# Your city's greatest threat from Mother Nature?



## urbanjim (Feb 22, 2008)

In Missouri, the St Louis area specifically, there are three big natural threats to house and home/life and limb. 
1. Tornados: St Louis is located in Tornado alley, and it has a long history of taking direct hits. The city proper experienced an F4 in 1896 and again in 1959. The 1896 twister killed 255 people and injured over a thousand.
2. Floods: The city is situated near the confluence of two major rivers, the Missouri and Mississippi. The Great Flood of 1993 displaced thousands of area residents and businesses. Throughout the Midwest, the flood was responsible for $15 billion worth of damage. 
3. Earthquakes: Just 150 miles to the south of the city is the center of the New Madrid Fault, which poses the highest earthquake risk in the U.S. outside of the west coast. This fault triggered a massive earthquake in the 1800's which is said to have caused the Mississippi to flow backwards. 

What threats of nature pose the greatest danger to your city?


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## spongeg (May 1, 2006)

earthquakes, flooding, tsunamis, volcano

Mt baker is not too far from Greater Vancouver










you can see it if you squint in the one below










we are on the ring of fire so earthquakes happen - but small ones but a major one in the 9 scale is expected at some point


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## Xusein (Sep 27, 2005)

Hartford (and Southern New England) is pretty lucky when it comes weather disasters.

We're too far north for hurricanes (although they have hit in the past) and the storms offshore have no effect since we are inland, tornadoes are rare, and we don't even have the severe thunderstorms that are seen in the South or Midwest. Earthquakes? Non-existent.

Floods do happen, but I can't remember of any major ones since I have been here. They usually get regulated to the flood plains anyway. So no big problem there. However, melting snow runoff from snowier Vermont and NH during the spring does affect us, it is now.

I think that the worst that we see are *snowstorms*. However, it's been rather mild for the last few winters...with the exception of like two snowstorms, there was nothing severe this winter, and the snow stopped early, on March 1st. But snowstorms and blizzards here are rarely threatening...we just clean up the next day and have our lives back to normal real quick.


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## LMCA1990 (Jun 18, 2005)

Cali's (in Colombia) only threats are earthquakes and floodings since we're in a river valley high up in the andes.


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## FREKI (Sep 27, 2005)

For Copenhagen I guess it would be an asteroid strike or something :lol:

There are some steep ocean floor west of Norway that technically could break off and create tsunamis, but even then there's ton of islands, land and 1000s of kilometers of ocean between that and us, so no real risk unless we are talking Ragnarok porportions...

It's a very safe city located in a very shielded area :happy:


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## urbanfan89 (May 30, 2007)

For Southern Ontario, it's snowstorms and icestorms in the winter, and smog and heat waves in the summer. Spring brings some tornadoes but nowhere as bad as in Oklahoma.


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## meow (Mar 1, 2005)

FREKI said:


> For Copenhagen I guess it would be an asteroid strike or something :lol:
> 
> There are some steep ocean floor west of Norway that technically could break off and create tsunamis, but even then there's ton of islands, land and 1000s of kilometers of ocean between that and us, so no real risk unless we are talking Ragnarok porportions...
> 
> It's a very safe city located in a very shielded area :happy:


could it be global warming?
i heard the highest point of denmark is 150-200m or sometin. if the sea level rises lil' bit, most of the country may be flooded :dunno:

for my city, izmir, it's earthquake


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## Küsel (Sep 16, 2004)

Well the biggest thread here doesn't come from mother nature but from mankind - because of drastical global change the permafrost and glaciers in the alps are melting with the consequences that avalanges, earthslides, floodings, flash floods are a regular thread now (2007 was the worst hazard year in Switzerland - only concerning insurance payments). The alps are a very sensible natural environment where small changes can have huge and immediate effects. 

There is also a certain risk of earthquakes especially in Basel and Sion area.

And BTW: Copenhagen as all the flat north/baltic sea cities is in very high danger of floodings in the wake of the melting of the arctic ice!


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## Yardmaster (Jun 1, 2004)

The biggest threat here is running out of water. Droughts are regularly experienced here, but the global warming/climate change models predicted that it would get drier here, and that's just what has happened.

For decades (more than a century?) Melbourne prided itself on the purest drinking water in the world: all sourced from reservoirs in mountain catchments, which were totally fenced off from any human activity. Unfortunately they no longer produce enough water, and the reservoirs are only about 30% full: as they've been for several years. They're meant to refill in the winter, which is meant to be wet here, but it's just not wet enough anymore.

The government has now resorted to some major projects: a desalination plant on the coastline, and a pipeline from Victoria's largest river, north of "The Divide". In both cases there has been vigorous public opposition from the locals.

