Monday, October 22, 2012

The Top 13 Disasters In Western U.S.

A writer on the weather channel's web page put together a list of the worst disasters to hit the western U.S.. The worst 13 disasters are:

1. The San Francisco earthquake and fire in 1906
2. Noachian Deluge (the great flood) in California, Oregon,Idaho, and Nevada  1861-1862
3. The Great Fire in Montana, Idaho, and Washington 1910
4. Northridge earthquake in California 1994
5. Aleutian Islands earthquake and tsunami in Alaska, Hawaii 1946
6. Mount St. Helen's eruption in Washington 1980
7. The Columbus Day Big Blow (windstorm) in California, Oregon, and Washington 1962
8. Oakland Hills firestorm in California 1991
9. Good Friday earthquake and tsunami in Alaska 1964
10. Big Thompson's Canon flash flood in Colorado 1976
11. Hurricane Iniki in Hawaii1992
12. Wellington Washington avalanche in 1910
13. Heppner Oregon flash flood in 1903 

This article goes on to described each disaster and the impact that it had. I thought it was an interesting article to read because it talks about multiple types of natural hazards and how each one turned into a disaster. For example the earthquake that happened in the Aleutian Islands cause very minimal damage but the tsunami it caused hit Hawaii and caused 159 deaths. I was surprised that an avalanche and a windstorm were in the top 13 disasters. Although, the avalanche wouldn't have been a disaster if there hadn't been a train there at the time or if the train had been under the tunnel. 

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