Oklahoma and have never had that happen.
Baldyzilla@reddit
Hurricane Harvey. It wasn’t like rain. It was like a waterfall hitting the house for a few days.
aachensjoker@reddit
Witch fire when I lived in San Diego. 2006.
I had just moved there (Escondido) a few months earlier. Was going to my job and went to get on the Interstate 15. 5 lanes on each side and its closed. Only thing coming up the road was a DOT truck with yellow lights.
Fire had jumped and they had closed it. I eventually had to call out cause of what was happening.
It was surreal. One day I came out looked up and half of the sky was dark cause of the smoke from the fires and half was bright. Ash was falling.
We eventually were messaged that we needed to evacuate. My roommate grabbed his dog and his Xbox and we went and stayed at his ex’s house in Ocean Beach. They were on good terms.
His house was fine. But we could look out at night and see the fires burning on the ridges.
Everything smelled like a BBQ for a while. A lot of ash on the ground.
Pretend-Scallion-734@reddit
Hurricane Ian! Ugh
Skyeviews9@reddit
San Francisco earthquakes, 1989 and 1957.
tarheel_204@reddit
Hurricane Helene is probably the worst in recent memory. Had some friends in Appalachia, some of whom lost everything.
dgmilo8085@reddit
I’ve been in multiple earthquakes, fires and floods. While in Santa Barbara we had two gnarly fires, and subsequent mudslides and floods from the rains that followed.
stillwatersrunfast@reddit
Northridge earthquake.
pattiwhack5678@reddit
The eruption of Mount St Helen’s
pxystx89@reddit
Catastrophic hurricanes. Damaged from Hurricane Milton two years ago still isn’t fixed in a lot of areas around me. A lot of damage so expensive that the city can’t afford to repair a lot of it so lots of things just taped off and barricaded for safety.
TeamTurnus@reddit
On of the hurricane back in the mid 2000s probably. Charlie knocked out our power for a few weeks during the summer in Orlando and smashed up our car. Wasn't fantastic.
crispynarwhal@reddit
Yeah, the Charlie-Frances-Jeanne-Ian combo was not great. Do not recommend.
Jettcat-@reddit
I’ve lived in California my whole life and was in two major earthquakes, the 70s Sylmar earthquake and the 89 Loma Prieta earthquake.
Groundbreaking_War52@reddit
The "Perfect Storm" Nor'easter did much more damage to my community than other hurricanes that were measurably more intense.
Mean-Ground7278@reddit
My town got runner by a tornado. It destroyed about %40 of the buildings but only 1 fatality.
RillaBlythe11325@reddit
Hurricane Milton
evilbubblefrog94@reddit
Ice storm in 2009. Everytime there is ice it brings back memories.
Violet_plumb14@reddit
Two big floods of the Susquehanna River in 2006 and 2011.
Citizenerased1989@reddit
It didn't really affect me, but in 2012 my hometown (where I still lived at the time) of Duluth, MN flooded majorly. This was a big deal because Duluth is basically a giant hill, so no one really ever thought it could flood and so it didn't have the infrastructure to handle flooding. I remember a seal escaped from the zoo and unfortunately a lot of zoo animals died, and I remember people kayaking to Dominoes Pizza. The night before the flood, the culvert by my work was already overflowing, and we all had to move our cars across the street because the bottom of the driveway was flooding. I also remember that I slept through the flood. I heard the sirens going off, but I couldn't understand what the emergency broadcast was saying (It sounded like the adults in Charlie Brown) and I just went back to sleep. I woke up to a TON of texts from my boss asking if I was okay, and saying if ANYONE could make it to work please do (I worked at a group home with clients who needed 24 hour care).
milee30@reddit
In 2004, we had three hurricanes cause major damage within a few weeks of each other.
First Debby dumped over 26” of rain in 24 hours - mass flooding even miles inland. A few weeks later Helene swiped by, causing 6’ of storm surge - more flooding. Then two weeks later Milton (cat 3) plowed directly over us- still more flooding and massive wind damage.
2004 was rough.
Express-Stop7830@reddit
Assuming you're near my hometown. Hugs from Ian territory.
dgmilo8085@reddit
Tossup between the Northridge earthquake and the floods in Santa Barbara.
Express-Stop7830@reddit
I left just before the Montecito mudslide. Because I knew poor decisions were being made by the county and I couldn't be a part of it. I was pissed as hell at people I knew (with kids!) being entitled and thinking they didn't need to evacuate. My heart absolutely broke during the mudslide. I did everything I could to be a support to my friends back in SBC as they worked through response and personal losses.
bananabuckette@reddit
Iowa had this weird land hurricane a couple years ago trees were up rooted
Express-Stop7830@reddit
Sorry to be pedantic and it does not minimize the destructive potential of it...but Iowa had a straight line wind event called a detecho. Hurricanes and tornados have to demonstrate rotation. (It matters for historical disaster categorization.)
DropTopEWop@reddit
Derecho. I remember watching that live on the Weather Channel as they were tracking it. 100mph straight line winds.
the-hound-abides@reddit
I’m from Florida so…take your pick? I think Charlie in ‘04 I lost power for the longest. It was like 2 weeks.
That whole year we got railroaded by 4-5 major storms. That was a year.
Express-Stop7830@reddit
Ah, yes. 2004. Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne. Followed by a fun packed 2005 with Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. Im hoping we get another 20 year lull...
SubstantialListen921@reddit
Not the same scale as a hurricane, but the Barneveld Tornado outbreak of June 7, 1984 had a huge impact on me as a kid. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado_outbreak_of_June_7%E2%80%938,_1984
Barneveld was a small town with only 225 buildings. An F5 tornado went right through it, destroying 170 of them, and basically wiped the town off the map in an hour.
I was just a kid then, but I remember being horrified by it. We were in the middle of redoing my bedroom and we donated all of the furniture to the village to help with the rebuilding.
Express-Stop7830@reddit
This is still used as a case study in one of the FEMA classes, partially because it was such a small jurisdiction that replied so heavily on partners (non governmental orgs) for long term recovery.
BankManager69420@reddit
Not me since I wasn’t born yet, but I know plenty of people here in Portland that experienced the Mt. St. Helens eruption and its effects.
Nkengaroo@reddit
1996 NYC blizzard
https://www.facebook.com/100068190480120/posts/pfbid02YqBuAYuJvkJ7qtor7sJoMGFbooh5gu371gHzf9hofcriaGV9pxfz41UR3TfTQzAEl/
dino-sour@reddit
"Hurricane" Sandy, in Ohio. Took a couple weeks to get power back up for everyone.
VanDenBroeck@reddit
I noticed that you put hurricane in parentheses. What was Sandy when it hit Ohio? Was it a tropical storm or a post tropical depression or what?
Express-Stop7830@reddit
It was classified as an extratropical cyclone. So, while intensity remained, it lost its tropical characteristics, meaning it was no longer a hurricane. Still a cyclone. No longer a tropical cyclone. Hurricanes are tropical cyclones. Technicalities of meteorology and storm classifications.
dino-sour@reddit
By the time it made landfall it was no longer classified as a hurricane, just a huge tropical cyclone. But no one wants to say that, it's hurricane sandy.
realisan@reddit
That was definitely a mess, but I think technically the Xenia tornado in 1974 was probably considered worse. It was an F5 and over 30 people died.
christine-bitg@reddit
"I think technically the Xenia tornado in 1974 was probably considered worse."
I was going to UC at the time, and my roommate was from Xenia.
I was cooping in Kentucky, and one of the guys I worked with lost the roof off his house.
Ericovich@reddit
In recent memory, the 2019 Memorial Day tornadoes were similarly destructive, but only one person died.
st1tchy@reddit
I think 2 died? The man that had a car thrown into his home and another woman wound up with her car in a creek, I think? Still pretty good for getting our annual amount of tornados all in one night.
Ericovich@reddit
I remember going to sleep and watching the light show and then driving through a literal disaster zone to get to work in the morning.
st1tchy@reddit
That was the first time I was ever actually concerned and watching the news for tornado paths. Sure I have taken precautions before, baut that was the first time where I was actually thinking we may get hit by a tornado. One ended up being about 5 miles north of us.
lisasimpsonfan@reddit
The May 31, 1985 Niles-Wheatland tornado was also an F5. 18 people killed. It was so weird because I was a few miles away and the weather had this eerie calm. I remember telling my Grandpa that something just didn't feel right.
OkayDay21@reddit
I still can’t believe Sandy reached that far inland
izzabeans@reddit
Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Nkengaroo@reddit
"Hurricane Elvis" 2003, Memphis
https://www.facebook.com/100044993918432/posts/pfbid0R7Ro8qPW3dvbs4QhHR7iYBiqKKZyEEJPD95omzfHgRvgKpaS7ij1V4LD7hH3MjRKl/
doozle@reddit
Northridge Earthquake followed by The Palisades and Eaton Fires.
Express-Stop7830@reddit
I'm from the other coast, but I remember begging my parents to let me call my penpal in LA (long distance call! Gasp!) to make sure she was ok.
christine-bitg@reddit
I remember the Northridge quake. It woke us up one morning. Scared the daylights out of me. A couple little metal ashtrays slid off a bureau and landed on the floor next go me. I thought it was glass breaking. We were living in Cerritos at the time, close to Orange County.
We were woken up every night for a month by the aftershocks.
West L.A. was the place that really took it on the chin in that quake, other than Northridge, of course. A friend of mine lived there.
Imaginary_Ladder_917@reddit
I had graduated from CSUN only a couple of years before. They had built a brand new parking structure that I think I parked in once. The library was really cool, with ask automated system that would go and get rarely used books. The parking structure collapsed, and the library was trashed. I don’t know if they ever rebuilt the book retrieval system. I remember being so relieved I had graduated by then because they had to bus people to UCLA for classes and to use their library, I think. And obviously, it was very sad that people lost their lives.
SodaPopin5ki@reddit
The main UCLA library, Powell, needed to be repaired after the quake. A temporary, hideous building that looked like a deflared circus tent was errected, termed "Towell" for Temporary Powell, while they renovated.
RobbieW1983@reddit
I remember news reports of the quake. It left a mess of the freeways
Solid_Reserve_5941@reddit
I grew up in LA and it seems like everyone older than 40 vividly remembers what they were doing when that earthquake hit. My parents woke up to it and rushed to get to my sister who was about a year old in her crib. They stumbled to get to her as they witnessed her crib bounce across the room. She ended up sleeping through the whole thing!
WarrenMulaney@reddit
Yep. All the way up here in God's Country (Bakersfield) it made our windows rattle.
Hot_Week3608@reddit
I personally experienced Hurricane Hugo in NC in 1989. I didn't experience Hurricane Helene in the mountains (2024) or the flooding from Hurricane Floyd down east in 1999, but they were awful as well.
Lost_Cockroach_1393@reddit
Tornado
nomadicstateofmind@reddit
Alaska - I was in a 7.1 earthquake in 2018 and an 8.2 in 2021. Both were terrifying. Thankfully, no fatalities from either one. There have been other big things happen, but those are the two that I was present for and actively had to deal with.
The 1964 earthquake had a ton of fatalities and is definitely the biggest natural disaster we’ve had. That was before my time though.
tooslow_moveover@reddit
I experienced the ‘89 Loma Prieta quake in the Bay Area. It was only a 6.9 and it shook like hell for nearly a minute. An 8.2 is more than 10x bigger. I can only imagine how bad that one was for you
InvisibleSeoh@reddit
That 2018 quake was scary as hell, but I have no memory of one in 2021. Must not have been near my area. Given how much higher that number is, I can't imagine how terrifying that must have been.
The_Ref17@reddit
Loma Prieta earthquake is the biggest one I personally experienced
I don't care to do anything worse 😢
tooslow_moveover@reddit
Same. I’ve experienced a lot of earthquakes, but Loma Prieta is the only one that I was able to recognize as an earthquake and then continue to experience it for an extended amount of time. It shook and shook and didn’t stop for about 45 seconds. I’ve experienced a few other 6’s (Morgan Hill and Napa), but Loma Prieta was something else.
tooslow_moveover@reddit
1991 Oakland Hills Fire and the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake.
Both bad, but I’m not sure how to decide which was worst.
