Natural Disasters About This Page:

[AKLRULZ]

My parents had neighbors & friends who just lost everything they owned in a horrific fire last week - a $1.3 million dollar home and every single material posession owned including both of their automobiles burned to ashes. While things can be replaced, they are still devestated over the loss. We saw the house last week the day after the fire and it was like nothing I've ever seen before in real life.

So, while this question might not be so silly as my others typically are - I'm curious if anyone here has ever been in a disaster and how you coped with the aftermath.

[DVC_Don]

Been involved in lots of the above and worse through affiliations in the past with fire, police and ambulance activities. But, thank God, it has not happened to us, yet.

[eliza]

Survivor of Hurricane Hugo (1989). My parents' home was completely gutted! Some people lost everything! Thankfully, very few people lost their lives, although that doesn't offer much solace for those who DID. That was the most unbelieveable force of nature I have ever seen!

[eliza]

P.S. I was amiss in not saying how sorry I am for your parents' friends - those poor people!! It sounds as though they lost EVERYTHING. One of the greatest losses will be their photos- ESPECIALLY if they have children. I am so very sorry.

[BostonTeaParty]

We survived "The Blizzard of '78." We lived on the coast in Hull, Massachusetts and will never, ever, forget it.

This storm, which spanned a series of extremely high tides, totally shut down Eastern New England, and Massachusetts went under a state of emergency for 6 days which banned all private vehicles from driving on the roads. Just about everybody who lived through this has an interesting story, since many of us got stranded in once place or another.

The storm claimed the lives of 54 New Englanders -- 29 from Massachusetts -- and wreaked more than $1 billion in property damage. Ten thousand people living along the coast had to leave their homes, and thousands more had to make do without power for days.

Up to 30 inches of snow fell in parts of western New England, but the coastal communities bore the storm's real fury, as winds and high tides battered the coastline, ripping out chunks of roadways, flooding homes, and permanently rearranging the landscape in some areas. Eight Massachusetts coastal communities were declared disaster areas.

[Dumbo]

We've lived through a few blizzards and power outages lasting a couple of days.

About 17 years ago our neighbors and DH's cousin lost their home and everything they owned in a fire. The father and daughter (age 5) died in the fire. The material things could be replaced but not the 2 lives that were lost. That is one thing that we have never forgotten.

No matter how tought things have gotten at least we still have our family. With the exception of my pictures I could loose every material thing I owned and still be happy.

[GoofyMom]

We were here for the "Flood of the Century" in 1997. Our family personally didn't experience the flooding, but we went downtown to check out the river and boy was it high! We helped sandbag some river properties and if the last minute dike just outside of Winnipeg hadn't held we would have been under water too. It was terribly disconcerting to be driving through our own city and being stopped at Army Checkpoints and having to show ID to prove that you belonged in the area. It sure made me grateful for the freedoms that we normally enjoy. I can't imagine going through that every day.

Many, many people lost their homes. The city of Grand Forks was ruined, and a couple of small towns just south of Winnipeg were under about 7 feet of water.

[mrsmaup]

Donna,

We are stationed in Grand Forks. It is AMAZING the way you can rebound!!! BTW, we love to visit your city and go about once every other month. LOVE THE ZOO!!!

We lost everything in a flood in Turkey(how funny to lose it all in Turkey and not lose anything in Grand Forks?!!!).

We had a 3 year old and a 5 week old, we were in a foreign country and it was DEVESTATING, however, it was not the worst thing that ever happened to us. Our first child dying was, so we were able to put it all in perspective.

I think that if you concentrate on the fact that almost everything you lose can be replaced and find out that you dont actually replace most of it, because you dont and never did really need it.

Prayer, LOTS OF PRAYER, plus family, community support. We were stationed on a very close knit base w/alot of support and had a great church. For us, that made ALL the difference.

Oh, one more thing. People tend to assume that once you get your insurance settlement, that you move on. Having lived through the death of a child AND the death of our life as we knew it during the flood, I can tell you that a loss needs to be greived and understood by family and friends that grieving needs to take place makes a world of difference!!!

Praying, as ive been there, done that(natural disaster) and its so unfun!

Kristie in ND

[disfanpam]

We lived in Dade County, Fl when Hurricane Andrew struck. Now we lived right on the northern edge of the county line and Andrew was headed that way, but then took a small bobble south and hit a largely less populated area in southern Dade county , about 50 miles from us.

My husband and I both worked for Publix at the time and he and some co-workers had to go to that area to help out the stores that were pretty much destroyed. Before they left, they were told to count the exits(as directions) to get to the stores they were going to. My DH thought "yeah right, I've lived here all my life, I know where I'm going". Well, it was a good thing that our friend was in fact counting exits, because DH said you couldn't tell where you were. Everything was flattened, no trees, signs, landmarks gone.

I don't want to ever have to live through something like that again, and we weren't even near the eye of the storm.


Pam

[reinstructor]

The church I worked for in Beaumont was set on fire on a Sunday night. The main building and one education building were a total loss. We had lots of personal items and irreplacable tools that were lost. You never really get over it, you just learn that you have to move on, thankful that no one was hurt physically. Plus you sit back and watch how God rewards faithfulness by continuing to grow the Body of Christ and provides opportunities for ministry.

[reinstructor]

Sorry, double post

[greystone98]

Kristie, there are no words to tell you how sorry I am for your loss and how courageous you were in sharing the loss of your child with us.

I have no personal loss from a natural disaster and consider myself truly blessed. I do recall, however, living through the frightening night of April 3, 1974, still known as the Night of the Tornadoes when more than 140 tornadoes came through a five state area, 13 through my hometown. Three of the ones that hit AL that night were rated an F5. Guin, AL, a small town nearby was leveled and the tornadoes which began the afternoon of April 3 did not end until the following day.

I can well remember our neighbor, a H.A.M. radio operator, giving us the location of each impending tornado at which point we'd all head into the center bathroom until it passed. I remember watching it as it hit a plant across town and seeing the fiery explosion upon impact. And I remember each of us three children spending the night in sleeping bags at my parents' feet.

So many stories of horror following that night and so very much to be thankful for.

[DebiDebiDebi]

We live in Yakima Washington...and our town made national news in 1980 when Mt St Helen's blew. Our town was so inendated with Ash, (it fell like rain) that they showed our downtown area on The Evening News with Dan Rather. It was as dark at Noon as it is at Midnight...very strange sight indeed! Here is a picture of our town with all the ash...we coped by coming together as a community to remove that awful dirty stuff...not an easy task. And now, nearly 23 years later, there is still reminents of that ash around! [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

[kimdisneynut]

DH parents lost everything to a fire. The hardest part was the old photos of loved ones that could not be replaced. DH lost all his year books and graduation photos, college degree, Military D/C, etc. His high school closed so the year books could not be replaced or copies of his picture. Everything else could be replaced. I have to agree that people do think that once you get your settlement you will be o.k. this is not true. Money cannot replace things that cannot be replaced. DH still vents his pain. He has no pictures of his grand-parents to pass on to DS. He has 2 brothers but they had no pictures for him to copy. What helps DH is the power of prayer and our Lord. Prayers are on the way to this family, Our Lord will see them through this. Remember they need friends now to lean on. Donot stick your nose too far but let them know you are there if they need anything. Another thing is DH didnot like when asked if they wanted things. The best thing to do is just bring them things that you know they need now. Leave it with them without an explanation in the end you will be the number one person in their lives. People hate to feel like they need a hand out. Good luck


Kim