June 2006 Archives

Megan

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The list of "historic" tornadoes is long . This summer marks the 25th anniversary of a 1981 tornado that struck the Twin Cities metro area. The F3 tornado touched down with no advance alert, with winds as high as 160 mph. The Har Mar Tornado , named for just one of the areas it hit, carved a path of destruction—14 miles in only 22 minutes.

Back then, meteorologists were just beginning to install and use the new Doppler radar  technology. We sort of take Doppler for granted now—it has more utility than just being part of weather reports on TV .

Like many others, I foolishly stand outside with the threat of tornadoes and watch the skies turn green and the trees whip in the wind when I should really be in my basement with a radio and a flashlight. To find out more about how to prepare for a tornado, check out websites like the Red Cross , with information on what to do at the outset of severe weather threats.

Remember the training we received in elementary school, sitting on the cold, dirty floor with our heads down, covered by our hands?

The lesson? Pay attention and follow the plan !

Charles

In an article in the Washington Post, Shankar Vedantam  writes of a sociological study of isolation. The number of friends who people feel they can turn to with problems has declined from 3 to 2.

In the article, Lynn Smith-Lovin said, "That image of people on roofs after Katrina resonates with me, because those people did not know someone with a car." Smith-Lovin is a Duke University sociologist  who co-authored the study. Modern life has changed dramatically since "Leave It To Beaver"  went off the air—the pace is fast and we are scattered all over the place, a challenge to traditional relationship webs.

Ann Handley  offers some hope, on the other hand. "Are social ties really fraying?" she wonders on her blog. "Or are they just shifting, and reweaving themselves in a different pattern?" Handley optimistically sees the blogosphere as a resource for people, as much as any acting class or church picnic.

Yup, we're here for you. Guided By History, a glass of warm milk ...

There are many ways to prepare for disasters, as we write here all the time. But what these methods do, ultimately, is build community and networks of resources—people coming together to overcome isolation and loss. If you still want more details and resources for human outreach, as part of your preparedness kit, go here  or here  and follow the many links. Team up!

Charles

Spurred on by my friend Charles Riggs's disaster preparedness blog, I decided to see what I might find in the Internet community in San Diego  to educate me about our local fire threats .

2003 was as nasty a year  as I’ve experienced as a resident—375,000 acres burned, 15 people killed (including one firefighter), over 140 injuries and something on the order of 3,000 residences and outbuildings destroyed. Not a good year.

Searching about, I found that the City of San Diego Fire/Rescue Department site  has a volunteer program called CERT  (Community Emergency Response Team) that actually solicits members of the community and educates them to become local experts capable of responding to a wide range of possible disaster events. Apparently, hundreds of local folks are becoming trained at government cost to handle the next big mess.

To answer the question what type of person becomes a CERT team member :

"There is a CERT team role for people of all abilities and specialties—not just medical and rescue volunteers. We need people that have good organizational skills, people skills, ham radio operators and other aptitudes necessary to a team."

Something to think about as our fire season rolls along.

Charles

It's twister season in the Heartland. May through August, tornado threats come with summer storms as they move across the plains.

"Weather Permitting"  is an exhibit at the Minnesota Historical Society that includes a “Get to the Basement!” experience. Visitors hear tornado survivors recount their stories. The life-like recreation of a tornado—complete with roaring noise and shaking walls—was recently named the Twin Cities’ Best Museum Exhibit by City Pages .

In an event some call the greatest weather disaster in Twin Cities history, six tornadoes touched down in the vicinity on May 5, 1965 . At least 12 tornadoes developed across Minnesota that day, and two tornadoes crossed Fridley.

Here are the basics  of tornado preparedness. If you have interest in these storms as phenomena—they are pretty cool—check this out . Shelter technology (and sales!) are here .

Charles

In a posting three days ago, Steve Greenwood, Curator at the Wells Fargo History Exhibit in Portland, recounted the major damage done by a huge forest fire a century ago. Today, in Part 2, Steve offers tips on protecting your home from fire. If you have any first-hand accounts of your experiences with fires in recent years, we invite you to write them here. (CR)

Part Two

Yacolt is a Klickitat  word meaning "place abounding in evil spirits" or "haunted valley." One tale relates that five children, lost while picking berries, were taken by Yacolt, a demonic entity. From September 11 to 13, 1902, a demon was certainly at work in the area. The Yacolt Burn caused profound damage to forest, homes and farms.

A century later, Pacific Northwest fires in 2002  surpassed the summer of 1902 as the worst fire year on record (see pix here ). About a million acres in Oregon and Washington burned.

Many Pacific Northwest towns—Battle Ground, Bend, and Chelan—are within a stone’s throw of the forest and potential fires.