CockroachNo2540@reddit
Hurricane Alicia or Tropical Storm Allison in Texas. I left before Ike, but that was even worse.
HeatwaveInProgress@reddit
Allison was my first experience with "weather" in Texas. I moved here in 2000.
christine-bitg@reddit
I was out in Kerrville at the time. Drove back into town in beautiful weather, I think that was on a Monday. My next door neighbors in my apartment building lost both of their cars in that one.
HipInTheSip@reddit
Katrina
rawbface@reddit
Hurricane Sandy made a mess of all the roads and left us without power for a whole week, which is pretty much unheard of. I had to dump my fridge and stay with my parents until the power came back.
whitemike40@reddit
as an old head, Sandy caused more damage, but Gloria in 85 felt worse, like everything was destroyed and power was out so long we went back to school with no lights
rawbface@reddit
I was alive back then, but I don't think I was sentient yet lol.
My parents never mention Gloria, but my dad still talks about the Blizzard of '96.
Keri2816@reddit
I remember living in Baltimore in 96 and the school closed for over a week. I was having fun making snow angels, but I eventually wanted to go back to school. I was 9, possibly 10. I don’t remember the date of the storm.
forever-salty22@reddit
I live in Maryland. The worst storm my parents talked about was Hurricane Agnes in the early 70s. Ive only seen pictures, but it looked terrible
Successful_Nature712@reddit
Oh heck. I’m in West Virginia and a senior in high school at the time. We didn’t have school for about a month. It was a big discussion if we would have to make up the time in June/July or not. We ended up not having to because of the state of emergency but I was sweating losing my summer before college!
Keri2816@reddit
I do remember that conversation as well. We were probably closed for longer than a week, but I don’t remember exactly
dwhite21787@reddit
96 sucked because of all the ice storms that came with the blizzard
Keri2816@reddit
True! But as a 9-10 year old, I barely remember the bad parts. I probably ate the icicles
PersistantFpoon@reddit
Omgosh I remember this. Snow all the way up the back door there was so much snow!
SunshineBLim@reddit
If you just lost food, you were lucky.
The thing with Sandy is that it was November. 3 weeks later they had snow.
My in-laws lived across the street from the water (Massapequa). So many homes destroyed.
My in-laws tried to stay in their home, but no electricity, no heat. And Novevember! My mil was sleeping with her fur coat (iykyk), until it snowed. Then they stayed in queens with family.
Genepoolperfect@reddit
As a NYer, I'm also going with Sandy. But also Irene the previous year was a disaster too.
ereignishorizont666@reddit
2004 hurricanes in central Florida.
Gallantpride@reddit
Ida is the one that I remember. My apartment flooded. My apartment is over 20 stories up! (The toilets started overflowing so hard they had to shut the water off)
kjb76@reddit
I’m also going to say Sandy. My office in Tribeca was closed for a week because the building’s basement flooding. I live north of the city. We lost power and I was a single mom at the time with a 2 year old. I emptied my fridge into a cooler and drove to my sister’s house in DC once I knew the roads were safe.
Genepoolperfect@reddit
I'm up in Rockland. Bought my house in 2011. Then had Irene in 2011, and Sandy in 2012 when I was pregnant with my first. Definitely worried about what I got myself into. Luckily our house is high enough up the hill that the creek in our backyard didn't overflow too much and didn't impact the house. Lost a couple trees by the roots to the creek transformation into the rapids it became.
kjb76@reddit
I’m in Rockland too.
Vanah_Grace@reddit
I’m blessing your heart from the gulf coast. Katrina was no power for two weeks. Gas and ice lines miles long. And we had it easy in the scope of how bad that frightful bitch was.
Cant-think-of-a-nam@reddit
Yup from nj. Sandy was definitely the worst. I spent a good 2 weeks at the shore helping clean up
Gallantpride@reddit
People call it "Superstorm Sandy" because it apparently wasn't a hurricane. But to me, it'll always be "Hurricane Sandy".
I remember being excited for it as a teen (hey, I was a kid). My first big storm! But it barely hit my area.
I actually found later, smaller storms have been worse in my area. Hurricane Ida hit my area bad.
hippiechick725@reddit
Lived in PA when this happened, we also were without power for a week.
Brewingjeans@reddit
Definitely Sandy, but the long power outage was a drop in the bucket. The barrier islands and coastal areas saw like 8-12 ft storm surge, that completely leveled certain areas.
The ocean and the Barnegate bay were literally connected.
It re shaped neighborhoods, home building, and insurance completely.
OriginalSilentTuba@reddit
Was going to be my answer, too.
Cool-Bunch6645@reddit
The coastal flooding and storm surge was unbelievable. My office in the meadowlands was under water like 3 ft
Interesting-Run-6866@reddit
+1 for Sandy.
https://apimagesblog.com/blog/2014/10/28/superstorm-sandy-before-and-after
Interesting-Run-6866@reddit
+1 for Sandy.
Doubleucommadj@reddit
Yep. Lost my job cuz it flooded LES and our main venue where Gawker was housed.
MyLadyScribbler@reddit
North Jersey person here, and I'm also going with Sandy. We were without power for ten days, and there were so many trees downed it looked like Paul Bunyan had gone through on a bender.
forever-salty22@reddit
Ive lived in Maryland for 45 years and have yet to experience a natural disaster. The worst we've had were 2 long ice storms, some category 1 hurricanes, and a mild earthquake.
captainjohn_redbeard@reddit
Hurricane Harvey. Maybe the ice storm in 2021, but that was more on our shitty infrastructure than the weather itself.
ickyvic613@reddit
I live in West Houston near Barker Cypress/HW 6. Harvey was bonkers. The rain stalling. The flooding after they released the water. I made it through with only minor damage and needing dry wall and carpeting replaced, but I know so many people who suffered so much more.
I do tell people that Houstonians for sure have weather related PTSD - especially after factoring in that ice storm from 2021 among other things. But the TX government is what we have. So we adjust and move accordingly...
Keri2816@reddit
I moved from Baltimore to Houston in 2018, the ice storm of 2021 had me crying just because Houston was SO ill prepared for anything. In Maryland, it wouldn’t have been much of a storm but here I lost a fridge full of food and I was considered extremely lucky.
nakedonmygoat@reddit
The grid collapse was a state thing, not a Houston thing. Houston couldn't do a damn thing about it.
But how did you lose the contents of your fridge? I just put my stuff outside in a couple boxes and used nature's fridge/freezer.
christine-bitg@reddit
"how did you lose the contents of your fridge? I just put my stuff outside in a couple boxes and used nature's fridge/freezer."
I did the same thing during an ice storm thst knocked out our power in the winter of 1997. I was living in Kingwood at the time.
It was about 14 degrees F outside at the time. We put the stuff in a cooler, to make sure no animals got to it.
HeatwaveInProgress@reddit
Harvey made me having anxiety attacks during thunderstorms.
SunshineBLim@reddit
It took me a long time to drive in rain after harvey.
evaj95@reddit
I'm from North Carolina, so I've lived through several hurricanes.
Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Michael were both rough.
Duke219@reddit
Train derailment - the train was carrying hazardous chemicals and caught on fire. I was a kid at the time but remember police and firefighters going door to door to evacuate everyone.
National-Pressure202@reddit
The 7.1 earthquake in AK in 2018…. Earthquakes aren’t uncommon in Alaska… this one hit Hard, and lasted (what felt like) a long time. After that I learned to not let my gas get below 1/4 of a tank…. Because when the power goes, it’s next to impossible to get gas from a gas station
Kurious_Kat720@reddit
Midwest Flood of 1993
shiningonthesea@reddit
9/11. My husband was a first responder.
Red_Beard_Rising@reddit
Just some flooding in my back yard and the detached garage back there. It was a pain the first time. Sellers never mentioned it. Now everything that can be damaged by water is raised off the floor. The flooded lawn mower motor was the biggest headache to deal with. I built a stand to store it on, above the flood water level.
SleepLivid988@reddit
Hurricane Ike. There are businesses that still have “Ike lines” marked that show how high the water got. I think they changed how hurricanes are categorized because of that storm.
KittyCubed@reddit
For myself, probably Beryl. It’s the storm that I lost power from a neighbor’s tree falling on the power lines. Being without power for over a week in Houston heat and humidity was the worst, especially as I’m heat sensitive. Even Harvey and the 2021 ice storm weren’t as bad because I had power and was fortunate to not get hit as bad as surrounding areas.
melmel1966@reddit
Blizzard in 1978 in Maine as a kid.
EmrysRises@reddit
I was a little kid during the Year of the Hurricanes in Florida.
I don’t remember enough to be able to say WHICH hurricane it was, but I do remember that we had to go live in a hotel for a week. Our power was out the whole time.
I remember the power going out over and over and over.
I remember my parents putting wooden boards on the windows and getting scared because now it was dark in the house and I was 4 (ish) and scared of the dark. But they couldn’t turn the lights on inside.
The power was out.
777Void777@reddit
I didnt experience it firsthand.
There was a farmer near my house during a really bad storm. A tornado touched down on his house, ripped it to shreds. The tornado went across the street and tore apart his barn on top of his cows. Most had to be put due to their injuries.
Then the tornado dissipated. He was the only one affected.
There was a fundraiser over 200 volunteers showed up to help him rebuild.
KCJ4Tx@reddit
Houston was on the very wet end of Huricane Harvey
No_Entertainment_748@reddit
this
SunshineBLim@reddit
Hurrican Harvey.
I'm a native New Englander. Now in Houston area.
Harvey was my first hurricane. It was awful. Awful.
I am better now, but I used to have major anxiety attacks driving in heavy rain. Even being a passenger.
Flashy-Support3835@reddit
Christmas blizzard of 2022, WNY. People were without power in freezing conditions for days, roads were inaccessible to plows and emergency vehicles. The storm came so fast people got stranded in their vehicles on the roads and froze to death. Horrible
Terrible-Image9368@reddit
May 3, 1999 F5 tornado
Dazzling-Climate-318@reddit
None, it’s snowed a lot and shut down the highways, but I don’t consider an inconvenience that if prudently handled is harmless a disaster.
vamartha@reddit
Hurricane Helene. I wasn't here when Hurricane Hugo came through but I do remember seeing the aftermath. You can still find trees that were blown over by Hugo. (1989)
But Helene? When you are 5 hours away from the coast and above 2,200 ft, a hurricane is something you don't deal with. Until you do.
Julianalexidor@reddit
Forest fire. Evacuation occurs most summers. My bff lost her home 2 years ago.
QueeeenElsa@reddit
Snowmaggedon 2021. Lost power for 3 days straight and it got down to 40°F INSIDE THE HOUSE! It was so cold that we could see our breaths and we were bundled up in sleeping bags meant for camping in as low as 0° temps.
It’s also what pushed my grandmother over the edge and gave her sudden onset Alzheimer’s. Apparently a stressful situation can do that, and she was already completely blind from glaucoma, so she had no clue what was going on. She also already had Charles Bonet(sp?) syndrome, where basically she had visual hallucinations of people/crowds/auditoriums/busses, so that’s basically all she saw during that whole time, and still sees to this day.
RadiantDesign2942@reddit
I lost everything due too Hurricane Helene, FL.
Overall_Occasion_175@reddit
The Ice Storm of '98
DrShadowSML@reddit
Same
MsRubberbiscuit@reddit
We had a tornado about 15 years ago. It took out lots of homes, turned the forest into kindling, and shut everything down for over a week.
thaulley@reddit
Probably the Northridge Earthquake, 1994. I was living in Northridge at the time.
