Seattle: flooding or other natural disasters...?

Question

I live in Colorado. Here, as far as natural disasters go we have: Snowstorms, Tornadoes, Rockslides and Avalanches, sometimes fire hazards due to the dry climate. In very specific parts, and with specific weather happening you might see flash flooding.

I'm investigating relocating to the Seattle area (read: not specifically IN Seattle, but probably a 'burb north or east of the city). What kinds of natural disasters are fairly common to Seattle, and Washington state in general?

Thanks!

Uhm... blizzards in Seattle? I've heard of a few inches of snow falling there now and again, but I think Colorado would be much more known for blizzards than Seattle, WA. Case in point: We had a nice set of two back to back blizzards this year. The first dumped over 30" of snow in 48 hours.

Answer 1

Flooding can be and is an issue depending on where you live. More and more houses are being built on '100 year flood planes' and flooding is becoming more of an issue. Flooding is also somewhat common for people who live near large rivers and even some seasonal streams.

Earthquakes are not common, but not unheard of either. We had one back in Feb 2001 that caught many by surprise. While not much damage was done, it did last several seconds and kinda scared the crap out of me. They (whoever 'they' are) keep saying that we're due for a big one.

Mt St. Helens and Mt Rainier are both volcanoes so eruption is also something that could happen. While lava is higly unlikely, lahars or mud flows aren't. Low lying areas in the foothills of the mountians have special lahar evacuation routes.

Tsaumis are a concern if you live along the coast, but not so much in the Puget Sound (which isn't a sound at all but rather a fjord).

For some parts of Eastern WA wildfires can be an issue due to their dry climate.

For the most part our disasters are few and far between. Last November's wind storm did more damage than the earthquake in 01. Most of the damage came from downed trees and power lines. Some people were without power for over a week. Over 1 million people lost power in that storm.

ETA: I don't know where Kyle learned how to pronounce Puyallup, but the proper pronunication is more like Pew-yall-yup. I grew up just a few miles from Puyallup and even called the tribal historian to learn the proper pronunication.

Answer 2

Seattle Natural Disasters

Answer 3

Just watched a very interesting show on the weather channel the other night. Seattle apparently is at much higher risk for damage from a big magnitude earth quake than anywhere in california. They were hit by a 6+ magnitude earthquake the entire town of seattle would be decimated. Worse then 1906 SF quake. It was on a show called It Could Happen Tomorrow.

There is also the potential that if Mount St. Helens were to errupt again, The path of destruction would go all the way through tacoma to Seattle.

I would say earthquakes, floods are probably the worst.

Answer 4

I lived 15 miles south of Seattle for 21 years. Whenever I watched the news of things going on in other states, I felt much safer in Seattle. Yes, there is earth quake and volcano risk, but there is "risk" everywhere. There's an occasional wind storm, but it doesn't do more than shake the windows, and kill power for a day or two(that only happens every few years--depending on your neighborhood, I guess). Snows some, but no blizzards. Very mild, calm weather if you ask me. It does rain quite a bit, but you get used to it. Once there were "tornados," and they made a big deal out of it, but I think they were so small they didn't do any damage... yet it was all over the news. That should tell you something.

I just moved away from Seattle 3 months ago (to Mexico). Seattle is a BEAUTIFUL place, and you've got everything nearby. Tons of lakes, rivers, mountains (skiing/snowboarding etc), beautiful hiking, the ocean a couple hours away( it's no miami, but it's fun), the big national park on the penninsula is gorgeous, I spent a week there once. Just over three hours to get to Vancouver, Canada. Downtown, and the waterfront in Seattle NEVER gets old. YUMMY restaurants. If you like running, or cycling or something of that nature, Seattle is a very friendly place for that too. I see Seattle as the outdoors persons dream. You've got San Juan Islands just a small ferry fee away, and once I kyaked there, gorgeous...and there are Orca whales!

I can suggest a northern suburb for you... Kirkland. It's a really neat little town. It's pricey, though. I did a triathlon there and got to see quite a bit of it. Downtown is right on lake washington, and their downtown is really cute and quiet(and they've got a Ben and Jerrys!). Bellevue is nice for east...but also expensive(but REALLY nice)....they've got an AMAZING mall. Woodenville is a good option too, my sister lived there for a couple years.