The people inland claim we're stealing their irrigation water, although the Government says they'll actually have more water, because earthen channels are being replaced by pipelines at the same time (and pipelines don't lose water like earthen channels do).

I can't really work out the people on the coast: they just don't want a desalination plant, because essentially, it ruins the view. They'd rather have three and a half million people in the city suddenly discover there was nothing in the tap.

... by the way, you can get free "low flow" shower heads here, and a government subsidy for installing a water-tank to collect the water off your roof ...

Melbourne isn't the only city in Australia which has this problem ...


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## karim aboussir (Dec 4, 2006)

here in orlando we have on occasion tornadoes , we have to deal with severe afternoon lighthing storms june july august and september and of course hurricanes although we are lucky being inland hurricanes will weaken by the time they cross the orlando area


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## SlidellWeather (Sep 11, 2005)

Hurricanes and flooding. We have a few rare tornadoes, but they are usually not very strong.


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## Yardmaster (Jun 1, 2004)

FREKI said:


> For Copenhagen I guess it would be an asteroid strike or something :lol:
> 
> There are some steep ocean floor west of Norway that technically could break off and create tsunamis, but even then there's ton of islands, land and 1000s of kilometers of ocean between that and us, so no real risk unless we are talking Ragnarok porportions...
> 
> It's a very safe city located in a very shielded area :happy:


What if the sea level rose one metre, Freki : would that bother you?


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## Oaronuviss (Dec 11, 2002)

Only Tornados. And that's RARE (twice every 100 years). Windsor is a VERY safe place to live.


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## Jardoga (Feb 9, 2008)

Melbourne- Drought and bushfires.

Geelong- Nothing realy, exept for the drought. Geelong is very safe, but if sea levels rose we would be doomed !


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## urbanjim (Feb 22, 2008)

St Louis just felt an earthquake around 4:30 am Central Time. They are calling it a 5.4 in magnitude. It was centered in eastern Illinois and was felt in several states. I know that my house was sure rockin'....the quake woke us out of deep sleep! No injuries were reported as yet. Slight structural damage is being mentioned in news reports.


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## woutero (Jan 14, 2008)

Amsterdam:

1. Flooding: most of the city is already below sea level, it's becoming harder and harder to pump the water out to sea as the sea level rises and the ground sinks. The risk of flooding because of breaking dikes is also present.

2. Storms: It can get pretty windy here. No hurricanes, but still.

3. Stuff sinking into the boggy ground: Amsterdam's soil (like most soil in The Netherlands) is not really suited for buildings. So everything is built on deep foundations with long piles into the ground. The Royal Palace (built in 1648) for example is built on 14.000 wooden piles. The Rembrandt tower is built on 60 meter deep piles. As you can see in old Amsterdam, lots of buildings suffer from 'verzakkingen' - foundations sinking into the ground. Which leeds to leaning and crooked buildings.


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## FREKI (Sep 27, 2005)

meow said:


> could it be global warming?
> i heard the highest point of denmark is 150-200m or sometin. if the sea level rises lil' bit, most of the country may be flooded :dunno:


So far the worst case scenario for our region talks about a 60cm rise at worst in the next 100 years - so in theory with time this will be a risk, but at under 1cm per year not really something that has me laying awake at night - especially not with the latest research that indicates global cooling.. 



Yardmaster said:


> What if the sea level rose one metre, Freki : would that bother you?


 No not at all - we have places where the tide is above one meter and under certain storm conditions we get the same, so Denmark is well prepared for that and much more 

In time rising sealevels can become a minor problem for certain cities, but that will be a problem for my grandchildren and by then I'm sure they have either moved more inland or build seawalls where needed


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## Þróndeimr (Jan 14, 2003)

Some storms and hurricanes, but usually not much larger than category 3.

Clay slide, stone slide and avalanches is the biggest threat here. Tsunamis created by mountain-slides is also a threat, though my city isn't located at the worst spot. Go 100km south and its just 60 years since a 70m tall tsunami wiped out 6 villages and towns in a fjord.

As FREKI sais, the risk of a megatsunami is here too, if that happends at the same site as last time i guess i live at the worst place, since its right off coast to me here! Lucky i live 300m above the fjord, and the tsunami didn't go much higher then 50m up the hills last time so... 

FREKI, hope you know we started pumping gass right under this very steep area two years ago, some experts have said it could make it more unstabile over time.









Its the largest known landslide on Earth. But there is more than likely no chance of a new slide during this interglacial period. A new iceage will have to do the job first! But the current area in risk of collapsing has a area larger than Denmark!