FrenchFreedom888@reddit
That I have experienced personally, the May 2019 floods. That I was alive for and that happened in my state, gotta be the 2013 Moore tornado
alwaysboopthesnoot@reddit
F5 Tornado ripped off roofs and flattened homes. The high winds and rain storms that accompanied them, caused massive flooding and power outages. In a nearby community trains came off their tracks, smaller airplanes and prop jets were flipped over, and planks were driven like nails into the sides of brick buildings. Highway bridges peeled away from their supports, and houses were moved sideways off their foundations and nudged into the neighbors’ yards. Lakes were vacuumed up and all the water and fish thrown elsewhere.
dobbydisneyfan@reddit
We just had the blizzard of ‘26. I was trapped in my neighborhood for 4 days. Didn’t lose any power thank goodness but others weren’t so lucky.
Far_Independence_918@reddit
Hurricane David
Apart-Shelter-9277@reddit
I was alive for the Loma Prieta earthquake. I was only about 3 though so I don't remember it really
Apart-Shelter-9277@reddit
Originally from California. I did live here in NC last year with the hurricane and all of the devastation up in the mountains. But I don't live in the mountains so I can't really claim to have lived through that.
Tgande1969@reddit
My St Helens blowing up!
Original-Affect-4560@reddit
Hurricane Helene.
Vyckerz@reddit
Nothing too devastating but the Blizzard of 78 hit when I was 13 and living in Massachusetts back then. All roads and highways closed and choked with snow and abandoned cars. We had no school for a week.
Hurricane Bob in the 80s did a bunch of damage to our summer place near Cape Cod.
The storm surge from the bay came up the street and flooded our basement. Ruined the furnace and water heater.
We had boats that washed up in front of our house and we were like 200 yards from the bay.
Much-Razzmatazz-2403@reddit
I remember the blizzard of ‘78. Was living in Wisconsin at that time.
BreadStoreRefugee@reddit
Aside from the nearly annual wildfires like the ones last year that destroyed 16,000 homes, it was probably the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
bfs102@reddit
Hurricane sandy multiple feet of snow locked us in for like a month before they could get the roads clear and power back
CheesE4Every1@reddit
Had a fire in Gatlinburg. Smoke reached all the way to Knoxville, still mad those two kids were prosecuted because they had come from a well off family.
Bad_wit_Usernames@reddit
Northridge Earthquake. Followed by any number of wild fires in and around Los Angeles. Where I lived, we had a fire back in the late 90s that came over the San Gabriel mountains toward our community. We didn't have to evacuate but you could see the fire coming down.
awakeagain2@reddit
My husband was home sick with bronchitis a couple of days before Sandy hit. When it hit our area, he was still sick and I caught it from him.
We had no power for two weeks and spent most of our time shivering in bed. We managed to get out every evening to get hot food.
mooncr142@reddit
Not a truly natural disaster. But the Teton damn collapse caused a lot of damage. I think it was in 1976
No-Mouse4800@reddit
Mount St Helens eruption
ELMUNECODETACOMA@reddit
This. It's under-remembered because the worst effects didn't hit the Seattle-Tacoma corridor where most of the people live, but the rest of the state wasn't so lucky.
mooncr142@reddit
Yea, most of the ash went east with the prevailing westerly winds. I was living in central Idaho at the time, we got a lot of ash in our area.
No-Mouse4800@reddit
At the time I was in the 4th grade. The ash was something to behold.
pook1029@reddit
We lived in Colorado and days later our cars were covered in ash!
ELMUNECODETACOMA@reddit
I was 13 and got back from my paper route (it was a different era) to watch it live on TV.
GreeenCircles@reddit
My mom was a student at WSU in Pullman at the time, I think they got hit pretty hard with ash.
GandalfTheGrey46@reddit
The videos of geologists near the mountain who were killed was wild. Sad day.
AZymph@reddit
The heartbreaking decision to curl up over the camera footage to preserve it, knowing already it was too late for him. RIP Robert Landsberg, your contributions to science & history are appreciated.
Birdywoman4@reddit
Several F-5 and F-4 tornadoes that hit the metro area (south Moore and south Oklahoma City). Three of those tornadoes took a path that had been taken before. Some homes were replaced 3 times at the same addresses. The last major tornado hit two elementary schools and killed several school children. The physical damages to property were record-setters not just for the state but for the entire USA. Thanks to volunteers from all over the nation the area was able to recover much quicker than we thought possible.
WHowe1@reddit
I lived through the bizzerd of 1978, as a child, we didn't lose power, but couldn't get to town for a few weeks. The local sheriff department, brought us basic groceries by snowmobile.
Wixenstyx@reddit
Lower Midwest here. Literally all the tornadoes.
CosmicPlantKing@reddit
We had a tornado that hit my neighborhood about 2 years ago. The library is still being renovated due to damage 💔
Beginning-Piglet-234@reddit
Ss Sandy. Hands down was the most destructive storm I've seen in my 63 yrs.
Old-Wolf-1024@reddit
April 10,1979 tornado in Wichita Falls,Texas
bmsa131@reddit
Hurricane sandy. We were without power for 14 days which is a lot especially when the weather got unseasonably cold
Remarkable_Toe_164@reddit
The loma prieta earthquake in 1989. Luckily i wasn't near the epicenter, so it just knocked me on my ass, but the entire bay area was hit pretty hard.
Vegetable_Amount848@reddit
Hurricane Irma took out 40 of the 46 homes in my neighborhood. The remaining 6 were severely damaged but repairable.
Impossible_Emu5095@reddit
I live in Wisconsin and we have our share of blizzards and tornadoes. It wasn’t until I moved to India for six years that I truly experienced devastating weather. We had catastrophic flooding that left huge portions of the city under more than nine feet of water. We were stuck in our building for over a week with that. And then the next year we had a cyclone (hurricane) that did massive devastation and knocked out power and cell service for multiple days. Plus there was major flooding and trees uprooted everywhere.
Key_Opening6939@reddit
May 3, 1999 EF5 (the highest) tornado. Traveled 30 something miles and killed over 30 people. Destroyed - and I mean completely flattened hundreds of homes and businesses. It was devastating for a city/state that was still struggling to recover from the April 19, 1995 bombing.
obscuredsilence@reddit
Helene + Milton (2024) … west coast of FL.
Doone7@reddit
Hurricane Helene. Still recovering from it years later.
Effective-Ladder9459@reddit
Not me but my parents and older brother, though he wouldn't remember anyway as he was like 7 months old.
May 18th, 1980. Mount St Helens.
CodUnlikely2052@reddit
Hurricane Hugo in SC. I still remember the smell of the sink water and apparently had some form of PTSD about that bc I was really scared about having enough water to drink, brush my teeth, cook with when I went through a different hurricane a few years later. No smell- water was fine… What was that smell about?!
PastNefariousness188@reddit
Hurricane Ivan in Pensacola, Florida. No power for 3 weeks and no water for over a month.
BasicJuggernaut4413@reddit
6.8 earthquake. Olympia wa
Dgp68824402@reddit
Hurricane Hugo, 1989
gigee4711@reddit
Not personally, but very close to me was Hurricane Helene. Absolute devastation.
Worth-Caramel-8580@reddit
When I lived in the NYC area I got Sandy, snowtober and the tristate area black ice event. The black even was the worst one, I had to go to work and cried almost the whole way it was terrifying.
Now living in the southeast I've had several hurricanes and tornadoes pass through but so far the the worst was Hurricane Helene. The sounds and the level of destruction just from a Cat 1 is crazy, neighbors are still waiting to rebuild their homes
kellis744@reddit
Sandy flooded some apartment building basements near us. One person unfortunately drowned. This was in MD near DC
Omgkimwtf@reddit
I live about 40 minutes north of the disaster area, but... May 3rd, 2013, Moore Oklahoma tornado.
Frankly, tornadoes in Oklahoma in general. There was one just Thursday that is looking like an EF4.
tropicalsoul@reddit
Blizzard of 78 in Massachusetts, the double whammy of Hurricanes Helene and Milton in Tampa, Florida.
BubblesForBrains@reddit
Quake ‘93 while I was at Berkeley.
donnacus@reddit
If we are talking personal experience: in 2010 we had a ridiculous hail storm that punched holes in car windshields and roofs all over town. Six weeks later we had a huge windstorm that knocked out trees and by extension powerlines over a wide area.
From the hail storm my car looked like a golf ball, it was covered in divots. Insurance totaled the car. I lost 6 trees in my back yard from the wind storm and was without power for 6 days. The trees that fell knocked over my fence and between the two storms the fiberglass roof over my back deck had to be replaced and the insurance adjustor also said the whole home needed a new roof even though it was still technically intact. There were blue tarps on roofs in the area for months.
Potential-Current-62@reddit
Hurricane Charlie Fort Myers, Florida Hurricane Rita, East Texas Hurricane Matthew Hilton Head Island, South Carolina Hurricanes just chasing me around everywhere I go. lol
kindervolvo@reddit
Palisades and Eaton fires, communities ruined and the back drop of all high school memories destroyed :(
Yorkie_Mom_2@reddit
An earthquake. A couple of them actually.
CorrectCondition9458@reddit
Winter of 93. We had an ice storm in southern Md that shut down everything for almost a week. No power and the roads were too slippery to drive out. The worst part was the middle of the night at the height of the storm when trees would come down. They sounded like they were exploding. We lost a dozen or so trees. A corner of our roof and all the food in the fridge. On second we were able to get out so we drove about an hour and a half to get a hotel room. On the plus side my son had asthma and needed a nebulizer so we got insurance to pay for hotel since roof damaged didn’t make the house uninhabitable.
anneofgraygardens@reddit
I guess either the Loma Prieta earthquake, which was very destructive although it didn't really affect me personally (I felt it but I was like 70 miles from the epicenter) or the 2017 wildfires, which affected me more directly. I never had to evacuate but many of my coworkers did, it was just very damaging and destructive locally. plus everything was really smoky, covered in ash, etc. A horrible experience.
masoleumofhope@reddit
I gotta mention that Loma Prieta was also aired live nationally at moment of impact because it happened during the (baseball) World Series game that was happening in San Francisco, between the 2 bay area teams. That footage is so surreal. Must have been wild to be watching from somewhere else.
I believe the general consensus is that the injury/death count would've been much higher had the World Series not been happening. The earthquake was at 5pm but many people had left work early/weren't on the freeways so that they could catch the game.
Heyya14@reddit
‘The Big Freeze’ of Texas in the early 2020’s. Our electricity went out for days, and the water pipes were busted too
Raddatatta@reddit
I haven't had many that were really serious. We did have a snowstorm that was about a foot of snow in October in the early 2010's that left us out of power for about a week. If you haven't experienced snow when the trees still have their leaves a huge number of trees will collapse. There were trees down over the roads basically every 50-100 ft across the state.
minicpst@reddit
I was thinking the same thing, but October 1987 in Upstate NY.
Ok-Ambassador8271@reddit
Tornado of Dec 2021. It took all our barns and forests
Possible-Cicada-9662@reddit
I believe it was Winter Storm Nemo which from my poor memory was about 40 inches of snow and winds of 40-50 mph.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
I’m in Maine so we avoid most natural disasters. No massive forest fires, earthquakes happen but are mild, we get tornados but they’re infrequent and weak, droughts aren’t severe, no volcanic activity, even hurricanes are pretty weak and we don’t have a huge amount of low coastal areas to be flooded (the coast is usually a bit steeper and rocky than say Florida or the gulf coast), flooding isn’t a massive issue because most of our rivers drain easily and have steep banks combined with the fact we don’t get huge thunderstorms like the south and Midwest.
So blizzards and nor’easters are the only really hugely damaging natural disasters and we are really set up to deal with those.
So really the named blizzards are probably the worst I’ve experienced.
KrevinHLocke@reddit
F5 tornado through Joplin, MO. So crazy it has it's own wikipedia page.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joplin_tornado
Jasminefirefly@reddit
I remember, at least a year after the tornado, driving through older neighborhoods in Joplin, the kind that have some yard, then three steps up the sidewalk, then more yard up to the front porch. But there were no porches. There were no houses. Just the sidewalks with their three steps leading to nothing. It made me cry.
FrenchBull70@reddit
On May 18, 1980 I lived in Portland Oregon and witnessed the eruption of Mt. Saint Helen’s. I was just 10 years old and honestly thought it was pretty cool at the time.