If you live near high-fire risk areas, here are a few tips  to help protect your home:

• Have a fire-resistant roof and exterior.
• Keep access roads free of vegetation.
• Keep firewood and flammable objects away from your home.
• Prune trees and remove ground fuels.
• Keep your gutters clean.

Charles

Yes, our worst fears are confirmed—Earth's innate instability continues . According to the journal Nature , the lower portion of the San Andreas Fault  (the Southern California strip) hasn't produced a real good, pressure releasin' quake for centuries. The buildup of strain along the fault, therefore, can mean only one thing. Oops, I mean this worst fear .

The report in Nature discusses the threat to Southern California  in particular. About 24 million people live down there, and while they are not all on the fault lines, a big quake would affect freeways, infrastructure, ports and the like. Because the area is so dry, what happens if water systems  are compromised? 24 million is a lot of thirsty people.

After the 1994 Northridge earthquake, a magnitude 6.7, Southern California rebuilt itself with legendary speed (long version here ). It's the model for disaster recovery on a societal scale. But as you'd expect, the basis for this skill is contained in all the warnings about being prepared . The more you do now , the easier it is to recover after the fact. Word up.

Charles

Oral history projects  have become an important resource for producing history and for accessing history. The Library of Congress , for instance, has dozens that are dedicated to African Americans, veterans and suffragettes —the list is extensive. Memories of ordinary people are captured in their stories and offer the balance—or the antidote, maybe—to the boring history of books and lectures and the shows that Dad watches.

Collecting oral history began as soon as Edison  invented the phonograph . You could say that all CDs and DVDs catch a historical moment that re-occurs when you play it. Anyway, the idea is to preserve the story as it happened to the person it happened to. Recent oral history projects include events of September 11, 2001,  and the space race of the 1960s .

Now, oral histories about experiences in Hurricanes Katrina and Rita last summer are being put together. One is by the National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness (NPACH)  and features people of Houston who rolled up their sleeves to help evacuees from the stricken areas. The Houston Chronicle reports  the beginning of another oral history project for people who lived through the devastation, put together by the University of Houston. (Contact the project here .)

The idea is to develop a voice for the thousands of people whose stories have been, for most of us, only pictures on the nightly news. Now, these individual stories can be heard, from the voices of the people who are continually rebuilding their lives.

Charles

Today's fire raging near Sedona, Arizona,  reminds us that such challenges are difficult to face. No matter how prepared you are, fires burning out of control can destroy even the best defenses. They are, after all, WILD fires.

Steve Greenwood, our Curator at the Wells Fargo History Exhibit in Portland, Oregon, recounts the major damage caused by a huge wildfire in Washington state a hundred years ago. If you have any first-hand accounts of your experiences with fires in recent years, write 'em here. (CR)

Part One

"The fire surged, hissed, and roared, leaping like an untamed demon dancing," described one contemporary of Washington State’s largest wildfire—the Yacolt Burn of 1902. On September 11 that year, this destructive wildfire started and decimated the area between the Columbia River and Mount St. Helens, traveling 30 miles in 36 hours. At one point, the fire was 12 miles wide!

Moist, cool air normally flows from the ocean and brings rain to the area, but the wind had reversed direction and brought a hot and dry east wind—known as the Devil Wind. Temperature played a pivotal role also: the thermometer topped off at 97 degrees in Portland that day. The wildfire that followed was so intense that the U.S. Army dispatched troops to protect property, and regional businesses halted shipping along the Columbia River. To the north 180 miles, the Yacolt Burn covered Seattle with cinders a half-inch thick.

This "awful forest conflagration" disabled telegraph lines and destroyed schools, churches, and logging camps.

Autumn rain finally extinguished the flames on September 13. When it ended, the devastating fire had claimed 38 lives, left 146 families homeless, and burned over 238,000 acres.

Charles

Less than a week after I wrote on floods in Southeast Texas in 1913, the region is getting pounded by huge rains. A Flood Watch is in effect for the Houston area, more rain is forecast, and the Red Cross  is opening shelters. Louisiana is getting hit by rains as well.

Streets are flooding, too. The Houston Chronicle  reports a traffic nightmare, a thing bad enough unto itself. But with that, there is the added danger of being trapped in cars as the waters rise. See our posts on the dangers of driving through floods here and here.

Charles

Pretty nice day in the Southeast so far . Maybe a little rain, but summer is taking hold. National Hurricane Center  declares there are "no tropical cyclones at this time." But on the same page, of course, their "Top News"  predicts an active hurricane season—80% chance of above-normal activity .