And yeah, flooding is a risk too (esp. during winters with large amongs of snow), and a farm 4km away from he was totally wiped out by a tornado 80 years ago! But to be honest, i fell very safe from natural disasters here!


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## cees (Jun 25, 2006)

biggest thread of mother nature in dutch city's, would be probebly the thread of mother nature activists.


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## Zabonz (Feb 5, 2007)

stupid people


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## forrestcat (Apr 21, 2006)

are politicians considered a natural threat?

Floods are a constant threat to Kuala Lumpur and the most damaging despite that big part drain part highway KL built. And heavy could occur any time any day through out the year.unpredictable.


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## OtAkAw (Aug 5, 2004)

^^Oh yes they should be! We have the same problem in our cities!!!


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Flooding. In winter and spring, the IJssel river flows between dikes at a higher level than the city. I can't remember any flooding though.


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## xXFallenXx (Jun 15, 2007)

Earthquakes only.


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## goschio (Dec 2, 2002)

Townsville:

Drought:
Drought might cause bushfires. But nothing serious and we have generally enough water from the nearby rainforest rivers.

Cyclone:
Happened in the past and will happen in the future. A direct hit might cause total destruction. 










Flooding:
Can be caused by cyclonic activity or by strong monsoon rains.


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

xXFallenXx said:


> Earthquakes only.


What about tsunami's, mudslides or wildfires?


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## xXFallenXx (Jun 15, 2007)

Chriszwolle said:


> What about tsunami's, mudslides or wildfires?


Oops....forgot about wildfires, but for the most part, my city is pretty safe.


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## Yardmaster (Jun 1, 2004)

FREKI said:


> So far the worst case scenario for our region talks about a 60cm rise at worst in the next 100 years - so in theory with time this will be a risk, but at under 1cm per year not really something that has me laying awake at night - especially not with the latest research that indicates global cooling..
> 
> No not at all - we have places where the tide is above one meter and under certain storm conditions we get the same, so Denmark is well prepared for that and much more
> 
> In time rising sealevels can become a minor problem for certain cities, but that will be a problem for my grandchildren and by then I'm sure they have either moved more inland or build seawalls where needed


This may be so, but your storm-surges - and tides- will all be 60cm (or 1m) higher ... you can't go building sea-walls higher and higher for ever!


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## PedroGabriel (Feb 5, 2007)

No real natural threats here. Maybe if the sea rises a lot.

Our biggest threats is the central government, we must get ride of them someday, it is a real menace has it doesn't care shit about the city, and because traditionally it never a proper educated elite to get the local character to other levels, today it has, but... we are not properly in the age of division, and lack of well paid jobs. The rest is pretty much ok.


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## FREKI (Sep 27, 2005)

Yardmaster said:


> This may be so, but your storm-surges - and tides- will all be 60cm (or 1m) higher ... you can't go building sea-walls higher and higher for ever!


With 100 years per 60cm that really won't be much of a problem - but sure in time people will have to move further inland and wall off the habour cities..

But it's nothing to start worrying about in my lifetime


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## PedroGabriel (Feb 5, 2007)

Well, by then we send seawater to mars, to help terraforming the planet.


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## chicagogeorge (Nov 30, 2004)

Chicagoago said:


> I suppose tornadoes, although even if a tornado was 1.5KM wide (the most powerful ones in the midwest), the Chicago are is large enough that it's not going to bring the ENTIRE region to the ground. It would just be a small strip through the metro area.
> 
> I think the most devestating natural disaster for Chicago would be maybe 4 CM (an inch and a half) of ice during a winter ice storm, followed by 65 CM (25 inches) of snowfall, followed by -26C (-15F) temperatures. The ice would bring down all the power and communication lines, and disrupt all cars/trains/busses, and the snow would make it impossible to clear the cars off the roads, and get the city back on its feet after the ice storm. The cold temps would start killing people stuck in their homes with no electricity to run their furnaces/heaters. Plows couldn't get through because of cars on the streets, and the ice would have brought everything to a standstill before the snow even fell, halting the snow plows from getting a head start on clearing the snow. They normally put all 260 snow plows in the city into action just BEFORE the snow starts to fall, so things don't turn into chaos with cars becoming stuck on the streets.
> 
> From what I've thought up in my head, this is probably the one situation living in the middle of the city where I'd seriously be scared for my life. There would be no way to escape or get help, and people would start to really panic.


The worst natural disaster in Chicago history in terms of loss of life was the 1995 heat wave that killed nearly 1000 people. Temps hovered in the upper 30's (95F+)for several weeks, and by July 13th the thermometer hit 41C (106F), with 24C (75F) dew points giving a heat index of over* 52C+ (125F+) *If the power grid had failed that July, thousands more would have died from the extreme heat and unbearable humidity.