Normal-Emotion9152@reddit
I am happy to say knock on wood I have not experienced anything at all. I have had many stable years where I live. I am happy for boring. That being said I feel for the souls that had been displaced by any major event. I can only imagine how horrible that must feel.
lantana98@reddit
We had a bad tornado that caused a lot of damage and deaths.
Citrusysmile@reddit
I lived through Hurricane Harvey 45 minutes away from Houston, on the coast, with several rivers running through town. School was cancelled for a month straight and groceries were delivered via boat and helicopter.
I also lived through the Snovid, the Texas freeze in 2021. I had no water or power for a week, apartment got down to 43° inside. We also moved during this, as we were house hunting, to a town with power and water but still affected by the freeze. It was twin mattresses, cold dominos, and pop tarts for several days
I think Harvey was worse. My town got hit hard (15 minutes from the coast), then all of Houston’s flooding drained to my town, keeping us underwater for longer.
thereadingbri@reddit
Haven’t had one in my current city. In my hometown, I’d have to say the back to back to back ice storms of January 2014. Lost power for 4+ days each time. I went to school that month all of about 8 days. Our house was on a municipal well at the time so we lost our running water when electricity would go. And we lived on a steep and curvy mountain road that couldn’t be plowed so we were stuck at home. Thankfully we had a working fireplace and plenty of seasoned firewood, but we were nearly out of firewood by the time it was all said and done.
TechnicalNumber2262@reddit
Hurricane Beryl in Texas. No help from FEMA
Saltpork545@reddit
Joplin's 2011 F5. I didn't live there but I was part of the cleanup process and it helped me solidify the ideas of being prepared.
For the people who haven't seen the story or documentary, they don't tell you about the smells. It's not fun. A mile wide path of Joplin was just ripped out and redistributed around the entire rest of the town. It was wild and tragic.
HermioneMarch@reddit
Hurricane Helene. We live inland. Never thought hurricanes would come here.
scifirailway@reddit
In Colorado, wildfires. Where I grew up in NC, tornado or a hurricane. Tornado did more destruction, just hit less stuff. Hurricanes took a lot of trees/powerlines down with trees on houses. Power was out for a week.
Zealousideal_Draw_94@reddit
Hurricane David in the late ‘70’s, as a child. Our power was out 10 days and we were lucky. Many people when had to wait 2+ weeks.
There have been other hurricanes that have hit my city, but that was the worst
AaronQ94@reddit
Hurricane/Tropical Storm Helene.
snaptogrid@reddit
I was in NYC for Hurricane Sandy and, a few years later, Montecito when the mudslides killed 24 people.
DeiaMatias@reddit
Shit. I live in Oklahoma. Pick one. I've got about 5. Probably the 2013 tornado. That one got really close.
DOMSdeluise@reddit
Hurricane Harvey was the most destructive one for the area, although I didn't flood or lose power so I was basically fine. Hurricane Beryl was probably the most madness-inducing though because it knocked a bunch of people's power out like six weeks after a major wind event also knocked a bunch of people's power out. not fun to have two multi-day blackouts in the summer.
nakedonmygoat@reddit
Not to mention that Beryl didn't even make landfall in the Houston/Galveston area. It hit Matagorda. Houston was on the "dirty" side of the storm, which is why the city was affected the way it was.
Since it was only in the Cat 1/Tropical Storm range when it got to the metro area, there was no excuse for the widespread power outages, except in areas that were still hardening repairs from the derecho in May.
Repulsive_Repeat_337@reddit
Detroit, the 1978 blizzard. It was about a month before my 6th birthday. We were out of power for two or three days, so my dad made up an "indoor camping trip" with sleeping bags in the living room, blankets covering the doorways, and a big roaring fire in the fireplace. Every few hours he would disappear for 10 minutes. When I was older I realized he was going down into the basement to check the pipes.
MollyWeasleyknits@reddit
The Hayman Fire is the one I can remember. It rained ash in Denver for weeks.
My dad would say the Platte River Flood of 1965. Literally reshaped the Denver metro area.
pook1029@reddit
My late hubby told me about the Platte River flood in Denver. He was a kid and he remembered a motorcycle being deposited on his front lawn.
thebarahs@reddit
1974 Tornadoes in Louisville Ky. Trees houses and Parks destroyed
silverfoxbuttslut@reddit
New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina
Nice-Block-7266@reddit
The Big Thompson Canyon flood 50 years ago was a flash flood that killed a lot of people in Colorado. I was a child and it was 100 miles away from where I Iived. There was a big flood in my area in 2013. A few people died, extensive damage. Our basement flooded, but our damage was relatively minor.
4 years ago, the Marshall Fire burned down \~1100 houses just 10 miles away from where I live. I remember a big, awful pillar of smoke.
pook1029@reddit
We lived in Loveland at the time of the flood- horrible.
Ethanhuntknows@reddit
Earthquake in Taiwan, near Nantou, in 1999. Thousands killed. Skyscrapers in Taipei collapsed. My mom saw my damaged apartment building on CNN and thought I was dead…
pook1029@reddit
Flooding of the Big Thompson River Canyon in Estes Park and Loveland, Colorado, July 1976. 144 souls died.
MrTeeWrecks@reddit
When I was a kid I heard a tornado destroying a village (population was like 160 people). When we came out of the storm shelter on the farm. We saw the neighbors’ heavy equipment not too far away and upside down. The tornado also ripped up the ground and part of an irrigation system.
Iirc it only touched down for like 15 minutes.
gma9999@reddit
Loma Prieta earthquake.
life_experienced@reddit
The Loma Prieta earthquake, 1989. We didn't have damage at home, but the sheer mess that it caused affected everyone in the Bay for a very long time.
The Oakland Hills fire was also terrible. I was on the hospital in Oakland at the time and I could see everything on fire from my room.
goblin_hipster@reddit
The great polar vortex of January 2019. Extremely, bitterly, dangerously cold. The high at one point was -10⁰ Fahrenheit. Luckily I was at home recovering from surgery.
The wind chill also dropped to -40⁰. This is "frostbite within 10 minutes of exposure" territory.
TRDOffRoadGuy@reddit
Palm Sunday tornadoes of 1992
Eccentric-Elf@reddit
A tornado went through my city and destroyed some buildings I pass daily. My home was safe but even going on walks I’d see debris or other damage from the storm.
Tinkerfan57912@reddit
We had a derecho go through my area 14 years ago. Power was knocked out for about a week. Thankfully, we had no damage to our house, but our yard was a mess with tree limbs down. With 2 small kids at the time it was a challenge trying to keep them busy every day with no power. My husband was great about getting dinner every day. We were able to find places with power for lunch and to cool down.
Traditional-Let9530@reddit
Hurricane season was the worst, not even just the storm but the days without power, flooded streets, and everything shutting down made it feel way bigger than just a bad weather event.
ViQueen331965@reddit
Probably Hurricane Agnes 1972, although some people would make a good case for a couple snowstorms we've had.
tiny_bamboo@reddit
Hurricanes Irma & Ian. Damn.
WorriedCress7965@reddit
Not my town, but I had the misfortune of being in town for this. https://www.tornadotalk.com/the-west-memphis-arkansas-tornado-of-december-14-1987/
The Town I've lived in the longest routinely almost burns down every couple of summers. Also, not usually natural unless you count dumb campers, but sometimes it's lightning.
Sooner70@reddit
7.2 earthquake. I was close enough to watch a fault open up in front of me.
somecow@reddit
Harvey. It was absolutely screwed. Oh my holy crap, glad I left before everyone else did. My second floor apartment was underwater.
Since then, TxDOT made contraflow lanes, drive on both sides of the highway and the shoulder, just in case everyone needs to gtfo from houston again (that’s a lot of people y’all).
Rebelreck57@reddit
I have endured several hurricans in My Life. I believe Carla was the worst one to deal with.
Craigh-na-Dun@reddit
Loma Prieta Earthquake 1989 Bay Area CA
h8movies@reddit
Hurricane Katrina
cardifan@reddit
2019 Rim Fire in Yosemite.
AZymph@reddit
Wildfires
SabresBills69@reddit
besides the one currently in…..
Growing up in Buffalo..
in the late 70s the remains of a hurricane came through the area and dumped rain. It’s the only time I saw my neighborhood flooded
blizzard of 78. It didn’t bring much snow. Dec/ jan was cold so lakevfroze. Snow accumulated on the lake. This big windstorm picked up the snow and threw it into Buffalo and suburbs. We were out of school for a couple weeks and they extended the school calendar to end of June to make up.
living elsewhere
hurricane Isabel in 2003. One of the worst tropical storms to hit the area
family traveling down to Texas in the Dec 1982. In Arkansas on 30 we likely drove very close to a tornado. It was dark so we couldn’t see it. When returning coming back that way we say still the tornado damage along the interstate
kartoffel_engr@reddit
That i’ve experienced? Probably just wildfires paired with high winds.
Worst in state history is probably the Wellington Avalanche in 1910 and Mount St. Helens Eruption in 1980, both by deaths. Wildfires make up the majority of our natural disasters though.
big-gay-aha@reddit
in Utah we get some pretty bad floods, also earthquakes. The worst earthquake i experienced was 5.7 Magnitude. Which i guess isn’t that bad but i was about a 15 minute drive from the epicenter. also this was like 3 days after all of the schools closed due to COVID. so everyone was freakin out a little extra.
Wolf482@reddit
I was about a mile or so from the 2013 F5 tornado in Moore, OK. It replaced a local hospital's walls with cars.
purdueaaron@reddit
1991 ice storm through Central Indiana.
3ish inches of ice on everything ended up with half a million people without power. We lived out in the county and the day after the storm it took us hours to get into town which was usually only a 5 minute drive. There were whole big trees down across the road so you’d take another path and find every power pole snapped and across the road. While my grandparent’s home didn’t have power they did have a gas stove and fireplace so that we had SOME heat. It took a week for town to get power back and another 2 weeks for us to get power back at home.
pterrible_ptarmigan@reddit
I'm from St. Louis, MO. In 1993 the 2 biggest rivers in North America flooded for over 100 days. Whole towns were relocated and built in new locations. I'm today's money it did over $20 billion in damages. It came within 2 ish feet of the top of the St. Louis floodwall.
pmgoldenretrievers@reddit
I was only 6 but we got huge floods in 1983 and were cut off for nearly a week. Like totally cut off. Not a road in or out. Northern California. It was kinda fun cause after the power went out it was a free for all for our normally rationed ice cream.
chtrace@reddit
Hurricane Harvey. Biblical rain totals that just swamped the whole city. I have never seem anything like it before. Thousands upon thousands of homes and businesses flooded, thousands of vehicles flooded. Widespread power outages, sewer plants off line. Just a disaster of you will probably see once every 500 years or so.
Nouseriously@reddit
2010 Nashville got flooded pretty badly
gummi-demilo@reddit
Probably doesn’t count but I was living in Japan when the Sendai quake happened.
If we’re talking hometowns I do still remember when Phoenix hit 122 degrees.
spookybatshoes@reddit
Hurricane Katrina
Ok_Helicopter2305@reddit
The Eaton fire last year. Destroyed 80% of Altadena
JuliusTweezer@reddit
When I was in college in southern Illinois they had an inland hurricane. Winds were around 106mph. Really did a number down there and lost power for 7 days. Error how dark it was everywhere when the sun went down. In my college town they enforced a curfew too during those 7 days. Had to drive 40 mins out of town to find a liquor store that was open.
GandalfTheGrey46@reddit
Was that the derecho? I remember that one. Snapped g-d only knows how many telephone poles in half like toothpicks . I remember hearing it coming since my window was open. There were the normal strong thunderstorm sounds and then suddenly a wooshing sound like I had never heard before.
JuliusTweezer@reddit
That’s the one. Luckily the housing was renting was gas appliances unlike most of the ones my other buddies were in that were electric. The size of trees it just toppled over was nuts.
GreenBeanTM@reddit
Hurricane Katrina
Living-Pomegranate37@reddit
Tornado went down my street about 30 feet from the house. We lived in Ft. Worth TX at the time.