The threat posed by Tropical Storm Alberto  was reduced by the time it reached U.S. shores this week, good news for threatened areas. But as the Climate Prediction Center  explains—that is, as I understand all the science-ese!—each storm is just one episode in the whole season. Hurricane seasons develop a character from storm to storm, and weather pattern to weather pattern. It's one long storm that builds and subsides—you get your good days, and you get your bad days.

Stay with me, this is interesting. No, really...

"Total Seasonal Activity" is the sum of the intensity and duration of each storm. Warm water is the energy source for storms, and wind patterns determine how storms build. When ocean water gets warmer, then combines with certain wind patterns, storms develop in greater numbers and intensity. Nine of the last 11 hurricane seasons have been above normal.

Check out some weather graphics here. (The movies are hypnotic. Or I'm becoming a nerd.) As science marches on, we know more things and can study them in very cool ways. One thing is for sure—the climate is going through some very dynamic behavior.

I'm very interested in reading your experiences with these storms over the last few years. Send 'em in here.

Charles

An earthquake  rumbled through the Bay Area at a quarter to six this morning. The jolt had a 4.7 Richter Scale  pedigree, and I unofficially peg the shindo value at 1 .

Whatever shrug-o-meter you prefer, the "Quality" was deemed "excellent" by the USGS . As usual with our local quakes, however, most everyone I asked responded with "Hmmm—didn't feel a thing."

A 5:47 a.m. seismic event probably coincides with Stage 4 ("true delta") or Stage 5 (REM)  of sleep. You're either in deepest sleep or having those goofy dreams about being chased by a terrier and your knees turn to jelly. It would take a real whopper of a quake to shake you out of that.

So if there are approximately 2,200 earthquakes each year  of this magnitude, it stands to reason that some people will feel them. How about you? Do you wake up? Do your dreams take a weird turn and find out it was an earthquake that made you dream about the Cadillac turning into a canoe?

Charles

In the winter of 1913, southeast Texas was traumatized by floods. The Guadalupe and Trinity rivers overflowed, and the Brazos and Colorado rivers flooded thousands of square miles of land. The flood even changed the Brazos' course, according to the Brazos River Authority:  property damage was about 3.5 million dollars in the Brazos Valley.

That season was "obviously a classic El Niño  year," states a USGS report  (scroll down to 1913). "There were 180 drownings...Water was waist deep in downtown Bay City... The Colorado River went over the right bank above Columbus and made an island of the town."

Railroads were washed out, including the several on which Wells Fargo & Co. Express carried packages and express shipments. Some trains even stalled en route as flood waters overtook the tracks. In Wells Fargo Messenger, the Company's internal newsmagazine, route Messenger Creighton tells of being stuck on a train near Marlin for a day and a half before rescue. He helped passengers into boats before getting out himself.

Wells Fargo agencies throughout the devastated area volunteered people and equipment to handle supplies and generally assist. Bay City Agent C.L. Aubin opened his home to refugees and his office to the company's horses. After the waters receded, Texas Governor O.B. Colquitt acknowledged Wells Fargo's local efforts. In two florid sentences to Mr. G.A. Taft, Wells Fargo Express superintendent in Houston, the governor wrote:

"I am writing for the purpose of thanking you sincerely on behalf of the State Government and the flood sufferers, for the generosity of your company in offering to transport shipments of bedding, blankets, clothing, groceries and other supplies sent out under the direction of the Governor's Office to flood sufferers at various points on the Brazos and Little Rivers during the past four or five weeks.

"Your prompt and efficient service greatly aided the efficient distribution of assistance furnished through the Governor's Office.

"Yours Truly,

(Signed) O.B Colquitt, Governor"

Charles

Several years ago, I was stumbling through Thucydides ' History of the Peloponnesian War . It was an edition with courier type, as tiny as possible without being invisible. Not so much as a sketch in it.

My friend put down his Ibanez Iceman, pulled the book from me and flipped through the pages. "Look at this thing!" he snickered, then intoned, "DON'T READ ME!" as the voice of the book. I looked at it again myself—his point was valid. (The most valid points, after all, are the funny ones.) Even though I found Thucydides a great read when I grew up, it makes me laugh when I encounter grownup stuff that has no entertainment value—"Don't Read Me!"—a 3-inch thick stack of escrow documents, for example.

Or insurance materials.

This blog is all about response to disasters, so I thought I'd take a look at how earthquake insurance works, at least in California. In short, it's a major "Don't Read Me!" thing. Problem is, maybe you need the coverage. Or you need to know, at least, whether or not the extra coverage is for you and your situation. Some basic understanding can be found here  and here  for California properties.