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## trainrover (May 6, 2006)

Your city's greatest threat from Mother Nature? 

Just us, like any other city I guess . . .

Other Ma-nature threats here might be:
 precipitation (the Great Deluge back in `88, the Ice Storm in `98)
 earthquakes
 Mount Royal possibly waking outta its dormancy (I found its rock *hot* about 20 metres underground when trespassing the Blue Line on the metro when it was forever under construction back in the early '80s)
 flooding from the St-Lawrence River
 tornadoes
 many a sinkhole swallowing up our abundance of potholes . . .


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## Boscorelli (Aug 4, 2007)

Iberian Snails! 

Edit: In my country Sweden they are called "mördarsniglar" - "murder snails"  They are deadly!


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## ncon (Apr 6, 2005)

Flooding - Jakarta


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## Astralis (Jan 28, 2007)

Not much nature threats in my city...


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## beowulf (May 2, 2007)

Flooding. August 2002:


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## Jardoga (Feb 9, 2008)

Drought. Major Storms.


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## karim aboussir (Dec 4, 2006)

casablanca EARTHQUAKE a silent killer is overdue if that fault goes casablanca will be completely destroyed


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## vancouverite/to'er (Apr 22, 2007)

Toronto- heatwave
Vancouver-Earthquake/Tsunami


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## urbanjim (Feb 22, 2008)

St Louis experienced a minor earthquake at about 6:30 this morning CDT. Only a 2.7 on the Richter scale, but still an eye-opener, especially since the Midwest just had like a 5.2 quake on April 18.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

*Auckland:*

- Volcanoes. We've got hundreds of volcanic cones in the city. True they're mostly inactive (bar one) but they're still there and a large earthquake could set one or two of them off!

- Earthquakes. New Zealand is extremely seismically active.

- Tsunamis. We're very vulnerable to any change in water height.

- Flooding. Our water handling in Auckland are rather poor for heavy rainfall and you'll often see localised flooding.

- Tornadoes and waterspouts. Since I've been here there have been 4-5 tornadoes, some of which have hit the central city. They're smaller than the American ones, but they can do some damage all the same!


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## DanielFigFoz (Mar 10, 2007)

Earthquake, the biggest earthquake on records was in Portugal.


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## -Corey- (Jul 8, 2005)

1. One of the greatest threat in San Diego are Wildfires, last year we had the worst disaster in San Diego's History.


















2. I'd put earthquakes in 2nd place, since we haven't experienced any "big earthquake".

3. Hmm i don't know, maybe a tsunami.


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## Beware (Oct 30, 2007)

*BEAUTIFUL DAYS.....*

* in Peoria IL (USA) MEAN FEW PEOPLE DOING ANY WORK while the " slackers " ease out of Their workplaces for the blue skies, sunshine, and mild temperatures....  hno: Heaven forbid Someone (local), actually, works on such days! * 










(image from flickr.com)​


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

HK is pretty much safe from most of the deadliest natural disasters say a major earthquake, etc. 

Of course the region still gets hit by typhoons. Floods can happen in the rural areas though is not as bad compared to other cities. Landslides used to be a problem but the government has taken action.

The worst disasters HK can face can be a tsunami and strong typhoons


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

WANCH said:


> HK is pretty much safe from most of the deadliest natural disasters say a major earthquake, etc.
> 
> Of course the region still gets hit by typhoons. Floods can happen in the rural areas though is not as bad compared to other cities. Landslides used to be a problem but the government has taken action.
> 
> The worst disasters HK can face can be a tsunami and strong typhoons


Back in 2005, I posted a thread "Tsunami Disaster Planning" in the Hong Kong section. The articles noted that a tsunami hit would be a once in 200 year threat, which is a rather low possibility.

Thread -
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=185240

The last tsunami to hit Hong Kong was in 1937, which killed 15,000.

Going through that thread, it becomes very evident that the high risk areas of Hong Kong are the least populated, meaning the urbanized areas themselves are not at high risk. This makes sense, since the north shores of Hong Kong Island and most of Kowloon are safely tucked away from the open ocean.

Hence, the biggest threat would be typhoons, which hit every year (and it's not just 1, usually a few over the season), with few rare exceptions.


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## Astralis (Jan 28, 2007)

Vrysxy said:


> 1. One of the greatest threat in San Diego are Wildfires, last year we had the worst disaster in San Diego's History.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


This fire thing seems to be a big problem in that area hno:. Amazing last year shots kay:.


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