SilverB33@reddit
That would have to go to the 1989 earthquake in California, I was 3 at the time and a bit out from the epicenter but the quake reached my hometown in San Mateo, I just remember hiding under a table and saying 'make it stop!'
ZJPV1@reddit
We had a flood in 1996 -- my home was not affected.
We had an ice storm in the early 2010s. We lost power for about a day. My stepdad, who lived in a trailer park, was without power for more than a week. My mom came to stay with us (my Grandmother and I), and he insisted on staying home, in the dark, with only an AM radio to keep him company. Weird guy.
killingourbraincells@reddit
Probably hurricane Charlie.
The_Motherlord@reddit
Los Angeles. 71 earthquake, 94 earthquake.
Places where I was living were not tagged/structurally damaged but still had to leave and stay elsewhere for a time until cleared to return. In 71 the therapist I had been seeing was at Oliveview, which was severely damaged. Broken freeways both times. Freeway damage seemed much worse in 94. Could also be because there were more drivers and more cars by then. There were fires with the 94 earthquake, if there were fires in 71 they either weren't as bad or I just don't remember them being as bad. I remember standing outside and seeing the orange-pink of flames and smoke in 94.
frightnin-lichen@reddit
Definitely the Republican takeover
GandalfTheGrey46@reddit
Tornado that dropped down in the middle of the night killing about two dozen people. Friend of mine’s dad found several dead bodies on his employer’s property. There was another tornado that “wiped out” a small town north of us. Don’t know how many people died but it devastated their downtown.
Ok_Volume_139@reddit
It was a couple years before I was born, but my family lives ~35ish miles away from SF and during the Loma Prieta earthquake their house still shook quite a bit and they saw the neighbor's chimney crack.
They also saw the smoke in the air from the Mount Saint Helens eruption.
Responsible_Side8131@reddit
Hurricane Irene
vilyia@reddit
Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne hitting the east coast of FL back to back in September of 2004. I missed an entire month of 10th grade.
Curious_Ad_3614@reddit
1965 Puget Sound earthquake
BrainFartTheFirst@reddit
Depends what you consider a natural disaster. The worst one strictly caused by mother nature was the Northridge earthquake.
In 2025 we also had massive fires which took out well over 12,000 homes. That one was caused by man-made screw ups.
Those are just the ones in my county.
Derwin0@reddit
Tropical Storm Alberto and the flooding that it caused in Albany, Georgia back in ‘94.
EK60@reddit
Be glad you missed the tornadoes in 17. Completely tore up the pecan groves on the SW side of base. Ended up being replanted with longleaf and native grasses.
Traditional_Air6177@reddit
Nashville and the surrounding area had a storm sit on top of it for 3 days in 2010. It was a once in a hundred year storm. My Mom and I were shopping while my brothers were at ComicCon. My Dad called to let us know to head home because news was breaking that certain interstates and roads were flooding. My Dad asked me to leave my car in Nashville and ride with Mom and my brothers home. He was worried that if we encountered water at least we’d be together. Three out of four of us are strong swimmers. As we drove away I lamented not taking a minute to park my car at the top of the parking garage (turned out to be fine). I stayed with my parents for three days. After the storm ended the community came together to help tear out water damaged materials from homes. There is a benefit to having the state nickname, “The Volunteers.”
max_m0use@reddit
Blizzard of 1993 was the worst I experienced. Less than a year later, we had a week of temperatures below -20F. Worst in the state's history was probably the Johnstown flood of 1889.
AdUpstairs7106@reddit
A massive flood.
Thick_Maximum7808@reddit
We had a nasty wind storm about 15 years back and we were without power for a week. We ended up staying in a hotel because it was the middle of winter and freezing cold.
Ok_Coconut4898@reddit
I was not living there when it happened, but the town I grew up in was decimated by The Camp Fire.
sluttypidge@reddit
Smokehouse Creek Fire/Windy Deuce Fire.
msabeln@reddit
Flooding in the St. Louis area. My wife and I had great difficulty in finding a way back home as so many roads were flooded, including Interstates. I knew people who had no way home.
Carrotcake1988@reddit
Texas freeze in 2021.
Had no heat, no water, no electricity for 3 days.
But!!! Big but, here. I saw people whose pipes broke, roof collapsed, had no food or provisions.
I was cold but I was safe.
shwh1963@reddit
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
mfigroid@reddit
Northridge in Southern California was pretty good, too.
Sowf_Paw@reddit
Tropical Storm Allison while we were on vacation in Galveston, so my state but not my city.
Ddude147@reddit
The February 2021 deep freeze in Texas, a catastrophic, record-setting winter weather event that caused the worst energy infrastructure failure in state history. Over 4.5 million homes lost power, causing at least 246 to 702 deaths and over $195 billion in economic damages. All 254 counties in Texas were declared disaster areas.
Mysterious-Ruby@reddit
Hurricane Helene kicked our ass. My city of 200,000 become an island where nobody could get in or out for a week.
Free-Sherbet2206@reddit
Hurricane Harvey (where I currently live) and the Northridge earthquake (where I grew up)
Emily_Postal@reddit
Sandy. Power out for a week. Couldn’t get gas. Father’s house was inaccessible for days and had damage.
QuietandBookish@reddit
Hurricane Michael in 2018. It was really bad and we still are not completely recovered yet.
No_Statistician9289@reddit
Johnstown flood
HeatwaveInProgress@reddit
How old are you???
No_Statistician9289@reddit
lol I missed the “You Experienced” part of the prompt
Angelawina@reddit
Small town Nebraska, in 2014 we had a storm come through with hail. I was in the car with my 6 month old baby. Car was totalled by hail. Every building in the county had to have the north and west sides of their siding replaced as well as the windows. There was volleyball sized hail a town over. We had softball sized hail hit the car and house. I have never been so terrified in my life, and I've watched tornados go by.
Lady-Kat1969@reddit
That I personally experienced? The April Fools Flood 1987, Patriots Day Storm 2007, and basically half the winter of 2023-24. This was in Maine, btw. I was living out of state during the Ice Storms of 1998 or I’d have them on the list too.
Practical-Ordinary-6@reddit
We had a flood in our city that was pretty serious. Our local shopping center was swamped in water. People died, sometimes in horrible ways. I've been near bigger ones but that's the one that came closest to touching me personally although we lived on a hill so we weren't directly affected in our house.
bearfootin_9@reddit
Loma Prieta Earthquake 1989
Oakland-Berkeley Hills Firestorm 1991
DramaticAnteater1513@reddit
1988 fires in Yellowstone
carmineragu@reddit
Hurricane Florence here in NC and when I lived in OH it was the Xenia tornadoes
MaleficentExtent1777@reddit
Hurricane Hugo.
Up to that time it was the most expensive natural disaster in US history.
AbiWil1996@reddit
In my lifetime- it’s between the 1000 year flood of 2015 and Hurricane Helene.
this-guy1979@reddit
Yeah, it’s got to be between Helene and Hugo. I would probably give it to Helene for the fact that it affected parts of the state that aren’t prepared for hurricanes.
devilbunny@reddit
Helene really was a perfect storm situation; it would have been very bad regardless, but the solid week of rain before it hit meant that the ground was already soaked and they couldn’t draw down the reservoirs to provide more water storage.
PacSan300@reddit
In the Bay Area, California, here is what I can remember experiencing:
Severe “Pineapple Express” storms that ravaged Northern California in late 1996 to early 97. A lot of places were hit with record floods.
Winter storms in late 2007 to early 2008, which had very powerful winds.
Heavy rains and snow in early 2011 which closed Interstate 5 over the Grapevine, creating an absolute traffic clusterfuck.
The 2014 Napa earthquake. It was the most powerful one to hit the Bay Area since the Loma Prieta quake.
Individual_Check_442@reddit
Damn glad I wasn’t anywhere near the grapevine when it closed lol. Down South we’ve had a lot of devastating fires in the 2000’s that would make the list.
PacSan300@reddit
Yep, I remember some firefighters from my area were sent to help with the Cedar Fire, as well one near Malibu a few years later.
Individual_Check_442@reddit
Yeah I was in the path of the Cedar Fire lived in an apartment then it lost power for a week and I had to go to my parents house cause they lived further away from it, I remember we were concerned we might completely lose the historic town of Julian which would have been really sad. So thank you for sending us help we needed it!!
Only_Presentation758@reddit
I drove through the eye of a category 3 hurricane, at night .. I knew there’d be no lights but I didn’t think about signs and fallen trees across the streets from the first pass-by. Long story short I made it home to my dog just as the second round was starting.
Sharkhawk23@reddit
The tornado warnings were never sent, it was hidden inside the storm Even on radar. Led to improved weather radar. It was eerie. When it passed my house the sky was green. Even though we never had a siren we ran to the basement t.
dwhite21787@reddit
Hurricane Agnes.
Runner ups: Isabel, snow of 96, Presidents Day snow of 03
theniwokesoftly@reddit
Tie between Hurricane Sandy and the 2012 derecho. The derecho came seemingly out of nowhere, was very brief, but left incredible destruction. We were without power or water for days. My work was without water, at a mall. They kept the mall open and I had to go to work but there was no way to go to the bathroom, no food being sold except prepackaged (and everyone ran out fast), and hundreds and hundreds of people camping out by every outlet in the mall charging their phones because they didn’t have power at home.
HeatwaveInProgress@reddit
There are two.
Hurricane Harvey in 2017. My house did not flood, but the whole neighborhood was completely flooded for 3days, and so many roof leaks. Many people I know had to get evacuated from their homes.
Winter Storm Uri in 2021. Multi-hour and for some people multi-day power outage in the middle of a winter storm. $2000 in the immediate busted pipes replacement, $2500 in sheetrock replacement, next year $5000 in the rest of the pipes replacement. Two houses in the neighborhood burned down.
Three more that were bad but not AS bad:
Tropical Storm Allison in 2021
Hurricane Ike in 2008
Hurricane Beryl in 2024.
sultrie@reddit
Hurricane Harvey for sure
iowaman79@reddit
In 2020 my city was hit by what’s called a derecho, sustained straight line winds in excess of 100 mph (the highest is believed to be 140 based on damage). Entire two story apartment buildings were destroyed and the area lost a large chunk of its trees. The entire city was without power for two days, and it took over a week to fully restore it to all areas.
jafnharri@reddit
I have experienced 2 ice storms in my lifetime that knocked out power for thousands up to a week or more. The first one we had power after a day or so, the second one we were without power for an entire week. Basement flooded for both once the ice melted.
river-running@reddit
Hurricane Isabel (2003). My house didn't have power for a week.
mrhanky518@reddit
In Southern Illinois we had a Super Derecho come through in 2009. Spawned 39ish tornadoes southern illinois and Missouri that i can remember.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Super_Derecho
MadMasterMad@reddit
I volunteered and then officially worked for Aransas county after Hurricane Harvey hit South Texas. Everyday was something new I'd never experienced. The little town of Rockport was demolished and the sights were astounding, like whole houses moved 200 yards away from the foundation, RVs in trees, dead cattle by the hundreds, etc. I was also always surprised by the tenacity and kindness of the the people of Rockport. The amount of support the community shared with each other and those who were there to help clean and rebuild was insurmountable. It was a difficult year I spent there, but that experience will stay with me.
Scott43206@reddit
F5 tornado 1968
lylydazzle@reddit
Hurricane Fran. We were military, in a cheap rental because my then husband was a PFC. We were new to NC and made it through Bertha a few months prior. Fran hit our town hard and we were without power for a week. We had no savings and ate a few free meals from the Salvation Army truck. We couldn’t get on base because of road closures. Luckily our little neighborhood pooled our resources and we got through it.