There are two fundamental things to know before you do your research and when you shop for appropriate coverage. First, coverage is expensive. The same is pretty true for other types of disaster coverage—flood insurance in areas  with actual threat, Hurricanes  and tornadoes in areas where they occur with any frequency. Second, the coverage you get might be duplicated: the award from your existing policy, less deductible, might be the same you get from earthquake insurance. You'd end up spending thousands to get back, well, thousands.

Talk to your agent. Once you get through all the junk mail and (800) numbers, and decide on a carrier and policy, the agent is often easy to deal with.

Marianne Babal

Just last week, I returned to my hometown of Johnstown, Pennsylvania,  on the 117th anniversary of the great Johnstown Flood of 1889. The tragedy killed 2,209 people on May 31 that year, about one-tenth of the town's population. That the anniversary of the flood falls around Memorial Day adds poignancy to annual ceremonies marking the disaster. This year, I visited the Johnstown Flood National Memorial  and joined a park ranger on a hike across what was once Lake Conemaugh, the recreational lake sited in the hills 14 miles above Johnstown.

In 1889, Lake Conemaugh was owned by the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club and frequented by elite captains of industry of Pittsburgh: Carnegie, Mellon, Frick. When torrential rains overtopped the earthen dam on May 31, 1889, the dam(whose integrity had been compromised by actions of club managers and previous owners) collapsed, sending 20 million gallons of water racing toward Johnstown  and area towns below. The amount of water that destroyed Johnstown has been estimated as equal in volume to the flow over Niagara Falls for 36 minutes.

The lake bed is now filled with shrubs and trees, and South Fork Creek flows uninhibited through the landscape. Looming overhead are two 70-foot high embankments flanking either side of the valley—all that remains of the failed earthen dam. Each year, 2,209 luminaria are placed near the dam site to remember those who were lost. People gather on Memorial Day at the Plot of the Unknowns in a local cemetery, where 777 unidentified flood victims are interred.

This year, on that hot, sunny and dry day, our little hiking group consisted of a dozen visitors, including many locals. However, I'd venture that most people in the Johnstown area seldom think about their history and the long-ago events that occurred there.

Just a few miles away is another historic site, on other hallowed ground. In Shanksville, Pennsylvania, our generation is creating another memorial for a disaster  burned into our national psyche. How and why do we remember? How will the New Orleans tragedy be dissected by historians and remembered in later years?

That history has yet to be written.

A flash flood WARNING means a flash flood is occurring or will occur very soon. ... Related Red Cross Preparedness Information ... Information Resources: American Red Cross Flash Flood Fact Sheet  Information on surviving floods. Know what to expect. Be prepared ...

Charles

This first week of June is the time of year when people are generally very happy—school is getting out, weddings are happening, the weather is the most beautiful of the year. (My opinion.) All the greatest people in history celebrate June birthdays. Spring is here and summer is nigh.

This is also a busy week historically, as disasters go. On June 1, 1638, the first earthquake recorded in the U.S. occurred at Plymouth, Massachusetts . 250 years later, California got its first seismograph at the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory Science and was thus able to tell us exactly what it was that scared the heck out of us for 13 seconds. In 1692, Port Royal, Jamaica,  was hit by a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami. In just three minutes, 1600 people were killed and 3000 seriously injured. A large portion of land, on which the city was built, was washed away. An F5 tornado caused tremendous damage to Topeka, Kansas in1966.

This is the spot in the post when I write that behind it all, disaster lurks and our watchword is "preparedness ." Well, sure—we all know the fable of the ant and the grasshopper. Only fools enjoy themselves on a beautiful day when they SHOULD be checking their stash of batteries, bottled water and canned chili . Fools like me.

We can also make the best of things. June is National Accordion Month  and I urge everyone to get in the spirit—when you're truly prepared, you can really enjoy yourself with a light heart.

(HUGE thanks to Berkeley Seismological Laboratory for images and access to materials)

Charles

If you visit this blog regularly, you'll notice some changes. They reflect an expanding scope, to cover topics beyond San Francisco's 1906 Earthquake and Fire. If you're here for the first time, thanks for stopping by—nice to have you.

When we began this blog a few months ago, it was part of San Francisco's commemoration of the centennial of the disaster. As much as remembering the tragedies of 1906, the centennial celebrated the legendary consequence of the Fire—San Francisco rebuilt itself, quickly and optimistically. The larger purpose served in the centennial was helping people become aware of "preparedness." This blog offers suggestions and provides links to help people remember what is learned from the past. By looking back, we can better plan forward.

