Disaster In My Region: AW Check In Thread (Tornadoes, Floods)

AW Admin said:

Started by lightning, encouraged by drought, over 560 fires are raging across California.

Please pack a go bag and have your car ready to go if you're advised to evacuate.

Remember to pack medicines, and water and food for pets.

Please let us know how you're doing.

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Don't forget important phone numbers and documents: ID, insurance papers, etc.

Then when you get back, once everything is safe. digitize as much as you can to a thumb drive and keep that in your go bag.

Please let us know how you're doing.

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Chiming in ok from California, just north of Berkeley. We've got a big fire about a two-hour drive to the north of us, and another one about as big and far away to the south. No imminent danger, but the go-bags are packed because there's a chance of more lightning today and tomorrow, like the lightening that lit those fires. It's hot here, but we can't open the windows on account of the smoke.

Just beta-read a murder mystery set in ancient Rome, and that was pleasantly distracting and engaging. I'd go totally bonkers without such projects!

bleep said:

Chiming in ok from California, just north of Berkeley. We've got a big fire about a two-hour drive to the north of us, and another one about as big and far away to the south. No imminent danger, but the go-bags are packed because there's a chance of more lightning today and tomorrow, like the lightening that lit those fires. It's hot here, but we can't open the windows on account of the smoke.

Just beta-read a murder mystery set in ancient Rome, and that was pleasantly distracting and engaging. I'd go totally bonkers without such projects!

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Bushfires are terrifying, bleep. Do take care.

I'm in Emeryville pretty much 24/7 during quarantine, and it's so urban there really isn't much vegetation to catch fire, so anything that might happen to me is pretty low. I have friends in other nearby cities that I can stay at if need be, along with my roommate's family in Sonoma. One year we actually kept their bird + important documents + keepsakes because they had to evacuate (they stayed somewhere else).

Even still, it's good to be mindful of what my plans might be if something did happen (like a regular fire or a big earthquake/tsunami) so I'll be going over my supplies/plans just in case.

Maryn said:

Thanks for checking in. California's a huge state, but with so very many fires, who knows how many AWers are impacted?

So, none of my business but I'm curious. Do you have a plan for where you will go if it becomes unsafe to stay where you are? That was always a hard one for us. Close enough to drive to, and they'd take you in, no question?

Maryn, unlikable

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I know what you mean. Our two families live about eight hours away each, and it would be hard to go stay with them right now anyway, what with the covid thing (my mom and my husband's stepfather are both at elevated risk if they catch the virus). We have some friends who live closer, and they likely would help if we asked, but it would be a huge imposition, even without the whole covid thing. For one thing we have three dogs, two cats and a snake (I am babysitting for the bio department), and one of the dogs pretty much doesn't like anyone but the spouse and myself, and she definitely enforces social distance with everyone else. With her teeth if needed. Many of our closest friends in the area also have kind of nutty animals too.

We just figure if we ever got flooded or burnt out we'd evacuate as early as possible and we'd have to keep driving until we found a motel with occupancy that accepts pets.

We're lucky where I am on the valley floor, not in the foothills. The nearest fire is probably the one that has burned everything around lake Berryessa near Vacaville and Winters, and that's a 30-40 min drive away if traffic isn't all jammed up in Davis (which it usually is). It's not impossible a wildfire could reach us where we are someday, but much less likely than in many parts of the state. We're more in terror of floods here. But we do get the smoke from all the fires, and the air quality has been horrific--my eyes and throat have been scratchy for the past few days, and we've been very much limiting the duration of the dogs' walks and outdoor play time, which they don't understand at all.

My heart just aches for all the people who have lost everything, in some cases even their own lives or a loved one. Pisses me off when the POTUS sneers that CA needs to sweep its floors. I guess that is along the lines of his "forest raking" comment two years ago. Of course he doesn't give a crap about helping states that don't vote for him, never mind that some of the "redder" areas of CA are the places that end up being burned out most often.

So, none of my business but I'm curious. Do you have a plan for where you will go if it becomes unsafe to stay where you are? That was always a hard one for us. Close enough to drive to, and they'd take you in, no question?

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That's a great question, because unfortunately the answer is no; I'll have to work on that one. Oddly, we *are* that for another family that is currently about a 20min drive from a blaze.

Pisses me off when the POTUS sneers that CA needs to sweep its floors.

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right?!?

Bushfires are terrifying, bleep. Do take care.

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Thanks mccardy. So far blissfully in the "could be impacted" category, and dealing just with bad air and the inability to open windows. Thoughts are very much with those directly impacted, *actually using* their go-bags, leaving their homes behind, driving off to who knows where.

It's 9 am here in the SF Bay Area and it's as light out as if it were 9 pm. The sky where I am is a reddish grey, though friends and coworkers are reporting other colors, too. The AQI is still pretty low (it's worse in Portland than here) BUT AQI only measures particulate up to a certain size, so the ash could be too big to measure. Please still wear your N95s!

The Bonnie Lake "evac now" area grew wider last night and much of the fire was not contained as of last night.

Here is a map that shows all the fires happening in America right now. There is a LOT of data on this map, and some of the layers only show up at certain zoom levels.

Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)There's fires to the east of us, lapping at the borders of the city on our eastern border. We're now at the west end of Eugene. Holiday Farm Fire. Air quality here is hazardous, AKA lethal. We only go out at extreme need. On Tuesday, the day it started, the sky looked like a smoggy sunset all day. Not sure where we'd go, because there are fires to the north and south of us...and on Oregon's coast.Blessings,Siri Kirpal

Siri Kirpal said:

Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)There's fires to the east of us, lapping at the borders of the city on our eastern border. We're now at the west end of Eugene. Holiday Farm Fire. Air quality here is hazardous, AKA lethal. We only go out at extreme need. On Tuesday, the day it started, the sky looked like a smoggy sunset all day. Not sure where we'd go, because there are fires to the north and south of us...and on Oregon's coast.Blessings,Siri Kirpal

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Siri Kirpal, I just very much hope that you're ok. Your post was two days ago, and of course a lot can change in two days. Perhaps you have begun the process of moving? I'm down in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the air is merely "bad."

ChaseJxyz said:

Here is a map that shows all the fires happening in America right now. There is a LOT of data on this map, and some of the layers only show up at certain zoom levels.

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Wow, just looking at this now, and I was surprised to see all that activity in Montana, Idaho, and Utah.

bleep said:

Wow, just looking at this now, and I was surprised to see all that activity in Montana, Idaho, and Utah.

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My friend who lives in Idaho tweeted about how the smoke is affecting him now, but I didn't realize that they were on fire now, too. Things have change a LOT in the past few days. Portland has been the major city with the worst air quality in the world recently.

In relation to everyone else, the SF Bay Area is doing pretty okay. It's still bad air and you shouldn't be out in it, but the two big fires from the August thunderstorms are now mostly under control (98% and 96%, as of time of writing this). I hope that our friends in other areas check in and let us know how they're doing.

Sat Nam! (Literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

My thanks to those who responded and repped.

Looks like the anticipated ocean air finally started to arrive. The air got enough better that I was able to get out this morning and do a bit of much needed grocery shopping, the air being merely "Very Unhealthy" and not "Hazardous."

My husband pointed out that there is one rather large river (the Willamette) and a tributary (the MacKenzie) between Eugene and the fires. We have, however, several bags ready to grab on our way out the door should we need to leave fast. Looks like the part of the coast we could access the most easily isn't on fire, so that's where we'll go if we have to. But otherwise we're staying put.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

The air is horrible here. It was just shy of hazardous yesterday, better this morning, now it's moved halfway to hazardous again. My friend in Australia who I mailed the N100 masks too when the fires were horrible there hadn't used them so he's mailing them back!

It's so heartbreaking to hear people were trapped in the Medford fires who called loved ones but couldn't get out.

And I'm sure we're going to see fatalities from the air.

It's only going to get worse.

MaeZe, where are ya?

It's awful to see this happening over there now. Do take care, people.

ChaseJxyz said:

My friend who lives in Idaho tweeted about how the smoke is affecting him now, but I didn't realize that they were on fire now, too. Things have change a LOT in the past few days. Portland has been the major city with the worst air quality in the world recently.

In relation to everyone else, the SF Bay Area is doing pretty okay. It's still bad air and you shouldn't be out in it, but the two big fires from the August thunderstorms are now mostly under control (98% and 96%, as of time of writing this). I hope that our friends in other areas check in and let us know how they're doing.

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We're not out of the woods yet. The August Complex grew by 20,000 acres from thurs to Saturday, and now it's merged with another one, and it's now 877,477 acres, which is just insane. Down south a bit the Creek fire just grew by 26,000 acres since yesterday. https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/

bleep said:

MaeZe, where are ya?

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Bellevue, WA (Seattle burb).

I have family just out of Portland. That brother lived in Medford for decades. My other brother is in Orange, CA (next to Anaheim). They are both OK for the moment except for the horrendous air in the Willamette Valley.

At least one person is dead and dozens injured amid a trail of destruction after a tornado described as "large and extremely dangerous" tore through the Birmingham, Alabama, area.

The twister ripped through a hotel Monday night and tore off part of a church's roof.
About 30 people in Fultondale were injured, the city's fire chief said Tuesday morning.
"Seventeen patients were tak(en) to the ER, with various injuries and some critical," Fire Chief Justin McKenzie said. At least 11 people were treated on the scene.

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CNN story

Ongoing Germany/Belgium/Netherlands floods:

Monsin dam (Belgium) appears to have held, as with the Steinbactalsperre dam (Germany). Emergency repairs to the Julianakanaal dam at Bunde/Meerssen (Netherlands) after a serious breach appear to be holding so far. Demer river dam at Herk-de-Stad (Belgium), the Blessem quarry dam (Germany), and Ruhr river dam at Wassenberg (Germany) have been breached. Weir at Samsbeek is experiencing troubles, which isn't great considering the highest water has yet to reach it.

Belgian deaths now at at least 23 confirmed with another ~20 missing; German deaths at 100+ with unclear numbers of missing (anywhere from a hundred to thousands is mentioned and it's incredibly difficult to figure out which reports are based on the most up-to-date information).

~41k without electricity in Wallonië (Belgium), 100k+ without electricity in Germany. Gasline destruction in German district of Ahrweiler, prognosis is the affected area won't have gas for weeks at best. Severe damage to the gas net in Luik area (Belgium) as well, 3601 folks without gas there, prognosis again several weeks. Drinkwater contamination at several places; floodwaters and rivers polluted & filled with debris.

Massive landslides/sinkhole at Blessem (Germany) taking out several houses and cars as the quarry dam collapsed. Chaudfontaine (Belgium) fires destroyed several houses while the town is still flooded.

Tens of thousands currently evacuated or evacuating along the Meuse in the Netherlands as the high water progresses downriver; situation still progressing and not expected to reach its peak for days yet. No deaths here so far, thankfully.