Naddyman2005@reddit
2011 floods
Miserable-Ad2476@reddit
Kansas, so no surprise it's a tornado, but in 2019, there was an e4 tornado that hit really close to my house. My house and immediate neighborhood weren't hit, but that whole summer, my family and I spent it picking up so much glass and debris, and cutting trees that fell for our neighbors who were hit. I just have a vivid memory of this wall of stacked wood that was taller than my dad, who's a big guy. We use a furnace for heating, and during the Fall and Winter that followed that year, we never ran out of the wood we collected from it. I'm not saying that as a good thing, but just as a reference to how many trees we had to cut.
anysizesucklingpigs@reddit
I’ve lived in Florida for most of my life. Pick a hurricane.
twineandtwig@reddit
Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. Had a friend that lost family sadly in the Cypress Structure collapse.
Woolsey Fire in 2018. Which coincided with the Paradise Fire up north.
Palisades Fire last year.
Silent_Scientist_991@reddit
F4 tornado headed straight towards my house in 2015- then turned.
My block was spared, but many other were blown away.
That was pretty fucking scary!
That-Resort2078@reddit
Palisades Fire.
DepthPuzzleheaded494@reddit
Hurricane sandy
ShoddyCobbler@reddit
In my lifetime we had Hurricane Isabel 2003, earthquake 2011, derecho 2012. The earthquake was definitely not worse than either of the other two, but between Isabel and the derecho I'm not sure which was technically worse. I guess I will vote derecho.
Mutapi@reddit
Two back to back massive wildfires in 2020. We didn’t lose any of our structures (came very close) but too many friends and family did. The whole place has changed so much as a result. It looks so different. I’ve changed as a result, too.
Before those it would have been the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989.
reblynn2012@reddit
Katrina.
Pleasant-Honeydew946@reddit
Came to say the same thing. Unbelievable destruction
Chay_Charles@reddit
Nearest to me was the Bastrop County Complex Fires in 2011. We live about 30 minutes away and could see the smoke from our house.
twineandtwig@reddit
I was in town for that one. My father and I were at a health retreat and everyone had to evacuate. There was a small lake nearby us that helicopters were pulling water from as we were loading up.
People in the area would park on any higher area to try and monitor the fire from a distance.
I remember driving by a mobile home park and the residents had set up their lawn chairs on the west side of the park to watch the planes.
Odd-Significance-17@reddit
wildfire after wildfire after wildfire
GlutenFreeNarcotics_@reddit
Ummm...either the blizzard of 2015 or 2011.
Idk, I guess Chicago is relatively lucky on the whole natural disaster front.
grapebeyond227@reddit
Loma Prieta 1989
waznikg@reddit
Most of my town washed away after a series of dams broke. Nothing was left of my mom's house except the slab foundation
schonleben@reddit
My hometown had a massive ice storm on Christmas day in 2000. Our power was out for 4 days, but parts of the city was without power for well over a week. It sounded like a war zone outside. All of the normal city noises were quiet, but with a steady barrage of the sound of trees/tree branches breaking and crashing to the ground, weighed down by ice.
DarthMutter8@reddit
Sandy knocked power out and made a mess of everything for a few days. There was a tornado a few years ago that was an EF3 that came right through my neighborhood, knocked a tree down in my yard, and destroyed my workplace. That was pretty terrifying... the greater Philadelphia area is not known for our tornadoes.
DawaLhamo@reddit
Personally experienced, the Great Flood of 93. Even then, our house wasn't in danger - but the roads were cut off for a while (until a neighbor on top of the hill let us drive through his property to get in and out) - they raised the roads after that so it didn't happen again. We did go into town to help sandbag (we had to walk across the train trestle to get there, but the trains were shut down due to the flooding.)
kinetic_cheese@reddit
Same for me, I grew up in the Hannibal area
ants_taste_great@reddit
Superstorm Sandy in Cleveland, OH. But I also grew up with earthquakes in Southern California.
bdrwr@reddit
Wildfires did a lot of damage in the eastern parts of the county
NeverRarelySometimes@reddit
Wild fires and earthquakes, in that order.
Zealousideal_Cod5214@reddit
I wasn't alive back then, but everyone who has memories of it talks about the "blizzard of 91."
A massive blizzard that happened on Halloween in 1991.
Other than that, Minnesota gets tornados (not as frequently as other states) and we get devastatingly cold at times.
Individual_Check_442@reddit
In San Diego we had really bad wildfires in 2003 and again in 2007.
GOTaSMALL1@reddit
“Natural what?” - Utah
MetalEnthusiast83@reddit
I live in Connecticut, so we are not prone to much.
We had a tornado when I was kid that was gnarly. A few large blizzards and last year my neighborhood got hit by a microburst, which was probably the craziest storm I've experienced.
Gmhowell@reddit
Our educational system.
anclwar@reddit
Hurricane Sandy, the Blizzard of '96, and this past winter have all been historically bad for where I grew up (NJ) and/or where I live now (Philadelphia). The hurricanes mostly just cause flooding in Philly because we're so far inland, but if you're in a low-sitting area of the city and near any of the rivers, that flooding can be really damaging. Hurricane Ida in 2021 turned the Vine Street Expressway into it's own river, which was an absolutely insane thing to see.
Street_Breadfruit382@reddit
The Halloween blizzard of 91.
ViewfromMyOfcWindow@reddit
Oh, same! I forgot about that. Yikes, man. I drove 30 miles through it. In a Yugo. No idea how I got home safely. 😬 I was 18 and dumb.
MaggieNFredders@reddit
Hurricane Helene.
xnatlywouldx@reddit
Katrina.
ViewfromMyOfcWindow@reddit
May 12, 2022 derecho in eastern South Dakota. That was... terrifying.
nononomayoo@reddit
We got pretty bad wind/rain a couple yrs ago. Lot of ppl’s fences fell down. This is the worst ive experienced, fortunately.
Pitiful_Bunch_2290@reddit
Every few years, nature decided to wipe out Moore, OK.
Hot-Fact-3250@reddit
Katrina
OrangeToTheFourth@reddit
Helene in Western NC. I'm a WNC native and knew something was off after 3 straight days of rain before the hurricane winds were even supposed to hit. I remember telling my boss the day before something was wrong and this was different and he laughed at me. Woke up to the sound of my windows getting pushed in and the loudest rain I'd ever heard. Walked out to the road to see the only way out was up to my shins, and the wind was trying to knock me over with the trees screaming. Taped cardboard over my windows, charged everything I could, ran my bathtubs and plugged them, then grabbed my cats, flashlight, and phone and went to sleep in the bathroom (my center most room).
Woke up to quiet, then walked outside and saw a white pine through the roof of the apartment building above me like a spear. Trees everywhere, water so high and nowhere to go, power lines and poles floating in the road. Took out the cell towers so my neighbor and I raided remotes and his girlfriend's vibrator for batteries to power a small radio he had. We sat in his dark living room staring at the dark cell tower in the distance (no warning lights even) and the first transmission we got was the current dead and missing list. Neighbors started just walking around aimlessly the first day sharing what need they had, where they tried to get out, water bottles and snacks. Day two everybody started grilling their formerly frozen meat and passing it out. After that people started fighting over pool water to flush their toilets, I started smelling my neighbors' collective shit and piss, and was running around playing tag with the local kids for something to do other than wonder if the whole state had washed off the map...
They didn't get my road cleared enough to leave (I was out helping and trying but I was an apartment dweller with only an angle grinder and limited battery lol) until about 5 days in. No stoplights were on, cops were stopping people on their way out to give directions and manage everything. Cop asked where I was going, I said Charlotte since I had family there and knew I had just enough gas to get there. He said "Well you can't go this way, you can't go that way, but you should be able to go this way and God be with you".
As soon as I got near enough to a cell tower it was alert, email, text, buzzing, beeping and my car read off horrible message after horrible message. Family members trying to see if I was alive, news headlines of this and that, and most horrifyingly a text that just simply said "Dude, Chimney Rock is GONE."
It was another 30 mins before I got a strong enough signal to call family. Checked in on my family in northern WNC first. Thankfully they knew I was alive enough to try to call them and saw a missed call from me once a day. They were stranded without power but alive, together, and trying to decide if they were going to put the boat in the bed of the truck when they came to rescue me. Hung up on them after asking them to call the family I was on my way too see and called my boyfriend as my brother said he'd been asking how I was for days and no one knew. Got instantly asked if things were as bad as they looked on TV and I just had to say "... I don't know. You have to catch me up because I only know what I saw."
That was the start of the next week of me just reading headline after headline, trying to get ahold of friends, and just sobbing. Eventually loaded up my car with water and survival gear, headed back in, and tried to visit everyone I hadn't made contact with to see if they were alive and drop off toilet paper, water, and canned food. The soil along the rivers was melting the soles of boots from the plastics factory the river ate. Everything was orange with clay dust and the rivers were not where they used to be. The areas along the sides of the river banks and roads were just strewn with family photos, toys, shoes... Septic tanks sideways against cliff faces, truck trailers washed up against houses, bridges gone, signs over the highways were flashing warning people not to go to WNC and that the highway to Tennessee was GONE.
It took so long to get water back, even longer to get clean water back. I'm terrified of not having clean water and most of my pantry is bottles of water, shelf stable food, and emergency supplies. I saw so much beautiful charity and neighbors helping neighbors in the aftermath though. Donkey trains, hikers, and private helicopter pilots going into remote hills to check on elderly relatives and being medication and supplies. Restaurants opening their doors and feeding everyone they could. Volunteers digging through the litter along the banks trying to reunite people with their items. Individuals and companies from around the state, country, and even outside the country just sending as much help as they could. Gave me faith that we can still get along with each other when things get real bad.
DonkeyHotay_@reddit
1994 Northridge Earthquake
IntentionAromatic523@reddit
I saw the doc on Paradise. Truly horrific!!!!
IntentionAromatic523@reddit
😮
Ambitious-Break4234@reddit
Derecho 2012. Hurricane Isabel 2003
Doubleucommadj@reddit
Senior year winter of HS('01) in Greenwood, AR. It wasn't dangerous for obvi reasons, but there were at least a half inch of ice on every surface. Got early word school was out and took our ATV down to the road. Every tree was sagging on power lines and sparks emitted.
Took about three weeks to get power back and I got blamed for being a stinky teen, until I found the Ziploc of patties Dad forgot about set on the counter and leaking. It was great though because I needed that extra time to come up with my AP English project.
CantCreateUsernames@reddit
West coast, so wildfires fires and horrific smoke. And one day, "the big one" type of Earthquake (hopefully, not in my lifetime).
IntentionAromatic523@reddit
You know, I was visiting in San Diego and about 5 am, the morning of our flight back home an earthquake hit. I never want to experience that again. I was so happy to go back east.
ketamineburner@reddit
Northridge earthquake
MarkTheDuckHunter@reddit
Hurricane Katrina destroyed my house.
IntentionAromatic523@reddit
😔
Federal-Ad-6597@reddit
Hurricane Katrina and I can’t believe that’s even a debate
SoonerSmokeScreen@reddit
Camp Mystic was the most recent one.
Icepocolypse a few years ago
Hurricane Ike
IntentionAromatic523@reddit
Philly joins the chat. Sandy. Definitely Sandy.
Nottacod@reddit
Loma Prieta earthquake. The street literally lifted up and rolled, cars and all. It looked like a giant snake was traveling under it.
Alycion@reddit
The back to back hurricanes a few years ago. I know people still rebuilding their homes.
In Virginia, the back to back nor’easters were pretty bad too.
Mouse-Direct@reddit
Oklahoma City: May 3,1999 tornado was the deadliest (36 killed) and the first and only F5 tornado on record in the immediate OKC area.
Moore, OK: May 20, 2013 tornado killed 24, including 7 children at Plaza Towers Elementary. They were in the basement and parents waited hours to find out if their child was one of the fatalities. Horrific.
SnooPineapples280@reddit
Hurricane Charley, for me
PrimaryHighlight5617@reddit
The 2018 California wildfire season. The sky was orange and there's this putrid smell in the air. Almost two million acres burned but it was in very populous areas. More than 100 people died that year.
bearcatdragon@reddit
I had already been in Texas a couple of years when Katrina hit my home state of Louisiana. Some of my family lost their homes or had major damage. My in-laws also had major damage.
In Houston, we did okay with Ike and got really lucky with no damage to our house from Harvey but our community did suffer damage from both.
