Other than combat, what has been the worst natural disaster you have experienced?

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 19:42:30 -0400

As we face another hurricane here in the Southeast, I was wondering what you have personally faced.

Response by SN Greg Wright made Oct 5 at 2016 7:46 PM

SN Greg Wright — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 19:46:41 -0400

100 year storm in the Bering Sea. It was...something. Awe-inspiring.

Response by MAJ John Murphy made Oct 5 at 2016 7:47 PM

MAJ John Murphy — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 19:47:14 -0400

Hurricane Katrina - Saint Bernard Parish. Total destruction of entire section of NOLA area

Response by Capt Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 5 at 2016 7:48 PM

Capt Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 19:48:39 -0400

The tornado in Omaha, NE May 6, 1975

Response by LT Michael Watson made Oct 5 at 2016 8:08 PM

LT Michael Watson — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 20:08:54 -0400

Hurricane Camille. Mississippi Gulf Coast

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 5 at 2016 8:26 PM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 20:26:51 -0400

1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. I'll say some prayers for you and Volusia County.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 5 at 2016 8:51 PM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 20:51:09 -0400

Was in Anchorage during the 1964 Anchorage Earthquake, largest earthquake ever recorded in North America and second in the world.

Response by Sgt Wayne Wood made Oct 5 at 2016 11:20 PM

Sgt Wayne Wood — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 23:20:45 -0400

7.2 Loma Prieta earthquake. 6.5 Nasqually earthquake. A dozen or so hurricanes/typhoons... nope, i got nothin'

Response by SSG Jessica Bautista made Oct 5 at 2016 11:49 PM

SSG Jessica Bautista — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 23:49:13 -0400

San Andreas fault line. 1991.

Response by Sgt Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 6 at 2016 1:11 AM

Sgt Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 01:11:22 -0400

SGT Private RallyPoint Member During Hurricane Alicia, I lost part of my roof on my house. During Hurricane Ike, a 90 foot pine tree landed on my house.

Response by CAPT Kevin B. made Oct 6 at 2016 1:14 AM

CAPT Kevin B. — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 01:14:44 -0400

We worked the Haiti earthquake and the Fukushima mess. The first wasn't pretty, the second wasn't politically pretty with GoJ in denial doing too little too late. Of the manmade stuff, ANZ Flight 901 flown into Mt Erebus in Antarctica was a tragedy that didn't need to happen. The recovery operation was tough emotionally. Worked the Ehime Maru recovery a bit. Lots of emotions over that loss too.

Response by PO1 Tony Holland made Oct 6 at 2016 1:42 AM

PO1 Tony Holland — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 01:42:02 -0400

Back to back typhoons in the North Pacific while our destroyer escort maintained track on Soviet missile range ships. Flat-bottomed, single screw tin cans are no fun in those waves.

Response by PFC Jim Wheeler made Oct 6 at 2016 2:28 AM

PFC Jim Wheeler — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 02:28:01 -0400

Had a couple of hurricanes cone through, I think Ike was the "big" one.

Outside of that, Houston keeps getting flooded in the summer. Luckily, my house is on high ground so I haven't gotten the brunt of it yet, but huge sections of downtown Houston have been completely underwater 3-4 times this Summer!

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made Oct 6 at 2016 3:02 AM

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 03:02:39 -0400

Hmmm. Hard One. 1 year on Adak, Earthquake Central. Survivor of the Early 70's Tornadoes in SW Ohio but not really, I am a Mt Pinatubo Survivor.

Response by CPO Andy Carrillo, MS made Oct 6 at 2016 3:26 AM

CPO Andy Carrillo, MS — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 03:26:18 -0400

SGT Private RallyPoint Member sheltering in place and sleeping under the nurse manager's desk with my step-son and wife who managed a ventilator intensive care unit along with several comatose patients in a North Miami hospital as Hurricane Andrew raged through South Florida, August 1992. I will never forget that night, then later cutting my CO out of his condo, then being mobilized for several months of recovery efforts hauling food and water to devastated military member's homes.

Response by PO2 Billy Lollar made Oct 6 at 2016 7:34 AM

PO2 Billy Lollar — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 07:34:09 -0400

April 27, 2011 Tornado outbreak in Tuscaloosa, AL. I was actually still in the service and wasn't there, but got an alert on my phone that a large EF5 tornado was heading straight for my home town. I picked up the phone to call my family but couldn't get through. About 1hr later I received a call from my grandmother saying that everyone was ok but my parents house got damage. After watching the news I realized that the tornado went straight through down town and wiped everything out. I immediately put in for leave and went down there. You don't realize how much you actually care about a place until you get there and see it has been completely destroyed. The destruction looked like the town had been bombed repeatedly.

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 6 at 2016 10:34 AM

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 10:34:18 -0400

My first marriage.

Response by SGT Philip Roncari made Oct 6 at 2016 11:08 AM

SGT Philip Roncari — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 11:08:38 -0400

Blizzard of 1978 Boston Ma.

Response by SGT Jerrold Pesz made Oct 6 at 2016 11:17 AM

SGT Jerrold Pesz — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 11:17:18 -0400

Having lived much of my life on the Texas coast I saw lots of hurricanes. I also had a large part of my neighborhood blown away by a tornado when I was in Georgia and have been in a couple of forest fires and a flood.

