Hey guys! Welcome back to my blog, its been awhile. Today, I will be talking about the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. There have actually been 2 major earthquakes in San Francisco in the last century. One of them being in 1906(Obviously) and in the other being in 1989. The one in 1906 was rated a 7.8, and the one in 1989 was rated a 6.9 but they were equally as devastating on the bay area. Today, I’ll be focusing on the one in 1906 due to the fact that it had a higher rating. The different ratings come from a scale called the Richter Scale that rates the intensity of earthquakes. It’s a scale ranging from 1-10, 1 being the weakest and most common, 10 being the strongest and rarest.

On April 18th, 1906 the city of San Francisco had a rude awakening as the earthquake struck at 5:12am. The epicenter(the direct point where the earthquake started) was right outside of San Francisco lying on the San Andres fault. The shaking lasted 45-60 seconds but that alone is capable of causing a lot of damage(which it did). A total of 28,188 homes were lost leaving over half of the San Francisco population homeless(225,000). At the time, relief efforts totaled that almost 500 people died in San Francisco alone and 170 deaths in neighboring cities.

Most homeless people camped out in parks with the help of relief efforts providing the basic necessities. The earthquake also caused fires. The fires spread through the city for 4 days! They were so big that firefighters weren’t able to do it all and the rain was finally able to extinguish it.

San Francisco City Hall after the earthquake^

That’s all for today’s blog post! I hope you were able to talk something away from it! Have a fantastic rest of your day!

Hey, What’s up! Today, I will be talking about the New Richmond tornado of 1899(Due to Mrs. Lee’s recommendation!). As many of you know, River Falls and New Richmond are really close and many of you have taken visits there. But, did you know that a massive EF5 tornado went through there many years ago? Today, we will be taking a look at a disaster that you could say hits really close to home. Before I start I would like to remind of this scale:

In past blog posts, I have mentioned this. It’s the scale that’s used to measure the intensity of a tornado. It’s called the Enhanced Fujita Scale. I might mention it a few times so I figured it might be important to remind you guys of it. Picture this, the circus just ended and your about to leave when all the sudden out of nowhere a giant tornado roles up. Claiming the lives of 117 people and injuring over 150 people. Well, that’s what happened on June 12, 1899. This tornado is said to be the 9th deadliest US tornado on record due to the high fatality count and massive amount of destruction.

This tornado is said to have started as a water spout(pretty much just a tornado over water) on the St. Croix river at around 4:30pm. It then traveled to New Richmond where is destroyed 500 buildings that unfortunately found itself in its path. People were picked up and thrown against walls. The tornado rolled through New Richmond’s main street where the circus was being held where it claimed the majority of its victims. It also claimed 3 lives before heading into New Richmond. Surprisingly, this was the third out of six tornadoes to ever hit Wisconsin. The first one being in 1893 and the most recent one being in 1958.

That’s it for today’s blog! Remember, always be prepared for disasters. Keep a bag with a first aid kit, water, flashlights, and canned food items in an accessible place in case of an emergency!

Hey! I’m back. Today, I will be talking about the Australian Bush Fires of 2019-2020. This is not the first fire in Australia as they are actually a common occurrence. But, this is one of the deadliest ones on record. So far, the human death toll for this event is about 25 lives, but the animal death count is far worse at a total of over 1 billion being either caught or dead and the fires show no signs of stopping any time soon. The fires started in September of 2019 due to having the dryest season on record due to lightning strikes. Since then, the fires have spread all along the east coast of Australia covering about 32,400 square miles! That is almost the size of Indiana! More than 1600 homes have been destroyed already and as of this moment, there is no information about how much money this is costing as the fact it is a current event.

Now, lightning may not be the only cause of the fires… officials are saying that at least 183 people have contributed to the fires. One person is said to of thrown a lit cigarette into an open field. Out of the 53,000 bush fires every year, just over half of them are either started by humans or police think it was arson(Setting fire to objects). Now, why would people do that you might say? Well, most of the time it’s an accident. Half of the bush fires are started by people under the age of 21 that are just playing with fire. Which is really sad considering that people die from these types of things that could have been easily prevented.