Metagator@reddit
Hurricanes Bob and Irene, and the Nor'Easters we get in Coastal New England. This winter was a tough one, infrastructure is not completely restored.
FormidableMistress@reddit
Category 5 Hurricane Michael October 10, 2018. It was like a bomb went off. Nothing escaped unscathed. I think it's fair to say we lost 75% of our housing in east Bay County. 100% of our trees, birds, and insects. The silence was so unsettling.
Our entire power grid had to be rebuilt from scratch. Communications systems too. The cell towers were twisted and pulled up. We didn't have power for a month.
The death count from that storm (and I imagine others like it) is under reported. So many people died of suicide in the weeks after because they lost everything and it just broke them. I'd never experienced anything like it before and I hope I never do again.
If anyone wants to look into it here's a starting point.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Michael
East_Direction_9366@reddit
The eruption of Mt. St. Helens in Washington State.
CricketSimilar863@reddit
A huge hailstorm in 2016
563742024@reddit
May 3rd tornado Moore, ok . I wasn't hit by it but it was close enough to scare the crap out of me
MarvinDMirp@reddit
The Great Blizzard in February, 1978. It hit the states along the northeast coast really hard with ice and snow mixed with hurricane force wind. Like many others, our power went out. In our case, that meant no heat, so we had to pack up and go stay in the firehouse. We were there for two weeks until power lines were fixed. As a kid, I didn’t mind the adventure of it, and we learned a Greek card game from another family staying there. What I remember most was the beauty of the world in the days after the storm. Everything was wrapped in ice, down to each tiny branch of every tree like it was encased in glass. The strange quiet of a lack of traffic, lack of planes, lack of people out and about.
PoeticFury@reddit
The Eaton Fire. 9,400 structures destroyed. 19 deaths. We still don't have a house, though luckily are finally rebuilding. Most people haven't even begun to rebuild.
treatmaker1@reddit
Living in South Jersey, about 30 miles from the coast, and I have had the full experience of Hurricane Irene (2011) and Superstorm Sandy (2012). During both storms there were tornadoes, we lost power so no electric, no sump pump, basement flooded and the water was steady rising up the basement stairs. Scary!!Those storms taught me a lesson about being prepared and getting to higher ground ahead of the storm. It also taught me how unprepared the state of NJ was during that time. I also survived the blizzards of 1978 and 1996 in Philly. Stuck in the house for about at least a week.
ImportantSir2131@reddit
Suffolk County NY. Hurricane Sandy.
Foxtrot_Supatwat@reddit
Not my home state, but I was in New Orleans a day before Katrina hit.
Left the city, and got dropped off at the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. Ended up getting absolutely hammered by a storm that had been birthed by the hurricane a day or two later, and my tiny bivy tent ended up collapsing and flooded out. There was also a tornado only a few miles away tearing shit up.
I ended up getting rescued at a trailhead in the middle of the night by some small town sheriff, and he dropped me off at some country music venue that his buddy worked at. His friend let me sleep on the bleachers till morning, and then I checked myself into a hotel to ride out the remainder of the storm.
I hitchhiked to southern florida to stay with a friend of mine after I'd finished hiking a section of the trail, and his neighborhood ended up getting obliterated by Hurricane Wilma. It was a crazy couple of months lol
Winter-eyed@reddit
Mt St Helens erupted when I was a kid. That was fun. The volcano has popped off a few other times but nothing like 1980. There was a bad drought followed by 6 months of unrelenting rain and floods in 95/96 here. We had about 16 inches of snow/ice in the valley in the early 2000s that kept is stuck at home for a week until they got a plow to the surface streets. Other than that we get a good 60+mile per hour storm every few years but that’s not considered a big deal.
Honest_Road17@reddit
October 17, 1989. Loma Prieta Earthquake.
Ok_Gas5386@reddit
We’re pretty isolated from natural disasters in central Massachusetts but we do get a fair number of tornadoes for some reason.
In my memory there was one in 2011 that started in Southbridge and went west to Springfield, killing three people and displacing 500.
A few years later (I want to say 2018?) a tornado in downtown Webster destroyed a gas station and damaged a couple apartment buildings.
The famous one is the 1953 Worcester tornado that killed 93 people.
No-Lunch4249@reddit
Smaller hurricaine in overall destruction but Isabelle in the early 00s (2003?) hit Maryland specifically pretty hard. Our house didnt have power for about 5 days
iremainunvanquished1@reddit
I'm just old enough to remember the flood of 93.
Tacoshortage@reddit
The eye of Katrina went directly over my house. Interestingly, so did several fish, alligators and a couple of barges.
landonburner@reddit
We got a big haboob in 2011 in Phoenix. Couldn't see 5 feet and the city got covered in dust, we do tame disasters in Arizona.
PogueBlue@reddit
Mt. St. Helens.
Tubbs Fire
Tyee Creek Fire
TehWildMan_@reddit
Definitely the 2011 tornado outbreak in Northwest GA. My family was unharmed, but a few of my friends suffered severe property damage and one lost pet during that event. Many businesses and homes were flattened.
Periwinklepanda_@reddit
My son was born in the middle of Hurricane Helene (we are in the foothills region about 50 miles from the hardest hit areas). We had a vague idea that it was pretty bad out there. Some nurses were unable to come in, and the anesthesiologist had to hurry to do my epidural because the hospital was trying to get as many elective surgeries done as possible before the power went out again. Also my parents, who were from out of town, had trouble getting directions to the hospital because cell/internet service was down all over.
But we didn’t realize how bad it was until we were driving home from the hospital and saw the devastation. As we were driving, we got an alert that all roads in the county were closed for everything but emergency traffic. (We figured coming home from the hospital counted as an emergency). We were SO lucky to have power at our house. Many were without it for a week or more. I can’t imagine dealing with that postpartum.
FCSTFrany@reddit
Katrina, Need I say more
nachosquid@reddit
I feel like naming anything in Florida is a cheat. Going to sit this one out.
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeess-@reddit
my hometown had a flood last year that was worse than the big one it had sometime in the 70s. It took out a lot of our businesses, damaged a lot of houses. Water was so high it literally covered half of the walmart and yet somehow they managed to reopen in like a week.
Similar-Search-8508@reddit
Flood in one tornado in another
AppropriateDark5189@reddit
A couple come to mind but the floods in Iowa in 1993 was a big one I don't think anyone has mentioned. A couple friends and I were going house to house getting people out and taking them to safe ground. When we weren't doing that we spent the rest of the time helping build sandbag levees to protect as much as possible as we watched the water keep rising.
Ice or snow storms are always a thing that happens every decade or so where I live. People get crazy upset when the city or state can't stop 3 ft or more of snow from falling or a couple inches of ice from covering the roads from icing even though it's too cold for salt to do much. I've just learned to be prepared for those types of things.
Auntie_Venom@reddit
The worst in my time was in 2007 when a tornado wiped out the entire town of Greensburg Kansas, and 2011 when one took out more than half of Joplin Missouri.
We had a devastating ice storm in Kansas City in 2002. The ice was an inch and a half thick that blanketed the whole metro. You can still see the damage on some of the trees.
In 1977 (I was a baby) had a horrific flash flood in KCMO that killed 25 people. There. Was another one in the early 2000s in the same area. There was one in 1951 that also destroyed the infamous stockyards in the West Bottoms area. There was a devastating tornado that wiped out Ruskin Heights (KC neighborhood) in the 50s as well.
drnewcomb@reddit
Hurricane Katrina but I evacuated.
Shitp0st_Supreme@reddit
I’m really lucky that the worst we tend to get are blizzards and cold or tornadoes.
bananarama032@reddit
I grew up in San Bernardino county right on top of the cajon pass. Horrific wildfires occurred close to my home nearly every year.
gnirpss@reddit
Eagle Creek Fire, 2017 in Oregon. Some teenager was lighting fireworks in the Columbia River Gorge during a burn ban, and he ignited a fire that ended up burning 48,000 acres. I was in college in Portland at the time (probably 50 miles from where the blaze started) and I remember seeing ash raining from the sky outside my workplace.
Either that, or the series of wildfires in 2020 that blanketed the western half of the state in a thick layer of smoke for like a week. I actually lived 1 mile away from the evacuation zone for that one.
Affable_Pineapple@reddit
The Northridge earthquake, approx 1991. Scary as hell. (southern Ca)
Puddin370@reddit
Hurricane Hugo and Hurricane Helene both in South Carolina.
LukeSkywalkerDog@reddit
The flood in Sandy Creek, Texas, July 4, 2025.
gogozrx@reddit
Hurricane Agnes
D3moknight@reddit
Last year my neighborhood was hit by a tornado and I live about a mile away from the Biolab complex that caught on fire. I had to evacuate my house for the fire, but the tornado was only over my house for less than 5 minutes and I was one of the lucky houses that only had a few trees down on my fence that I had to repair. Some people had huge 100+ year old oak trees through their house.
QueasyPainting@reddit
Caught in an F4 tornado back in 2008, with my kids inside of a Lowe’s.
Nickvv52@reddit
Hurricane Ivan.. I can still remember the wind howling while I studied algebra with an oil lantern. Not that it mattered bc we were out of school for weeks afterward. It blew down the fence around the backyard and IIRC a snake got blown from wherever into the yard. Drowning in my own sweat for weeks afterward. We had to get those MREs from disaster relief bc no power to the stove and also bc we had to throw out the contents of the fridge and freezer. A bitch was sweating in the dark for at least a month after that one.
BreyerChick@reddit
I was a kid in Ohio during the blizzard of 1978.
I've been in Florida since 1987 and have seen a ... few hurricanes. Milton in 2024 was a direct hit on our house. It was brutal
mr_lockwork@reddit
The 2005 Evansville tornado outbreak.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evansville_tornado_outbreak_of_November_2005
Recent_Permit2653@reddit
Loma Prieta earthquake, 1989.
I was four years old.
I didn’t know there was an earthquake. But I was pissed that not only had I been woken from a nap, I was put in a room and told to just stay there (I now know cause my Ma was making sure there was no gas leak, etc.) My Pa was driving home from work and also had absolutely no idea there was a quake lol.
Here in TX it was the 2021 Snowpocalypse. That was perhaps technically less devastating, but it was a GIANT mess anyway, especially because a fam member had covid and I had to quarantine. First hotel I was at had a ~4ft section of roof cave in and they closed it. Second hotel lost freaking power. There was no third hotel. They were all full. I spent the last two nights in sub-zero temperatures in my ‘97 Civic. I had to ration fuel (running engine for heat), because the roads were sheer ice and the tankers really couldn’t make it to stations regularly. Folks, this is Texas. I don’t possess that kind of cold weather gear, and I have Raynaud’s disease. Damn that was an awful 10 days.
calcato@reddit
Northridge earthquake at 4:30am on Jan. 17, 1994.
Avinson1275@reddit
I was getting MS at the University of Alabama during the April 27, 2011 Tornado Outbreak. My Apartment Complex was near were it touched down video
gofindyour@reddit
Hurricane Harvey
BlindPelican@reddit
I got the hell out of town when Katrina came through, but worst I stuck around town for was probably Hurricane Ida. 10 or so days without power was brutal in August-early September
calypsobulb@reddit
Wildfires that cause evacuations roughly every 11 years since about the 70s 😬
j2142b00@reddit
May 3rd E5 tornadoes that hit Oklahoma. Everyone always talks about the one that wiped out Moore but there was another one that happened later that night about 30 miles north that hit my families house and my brand new truck. Crazy shit happens when the big ones show up.
Embarrassed-Cause250@reddit
Went through a couple of bad hurricanes, but they were nothing compared to the multiple quakes we had. With quakes there is literally no warning and nowhere within the quake zone is safe.
hibbledyhey@reddit
I was going to say Metro Surge™️, but that was certainly not natural. I mean it’s pretty quiet around these parts, like maybe a tornado or two? um… smoke from Canadian wildfires? Floods! Yes, the Mississippi floods once in a while which makes farmland and suburbs wet.