Response by MSgt James Mullis made Oct 6 at 2016 11:45 AM

MSgt James Mullis — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 11:45:24 -0400

Three Hurricanes in Biloxi Mississippi.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 6 at 2016 3:06 PM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 15:06:43 -0400

The Red River flood in Fargo and Grand Forks in 1997.
The Red River normally isn't much to look at - about as wide as a city street and a few feet deep. In '97 though, all of the snow melted all at once, with rain on top of it. If you've ever been to that part of the country, you know how flat it is. Once the river got out of it's banks - almost 40 feet above it's normal level and 26 feet above flood stage(!) - it didn't just swallow the city. The water went for miles beyond the river banks.
You couldn't cross between N Dakota and MN for a month.

Response by SP5 Joel O'Brien made Oct 6 at 2016 3:53 PM

SP5 Joel O'Brien — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 15:53:08 -0400

Tropical storm Irene hit Vermont hard! Many roads and even a covered bridge were washed away. Part of a cemetery was destroyed with some internments never found.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 6 at 2016 5:58 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 17:58:44 -0400

SGT Private RallyPoint Member Hurricane Hugo, left me without power and water for 1 month or so

Response by PO3 Sherry Thornburg made Oct 6 at 2016 8:01 PM

PO3 Sherry Thornburg — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 20:01:30 -0400

First one would have been Alicia. We lived in the country. We were trapped behind fallen trees for two weeks. The Power companies finally got the power back to us after 15 days or so.
Second would have been Ike. I was in North Houston and the eye came over us and crawled for hours. When the wind suddenly came back, it howled. Had trees all over in a contest as to how many cars and or houses they could crush in one fall.

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 6 at 2016 9:52 PM

SSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 21:52:38 -0400

The current administration

Response by SFC George Smith made Oct 6 at 2016 10:40 PM

SFC George Smith — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 22:40:31 -0400

Typhoon Ruby and Zane...

Response by COL Lee Flemming made Oct 8 at 2016 3:38 AM

COL Lee Flemming — Sat, 08 Oct 2016 03:38:55 -0400

Plane almost crashed...and I mean oxygen masks and life vests almost crashed!

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 8 at 2016 8:52 AM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 08 Oct 2016 08:52:00 -0400

During Hurricane Andrew I was stationed at Ft Benning for my last phase of 91C school. I was a reservist from Miami. The day it hit Miami was our last day of class. I called my father that day and he and my sister were not worried because the news said it would hit Palm Beach. I packed and went to bed, when I saw the news the next day I saw George Bush speaking from the mall I used to go to as a kid that was 2 miles from my dads house. I called home and got no answer. I made it back on the 1st flight to Miami and was picked up by my cousin who lived in an unaffected city. My dad picked me up the next day and we drove south in his police car and you could just see the destruction get worse and worse as you went further south. We got to what used to be my apartment and that was leveled, I went home with my dad and we had half a house. Our yard looked like everyone's shed, car port and roof had landed in it. My father had to work 12 hour shifts so the clean up fell to my sister and I. The first day we spent 10 hours in the yard and barely put a dent in it. The next day while working a squad from the 82nd Airborne on patrol notices us outside and me in BDU's (thankfully that's all I had left) The 2LT comes over ask me about my service and we talk the destruction. He promptly has his men stack arms and put on work gloves, the yard was cleared in 4 hours. My father came home after they had left and I explained the story to him, he started to cry. Worst storm ever, but greatest family time ever spent.

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 8 at 2016 2:15 PM

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 08 Oct 2016 14:15:07 -0400

nor easter in maine, hurricaines in nc, hurricaines in maine

Response by SGT Justin Lewis made Oct 12 at 2016 7:58 AM

SGT Justin Lewis — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 07:58:28 -0400

My unit went to New Orleans to help with the efforts after Katrina. Something more close to home was the Joplin Missouri Tornado. I live about a hour from there, and rushed there after the tornado to check and help friends who were trapped in their home. It was scarier than being in New Orleans as LEO were stretched pretty thin. They relied on locals to maintain security of their own or neighboring homes.

Response by SMSgt Roger Horton made Feb 26 at 2017 2:41 PM

SMSgt Roger Horton — Sun, 26 Feb 2017 14:41:27 -0500

Hurricane in Miami in 92 was worst. Really messed up Homestead Air Force Base. Looked thru all my pictures a few days ago. I had forgotten how bad it was. Then there was Hurricane Fran in N. C. and a Typhoon on Okinawa in 65.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 15 at 2018 4:39 PM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 15 Feb 2018 16:39:03 -0500

Typhoon with recorded wind speed of 217MPH on Anderson AFB runway. Lucky all aircraft were flown to Kadina before Typhoon hit.

Response by SGM Bill Frazer made Feb 15 at 2018 5:30 PM

SGM Bill Frazer — Thu, 15 Feb 2018 17:30:32 -0500

Did missions in Haiti, Homestead and other hurricane hit areas during my time.

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 15 at 2018 5:32 PM

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 15 Feb 2018 17:32:45 -0500

SGT Private RallyPoint Member floods when I was stationed in Kansas, or what it tornados?

Response by SGM Bill Frazer made May 1 at 2018 7:25 PM

SGM Bill Frazer — Tue, 01 May 2018 19:25:32 -0400

2 hurricane reliefs, 2 Cuban boat lifts, 3 tornado clean-ups, fed Kurds, Somali's and Haitians.