It's the 5 year anniversary if Hurricane Ike this week. When it hit, I had to evacuate my home with my two week old DD. To this day I'm still convinced I would have had more success breast feeding her if that hadn't happened! Have you ever had to evacuate your home due to natural disaster?
You might also enjoy...
-
The first hurricane warning my family experienced when we moved to Florida had us running to the other side of the state. We got rain, nothing else.
Another hurricane left us without power for 9 days. After day 6 we ended up staying at a friend's condo she and her husband used when they were in town.
Neither "evacuations" were mandatory.
-
Yes - it still haunts me. I have awful nightmares about it
October 2007 I had to evacuate because of the San Diego fires. One night when it was really bad right by us, I stayed awake all night watching it in front of my house. Pretty much all of the neighborhood was out front watching. It was so eerie to see everyone sitting in the streets, with the orange fire glow flooding the sky. It was about a mile from me, but there was a big reservoir between us. By the time I had to go to work we were in a voluntary evacuation for my neighborhood since it was getting closer. My mom and I each packed up our cars with as much as we could and went to work. Dad and sis stayed home with the cats and packed up cars ready to run if it came down to it.
It was such a terrifying experience.
-
Yes. I was living in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit. I also evacuated once or twice with my family for earlier hurricanes.
-
@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: I'm sure living in FL, hurricanes are a normal part of life just like it is for us in TX. It's still scary every time, though, isn't it? @swurlygurl: fire is another level of scary to me! @lovehoneybee: man, Katrina. What a nightmare. Glad you were all ok!
-
@T-Mom: It was...well, rough doesn't cover it, but it ultimately led me to DH, so...
-
I lived on an "island" growing up, on the coast of NC. When I was probably 6-14 years old, there were lotssss of hurricanes that came right to us (probably 2 a year, at least that's what it seemed like). We always went to my grandparents house because they lived 20 minutes further inland.
-
@lovehoneybee: at least there was a silver lining to the experience!
-
No, and I am so glad. We get storms/hurricanes but not as bad as other places obviously. I can't imagine living in a place like "Tornado Alley".... I am terrified of the thought of tornados!
-
@T-Mom: yes it's a regular thing. one year four hurricanes criss crossed the state. One landed on my bday and four friends couldnt fly into celebrate. My coffee and "get well soon" cake came from the hospital, which still had power.
-
When I was around 14 we had a mandatory evacuation in our town, they weren't sure if the levees would hold. Luckily my best friends dad worked for the city so we were able to get out before they made the big announcement. I think we were our of our house for a week? When we drove back in it was a little bit scary going over the bridge as the water was still really high.
-
When I was in seventh grade we had to evacuate because our neighborhood was threatened by bushfires. It was pretty scary; by the time we got the evacuation order whole blocks elsewhere in the city had been wiped out. Plus we couldn't find our cat. Fortunately the house and the cat were fine.
-
@CottonCandy: me too, tornados and earthquakes are the scariest of all to me. At least a hurricane you can see coming and get out of the way with some lead time!
-
We were living in tokyo during the big earthquake in northern Japan in 2011. The company DH works for decided to temporarily close and relocate in southern Japan. They made all the expats leave tokyo and relocate to the temporary office. We had to go to Fukuoka for a month and live in a hotel.
-
@CottonCandy: Yeah, tornados scare me more than anything else because you get little or no warning.
-
@lovehoneybee: I was in NOLA during Katrina as well, but as a college freshman. We had to evacuate our dorms, which was interesting because they all had us convinced we'd be back in two days. I left with a couple pairs of socks and my laptop.
We ended up diverted some weird way, and ended up asking locals for a good way back to H-town, and to this day, I remember looking behind us on this highway and seeing nothing. Absolutely zero cars. It gave me such a case of the willies for reasons I can't explain.
But yes, I had to evacuate for Katrina and wasn't allowed back in until November.
-
Yes. During the ice storm in 1998, my family and I were forced to go to a shelter for 2 weeks because we had no power during the coldest part of winter.