VaveJessop@reddit
A deadly microburst at a local theme park (2002) or Hurricane Ivan (2004), IMO.
No_Seaworthiness8176@reddit
I no longer live there, but I lived through the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989.
Head_Razzmatazz7174@reddit
Winter Storm Uri.
Okbrain_456@reddit
Hurricane Katrina
EvilAceVentura@reddit
In California, wildfires that we got evacuated for. Was 2 hills over, could see the flames from the backyard and it was raining ash. A few big earthquakes, but none that did any damage where I was.
In North Dakota there was a blizzard when I was in middle school that got down to -80 with windchill. Closed schools and didnt go outside for a few days.
WarderWannabe@reddit
The Three Mile Island nuclear disaster happened about 35 miles from where I lived in PA. No real impact but a very tense time as nobody knew what was really happening. Also hurricane Agnes in 1972 that really did impact us. Severe flooding and storm damage.
Appropriate-Win3525@reddit
Personally, it was the Election Day Flood of 1985 that affected parts of West Virginia and Pennsylvania. My house didn't get flooded, but my Uncle's did and many others. We were out of school for over a month because of clean up.
I remember sitting in my Uncle's house and watching whole houses just float down the river. My parents volunteered at the local church food bank at the time, and we had to throw away all of the food that had just gotten delivered because of flooding. Then we had to get tetanus shots. We've had a few minor floods later on, but nothing on that scale of devastation.
Informal_Persimmon7@reddit
The pandemic.
Warm_metal_revival@reddit
A few years ago we had an ultra rare earthquake. The only building in the city that was damaged was my church. A few stones fell from the steeple.
My household suffered the loss of a really tall sunflower, and some of my husband’s DVDs fell off a shelf.
JolyonWagg99@reddit
Loma Prieta quake
mickeltee@reddit
NE Ohio doesn’t really do natural disasters. We had a tornado back in the 80s that was pretty bad, but that’s the only thing I can think of.
HarlequinKOTF@reddit
The August 2025 Flood. It didn't do too much direct permanent damage but it did cause a massive cleanup
CheeseMongoNJ@reddit
Sandy was horrible. We were without power for 13 days.
GratefulTrails@reddit
Ike and Harvey in Texas. In Alaska it was the Swan Lake Fire.
hibbledyhey@reddit
Metro Surge™️
JacobDCRoss@reddit
When I was a kid, the windstorm and flood of '96. My dad spent 36 hours straight sandbagging in Portland.
As an adult, the wildfires if the last several years, especially 2020. We now live in a part of Washington where ALL the smoke from California and Oregon goes. We were the most polluted spot in Earth for two weeks. Spent 14 days on our couch, not moving, in a bid to keep our respiration low while there was so much smoke in the air.
Sky was blood red some of the time, and pus yellow the rest of the time.
On the day they announced the incoming cloud, I spent hours going from store to store to get a couple box fans and vent filters to create makeshift air filters. Just praying that the cloud didn't shift further and kill us.
Ginger630@reddit
Hurricane Sandy. We didn’t have power for days and had to stay with my parents. Schools were closed all week.
DueCommunication1537@reddit
Katrina
pah2000@reddit
Hurricane Harvey in Port Aransas, TX. House got $100,000 worth and f damage. We couldn’t return to it for several weeks. And when we did we could only occupy half of it due to power lost. Clean up was a beast. Pretty traumatic.
Gunzablazin1958@reddit
Blizzard of 78
Starfoxmarioidiot@reddit
Wildfire in the San Bernardino mountains for sure. I’m packing up the pets and the valuables, my partner is flipping out, fire is rolling down the hill, wild animals are running everywhere. My neighbor’s house burned down, the fire department asked me for help.
I want to emphasize that point. THE FIRE DEPARTMENT asked ME for help. I did. But holy shit if the pros are asking you for a boost the shit has hit the fan.
Express_Leading_4840@reddit
Tornado with softball size hail in 2022.
Piper_Dear@reddit
Hurricane Helene. I've never been so scared in my life.
Vladimirleninscat@reddit
Tornado outbreak on 4/27/2011 (Alabama) or Hurricane Helene (Asheville)
Fickle-Aardvark6907@reddit
Worst in terms of overall loss of life/property damage? Buffalo Blizzard of 2023.
Worst in terms of effect on me personally? Winter Storm Knife in 2014.
ClitasaurusTex@reddit
Major flood on my birthday. People died, my house flooded. A few of my friends lost their homes entirely. 🥲
Black_Dog_Industries@reddit
The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake was a big one for me.
Lots of fires in Northern California, but those were all pretty far away from me.
DropTopEWop@reddit
December 2002 ice storm in NC was horrible. I believed it also snowed a lot a week before that so it was a double whammy. Was out of school for two weeks.
ember428@reddit
Thankfully, I live in an area where natural disasters are rare, but one night 31 years ago, multiple tornadoes ripped through my region and left a lot of people dead, injured, stranded, etc. People still talk and post about it on the anniversary. 5-31-1985 - if you know, you know!
Fae-SailorStupider@reddit
I was living on the Big Island of Hawaii during the 2018 Kilauea eruptions
winteriscoming9099@reddit
Hurricanes Irene and Sandy were both pretty bad here. No power for about a week each, back to back years (2011 and 2012). 2011 also featured a snowstorm that gave about a foot of snow prior to Halloween, which also canceled school for a while.
Aside from that, in my memory it would’ve been Hurricane Isaias, which hit in 2020 and had similar impacts, though somewhat less severe, than those prior hurricanes in my area. Or the microburst of 2018, which knocked down a ton of trees, spawned several tornadoes (rare for my area), and canceled school for three days.
Roxybird@reddit
About 4 miles from me, a tornado touched down. It destroyed homes, office buildings, trees, etc. I was home at the time and had no idea. I just remember the sky getting VERY dark.
Also, I was visiting my older brother's school during a festival when a bad hail storm came by. The hail was the size of a softball and produced a nightmare sound when it hit roofs and cars. I was on the school porch watching the hail fall but I was THIS close in staying in the car by myself.
In both cases, the worst is the aftermath and seeing the widespread destruction these things cause. I've been in tunnels and storm shelters when storms pass but these 2 were the worst in my lifetime.
MadMadamMimsy@reddit
Well, I was overseas: the great Kobe Quake (Hanshin Daishinsai). What a nightmare.
Was there for the Loma Prieta earthquake (1989) and El Niño, later, 1998 where everything flooded and the road washed out up in Brookdale CA.
Sandy was no fun, but a piece of cake compared to the ones above. No power (or heat) for 4 days. I discovered that cold cats are cuddly cats!
aliteralsquid@reddit
We had two “thousand year floods” within 2 years of each other. It was a mess, the second one had a lot of businesses shut down, some permanently some taking around a year or so to reopen. A lot of people lost their homes, the first flood had taken some bridges out leaving people either stranded for awhile or taking long detours
Radiant-Pomelo-3229@reddit
Tropical storm opal (I think that’s the right name) in the early 90s.
Horrible flooding in the Albany area led to coffins floating down the river
donuttrackme@reddit
Blizzard on the East Coast, didn't live through Sandy.
The huge forest fires recently on the West Coast.
TheEvilOfTwoLessers@reddit
Didn’t really affect me personally, but a couple of years ago we had some really bad flooding. The National Guard wasn’t deployed to help in recovery because their budget was blown in a publicity stunt sending them to the U.S.-Mexican border where they slept on floors and contributed nothing useful. Our Governor at the time was Kristi Noem. Yes, that Kristi Noem.
4myolive@reddit
Joplin tornado
Aquarius_K@reddit
The only one we've had in my general area was a tornado in the 1970s. The only thing I've personally experienced was a big snow storm as a kid.
Loud_Inspector_9782@reddit
The Galveston Storm/Hurricane of 1900 ranks as perhaps the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. At the time Galveston was a leading port in the country, probably the largest or one of the largest cities in Texas. The city was very wealthy at the time but was built on a barrier island that was only 4-8 feet above sea level. A hurricane struck and swamped the entire island with the storm surge. Over 6000 people lost their lives. The island was cut off from the mainland trapping everyone there. It took days after the storm for relief began to come to their aid. Most of all of the building were destroyed or damaged. The city rebuilt by adding a sea wall to protect them from future hurricanes and the entire city was raised 12-15 feet. Houston took over as the main port after that and Galveston never became the thriving commercial center it once was. It is now mainly a tourist town with Texans and especially people from Houston flocking to the city during weekends and in the summer.
as1126@reddit
Sandy in NY was outrageous.
Genepoolperfect@reddit
So was Irene the previous year. Both were very damaging.
habilisatthis@reddit
I was in a tornado in a town called luck. It was during a festival called lucky days.
Vachic09@reddit
Isabel
witchy12@reddit
I haven't really been in any. I guess this year's Nor'easter gave us around 30 inches of snow, but aside from staying home from work the day after, life continued on normally.
I moved to New England in 2021, so I wasn't here for the 2015 winter that was really bad. I'm from Michigan, so the worst we ever get there is tornadoes, and I've never seen one before.
TehLoneWanderer101@reddit
The January 2025 wild fires didn't personally affect me but I have family and friends who were affected.
calicoskiies@reddit
Hurricane Sandy. At the time I was still living with my parents in the suburbs. I was stuck at work over night as the hurricane hit the area and it was a nightmare to get home the next day with all the downed trees. We were out of power for like 8 or 9 days.
gator_mckluskie@reddit
hurricane helene was pretty bad. also had a tornados go past both side of our house when i was a kid
shammy_dammy@reddit
My dad was stationed overseas when my town had it, so I did not experience it first hand. I remember hearing about it, my mom came to school with me to let the principal know that it had happened and that I might need to leave school for awhile. I remember my dad being on the phone trying to get through to the Red Cross. I remember the base Red Cross representative being at our house. It took three days to finally get word that my grandmother and uncle were safe. It was April 10, 1979. Terrible Tuesday in Texoma.
theegodmother1999@reddit
the 2010 nashville flood was pretty bad. and it happened riiiight before the BP oil spill so it didn't get much awareness or FEMA assistance because the spill was such a massive issue at the same exact moment. and the 2020 tornado was equally wack as fuck but happened right as covid was leading to lock down which also sucked because lockdown = stuck at home. tornado = home no exist. bad timing both times (not that there's any good timing for those things)
ChickenNugs4Hugs@reddit
Snowpocalypse 2014.
Radiant-Pomelo-3229@reddit
Yeah I was thinking maybe the wimpy Atlanta tornado but this is probably the answer
Vivaciousseaturtle@reddit
Worst flood since 1952 in central Wisconsin here
gdubh@reddit
The 1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado was a large, long-lived, and exceptionally violent F5 tornado that produced the highest tornado wind speed ever recorded by doppler weather radar—321 miles per hour (517 km/h). One of the strongest tornadoes ever recorded to affect a metropolitan area, the tornado devastated southern portions of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma as well as surrounding municipalities to the south and southwest of the city during the early evening of Monday, May 3, 1999. The tornado covered 38 miles (61 km) during its 85-minute existence, destroying thousands of homes, killing 36 people (plus another five indirectly), and causing US$1 billion (1999 USD) in damage,ranking it as the fifth-costliest on record not accounting for inflation. Its severity prompted the first-ever use of the tornado emergency statement by the National Weather Service.
ginger_princess2009@reddit
Nashville had a bad flood back in 2010. My house was completely destroyed and we were homeless for about a month.
Glittering_Rush_1451@reddit
Technically ashfall from the Saint Helens eruption, though only being a couple months old it’s not an experience I actually remember.
elsandeth@reddit
Blizzard of ‘78
Diesel-the-merciful@reddit
Northeidge earth quake in California.
Or the LA riots, natural human behavior.
Cautious-Raccoon-341@reddit
A fire. I was working at a summer camp at the time and we were evacuated out by bus. The city I lived in was partially evacuated (my house was not) but air quality was awful and many of my friends and family were unable to work.
Dio_Yuji@reddit
Hurricane Gustav in 2008 destroyed a good bit of the city. Killed 43 people