Wells Fargo enjoys a great expanse over lots of places in the U.S. and around the world—a part of hundreds of communities. As this blog continues, our look at local responses to natural disasters will expand across that territory and anyplace else. So many things happen that challenge everyday life, in so many places: natural disasters and other occurrences are part of any region. The stories of how communities come together to recover from these challenges is the purpose of this blog.

Wells Fargo began business in San Francisco in 1852, but had offices all over the map within a few years. Our blog looked at events in our immediate area—San Francisco—for a short time, and now we'll start checking out stories across a wider territory. Feel free to send us the stories of your own experiences, or those of people you know. Because that is the best history—memories of people working together in response to big events.

Jane Po

On September 17, 1923, a huge fire swept through the hills of Berkeley, California. It started out of Wildcat Canyon, in an area now known as Tilden Park .

Here's a description of the devastation it caused (from San Francisco Chronicle, September 17, 1998 ):

Except for the 1906 earthquake-caused fire in San Francisco, it was the most destructive urban wildfire in Bay Area history until 1991, when the Oakland hills fire destroyed nearly 3,000 homes and took 25 lives. The Berkeley catastrophe set what was thought to be a destruction record at the time, 584 structures in two hours...

As in the Oakland Hills Fire of 1991, the flames were fanned by the hot and dry Santa Ana winds. The landscape quickly turned into a forest of broken chimneys and blackened trees—a foreshadowing of the scene that would play out on the East Bay Hills' southeastern end 68 years later. But, as though replaying scenes that followed the San Francisco quake of '06, the residents who played host to the refugees from across the Bay demonstrated the same humor and resilience—cooking dinner and playing the piano in the midst of ashes. See pictures  or view a movie  of the Berkeley Hills fire of 1923.

Jane Po

With the fire and hurricane seasons making their debut this week, I just thought I'd write another friendly reminder to you, gentle reader, to take a second look at your homeowner's insurance policy and to know it well. I'm super-paranoid about this issue for many reasons, but mainly because 18 years ago, I had a semi-serious house fire, and that was when I really got to know what my coverage was all about. In a nutshell: BAD LEARNING EXPERIENCE.

I found these two timely (and very user-friendly) stories to help you wade through the fine print. The first, Wildfire: Insurance When All Is Lost , from CNN, focuses on fire insurance. Folks who've taken advantage of low interest rates to renovate their homes would benefit from this article, as it has tips on what to look for when updating the value of your coverage, such as higher rebuilding cost or a home upgrade. Check out the related articles, too, especially the one entitled Money 101: Insurance .

The second story, from MSNBC, entitled Do You Have Enough Homeowners' Insurance? , places emphasis on hurricane insurance coverage. Like the CNN story, it reminds the reader to revisit his or her insurance policy to account for higher building cost and recent renovations. A related story, Insurance Tips for Katrina Victims , could easily apply to anyone who's been a victim of a hurricane-related catastrophe.

Deconstructing an insurance document may not be as titillating as reading salacious items on Brangelina or TomKat , but think about it this way: Should you become a victim of a disaster, the last phrase you'd want to hear is, "NOT COVERED!"

Jane Po

Experts have said that today, we can build anywhere we want if we're willing to shell out the money to do it. The thing is we build where we shouldn't, and balk at the cost when we do. So it's no surprise that houses exist in high-ignition areas that are ill-constructed for the location. Are these houses doomed?

If you live in a wildfire-prone area, there ARE things you can do to keep your McMansion from turning into a tinderbox during the fire season. Firewise Communities, a consortium of government and non-government agencies whose goal is "to reduce loss of lives, property, and resources to wildland fire by building and maintaining communities in a way that is compatible with our natural surroundings," maintains a web site  that features plenty of tips and how-tos for the homeowner  who wishes to keep his or her home fire-safe (no, we're not using the term fireproof).

The web site covers many topics that one wouldn't normally associate with fire prevention, such as landscaping . (Brush fire preparedness isn't just about fire extinguishers, you know?) It also offers an interactive tool  for evaluating your home's exposure to wildfire risks.

Brush fires weren't really a bad thing  until we trespassed into Mother Nature's stomping grounds. But since this is already said and done, it's best for us to learn how to live with her without incurring her wrath.

Jane Po

I know you're sick and tired of all my platitudinous homilies on preparedness. So, as a gesture of gratitude for putting up with me every day, I thought I'd do a short, yet relevant, post for you. (Of course, it's going to be on preparedness. Did you think I was going to talk about Lindsay Lohan ?)

Question: Do you know how to use a fire extinguisher? Yes, that red mini-tank filled with chemicals that's sitting in your kitchen. If you don't, here's a cute and quick tutorial , courtesy of the University of Oklahoma Police Department. If you read it, you'll get the post's title. ;)