In the fires, a lot of wildlife have been severely affected. Specifically koalas, 8,000 koalas have died which is almost 1/3 of the number of koalas that live in New South Wales! While they are not considered endangered, they are considered vulnerable which is the next step up. There are currently 40,000-100,000 left in the world and the number is still rising due to the fires showing no sign of stopping any time soon.

That it for today’s blog post! 1 thing I want people to take away from my blogs is to be thankful for what you have because all the different disasters that I’ve written about have had high fatality rates. And while it may be cool to look at the numbers and the damage, people suffered tremendously after these events so always be grateful for what you have!

 

Hey, What’s up! I’m back(As you can probably tell). Today, I’m going to be talking about Hurricane Katrina of 2005. Now, there’s this scale that is used to measure the strength of hurricanes called the “Saffir Simpson Scale” that divides the hurricanes into different categories based on their wind speed. Here is a picture of it so you know what I’m talking about:

I’m going to be referring to it a lot so I thought it might be useful for you to know what I’m talking about. Now, what the heck even is a hurricane? Hurricanes are low- pressure weather system that starts when warm air over the ocean rises and then its replaced by cooler water which then rises creating one massive storm! But, their not hurricanes right away… Once a storm has formed, it’s called a tropical depression until it reaches 39mph. Then it’s called a tropical storm until it reaches 74mph then, it’s finally called a hurricane! Now that you know the basics lets jump right into this!

Hurricane Katrina is seen as one of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history, and for a good reason! Hurricane Katrina formed on August 23, 2005, in the Carribean Sea by the Bahamas. Its first victim, Florida. On August 25, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Southern Florida at 80mph(Category 1) resulting in minor damage and a death count of 14! It’s next and final victim, Lousiana. Lousiana was hit the hardest out anywhere that was hit. It struck on August 29, 2005. When the hurricane crossed over the Atlantic to Lousiana it hit category 5, by the time it got there, it had gone down to a category 3. But, that’s still strong enough to cause major damage, especially in a highly-populated area. Including severe flooding. Drowning led to 40% of the deaths in the storm out of an estimated 1,833 deaths. That’s about 720 people! Costs, yeah I’m not done yet. The estimated cost of the damage from the hurricane was 161 billion! Also, more than 1 million didn’t have a home left and were stuck at shelters.

The first picture it the flooding damage in New Orleans(One of the places hit the hardest) the second one is a satellite image as it heads right for Lousiana!

That’s it for today’s blog! I hope you were able to learn/ take something away from it!

Hey! Whats up, welcome to my first blog post! Today, I’m going to be talking about the Tri-State Tornado of 1925. The Tri- State tornado was the deadliest tornado U.S. history resulting in 625 deaths. The tornado touched down in Ellington, Missouri at around 1:00pm on March 18th, 1925. Before crossing the Mississippi River the tornado had already managed to take 11 lives in Missouri. The tornado then crossed into southern Illinois where it hit Murphysboro. The tornado hit there hardest resulting in 234 deaths.  The tornado then crossed the Wabash River into Indiana where it demolished the town of Griffin, Indiana resulting in 25 deaths. The tornado ended about 3 miles away from Petersburg, Indiana at around 4:30pm.

Quick Facts!

• The word “Tornado” was banned in the U.S. to prevent panic in the early 19th century
•  The tornado lasted 3.5 hours!
• The tornadoes path was about 219 miles long!
• The tornadoes wind speed was over 200 mph which is equivalent to a EF5 which is the strongest tornado rating there is!
• The total cost of damage was around 1.6 billion(2018 USD)

Source(s)-https://www.britannica.com/event/Tri-State-Tornado-of-1925

Image Source- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tri-State_Tornado_trackmap_cropped.png