Stay away from Tukwila and Renton. :) I think they DO have some nice areas...but not much. My cousin lived in Tukwila, and had a LOT of problems... it's a creepy area.

Sorry to be longwinded, I think I miss my hometown...hehe. :)

Answer 5

I wouldn't call most of what happens here to be "disasters", but rather "weather events"... The big windstorm back in December didn't have half the windspeed you'd expect from a "disaster". As I recall the winds maxed out at something like 60 mph. Mt. St. Helens is a three hour drive mostly South, so it's not like WA's most active volcano is going to be able to throw volcanic bombs at Seattle. If Rainier were to blow, it would not be without warning, but the town of Puyallup (pronounced pee-wall-up) would be mostly destroyed, and the I-5 bridge in Tacoma would be a goner. News people in the Northwest are particularly dramatic. If a bear farts in the woods, it will be on KING 5 News, and it will "impact the Northwest economy". We do occasionally get freakish amounts of rain, as in 3" in a day. Last November was the rainiest month ever recorded in Seattle. This causes flooding, such as last year when the Skykomish River (relatively small river) flowed at 100,000 cfs, nearly half the average flow of the Columbia River!

Answer 6

The biggest danger is earthquakes. We have had a few 6+ magnitudes in the past which have caused considerable damage, but not many injuries.

After that, volcanoes. But cities further south, like Tacoma, are at a much higher risk then Seattle itself.

Also, about once every year in the winter there will be a significant wind/snow storm that can knock out power for days.

Answer 7

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Seattle: flooding or other natural disasters...?
I live in Colorado. Here, as far as natural disasters go we have: Snowstorms, Tornadoes, Rockslides and Avalanches, sometimes fire hazards due to the dry climate. In very specific parts, and with specific weather happening you might see flash flooding.

I'm investigating relocating to the...

Answer 8

well in Seattle we get earthquakes every now and again and flooding can be a big problem if you live near any type of river or lake during the winter. Washington also has three active volcanoes one recently erupted in may 1980 killing 56 people. the mountains get the most snowfall of any mountain range in the world so we also get avalanches and rock slides.

Answer 9

I live in a 'burb east of Seattle, two lakes east... We moved here from California a couple of winters ago. We were one of the over 700,000 out of a million subscribers to Puget Sound Energy that lost power in the windstorm last December. We were out of power for a total of eight days, during which we had to stay in hotels with our three-month-old baby or be in our freezing house in 30 degree Fahrenheit weather. We knew to leave our house right away, because we had already heard stories of the last big power outage, which lasted five days for our friend during a time when her house got down to 18 degrees Fahrenheit. Our house was poorly equipped for this, and there had been several power outages already, because all the power lines are strung old-style in the air instead of being put carefully underground.

The windstorm blew down trees all over the place, and we have lots of them. Our neighbors were unable to leave their homes due to a tree down on a power line across our private road that blocked their exit. Our fence was blown down. Some people had trees crash through their homes. The same day of the windstorm, a foot of rain was dumped in a few hours, so we had a small flood downstairs. Rivers overflowed.

Seattle area is badly equipped to handle all kinds of weather that you'd think happens regularly. Perhaps the weather is getting worse? Perhaps those who write about "blizzards" mean that when it snows, all traffic gets locked up with people unable to navigate roads to get back home into the 'burbs. This last year, cars were parked everywhere in the street for days because they were sliding around dangerously, and those who didn't park often ended up in collisions. Our area is on a plateau where you must go up and down hills to get in or out, and in the steep areas, when things got slippery some places only one car went at a time. My husband took 4 hours to get home from a usually 40 minute commute, and we heard much worse by others. There aren't enough snow plows to get to the snow, so all the kids stayed home from school, and they are having to make up a whole lot of days.

Many people would be surprised to learn that in the summer, Seattle area experiences drought conditions some years, and the water company will give incentives for people to conserve water by not watering the lawn.

I've heard about the additional possibility of tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanos, but not personally experienced those particular problems in just 2 years.

Answer 10

I would say flooding and earthquakes...and supposedly we're supposed to have the mother of all tsunamis someday...
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