-
@Bookish: Where did you go to school? I was at UNO, but living in the Bywater (the Canal that broke into the Lower 9th Ward was behind my house). Our apartment still took 6' of water but it likely would have been gone if the levee had breached on the other side of the canal. I never went back...I flew to PA to stay with a friend's mom and never left the state.
-
All the time. I grew up on the south east coast of FL so every year we migrated to Naples...or had hurricane parties lol
-
Yes, for Hurricane Sandy almost a year ago. We were away from our apartment for about four days. We were lucky compared to a lot of people. Our building was flooded but our apartment was on the fourth floor so everything was safe.
-
@lovehoneybee: I was at Tulane. My dorm flooded bad enough that everything was a complete loss (didn't help that they 'stored' our belongings in an open-air parking garage....). I ended up living with my parents for that semester and going to Rice, then going back to Tulane for a year (all of 2006) and hated it. I moved back to Texas in 2007 and am glad I did!
-
@T-Mom: omg... I remember IKE - I live up by Humble and didn't evacuate. I kind of wish we would have because we were without power for two weeks, and the water was questionable during that time. I can't imagine evacuating with a two week old!
-
@MrsSCB: I still can't believe Sandy became what it did! I just never expected to hear about hurricanes and tropical storms that far north but looks like that's becoming more and more a reality!
@lovehoneybee: @Bookish: I can't imagine being permanently displaced because of a weather event. I know so many ppl around here that landed in TX due to Ike and never left. How difficult!
@BabyBoecksMom: yeah I couldn't believe how many of us were impacted by loss of electricity! I thought it would be just low lying areas like where I am..
@pui: that sounds really stressful
@mynoahbear: wow what a scary one to go through! We also have friends in Tokyo and they were so worried since the kids were in school and it was so hard to get to them. -
I've evacuated several times for hurricanes. Our college was evacuated and closed for a week due to one.
-
Not a natural disaster, but I couldn't get back to my apartment in NYC after 9/11. It was out of the city only, no exceptions.
-
@looch:
yes. A very un-natural disaster. -
I'm in CO, parts of my town have been evacuated today, but my house hasn't been called yet. My LOs daycare called this morning to come pick her up because they were going to close. My husband was able to get to her, but they haven't been able to make it home. My town is water locked so no one can get in and no one can get out. My husband and LO found a hotel but it might be a few days until we are reunited. My LO is 10 months old and breast fed. My husband was able to buy some formula, and I'm hoping she will take it.
-
@LemonLong: oh goodness... Prayers for you guys!!! Hope you are reunited soon and that your house is gonna be ok!!!
-
@LemonLong: I just saw this on the news! Thinking of you guys and hope you're all reunited safely soon !
-
Yes. The 2003 Firestorm/Cedar Fire in San Diego. It looked like apocalypse outside. No one was out there because of the amount of ash and debris. I lived so ridiculously close and started packing, but the wind kept switching directions and all of the sudden they told us to stay where we are. The people that evacuated to a local school became in the path of the fire, it traveled across a freeway because of the wind. But we got lucky. A lot of families lost their homes that year.
It happened again in 2007. That was the year before I planned to move to Asia, so I was staying with my mom. No one slept. Everyone was constantly watching the news. It was a full, city wide neighborhood watch. Our cars were packed, but we got lucky again and never had to evacuate.
-
I've been evacuated because of brush fires. Brush fires threatened my wedding day. Winds which contribute to the fires closed parks in which we had planned to take our wedding party pictures. Its all par for the course when living next to a national forest. Luckily my house has never burned down.
-
@swurlygurl: @SugarplumsMom: I remember those fires. I was close to having to evacuate in 2007 but didn't. I remember thinking it seemed like the world was going to end because the air was full of ash and it was so dark during the day. SDSU closed the campus and they don't do that lightly~what a crazy time.
-
No. I haven't.
-
@T-Mom: we must live near each other - I was a mandatory evacuee for Ike as well. I can't imagine doing that with a newborn!
-
We were under voluntary (not mandatory) evacuation orders for Sandy, but my inlaws who live on the other side of the town closer to the beach were forced to evacuate. They came to our house, and stayed for 7 months because their house was destroyed. It was a tough time for all in our town (point pleasant beach)
Reply
Subscribe to our newsletter
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
34 comments