Natural disasters include events such as earthquakes, tornadoes, blizzards, hurricanes, and floods. Every year we hear about cities within the United States that fall victim to one kind of natural disaster or another. In some cases, the damage is confined to structures that either need repair or need to be completely replaced. In other cases, the magnitude of the disaster is measured in property loss and the loss of human life.
Since we do hear about these disasters on television and the internet on a regular basis, we may become a bit desensitized to their devastating effects. There are a few cities in the United States that are more prone to getting hit by natural disasters than any other cities. The people who live in these cities have adapted to living life with the constant threat of the rage of Mother Nature coming down on them.
- San Francisco, CA: The San Francisco Bay area, which includes the city of Oakland, is world famous for its earthquakes. The long list of San Francisco earthquakes includes the 1989 earthquake that registered a 7.1 on the Richter scale and stopped game three of the World Series. One of the reasons that San Francisco receives so many earthquakes is its close proximity to active fault lines such as the Hayward Fault. Many observers believe that the Hayward fault will be the one that causes the next great San Francisco earthquake that could potentially kill thousands of people.
- Miami, FL: No city in the United States has been battered by hurricanes more than Miami, FL. Miami's hurricane history can be traced as far back as 1878. Miami gets hit by a hurricane once every two years and has suffered significant property damage and loss of life due to hurricanes. In 1992, Hurricane Andrew devastated Miami and became the costliest hurricane in U.S. history, racking up an estimated $30 billion in damages.
- Mt. Hope, AL: When people think of tornadoes, they think of Kansas or Oklahoma, but the area that has become the real "Tornado Alley" is Mt. Hope, AL. Since 1950, the area in and around Mt. Hope has seen at least five tornadoes that are rated the highest for damage and wind on the scale used by the National Weather Service's "Enhanced F-scale" hurricane measuring system.
- Buffalo, NY: While the residents of Buffalo, NY continually try to shake the image of being the "snowiest place on Earth," it is hard to deny the possibility that the area will be hit by a major snow storm each and every winter. The myth of Buffalo snowfall started with the famous "Blizzard of '77," and it certainly did not end there. Buffalo gets fairly average snowfall compared to other cities such as Minneapolis and Boston. But it is the Buffalo area's surprise snow storms that make this the most blizzard-prone place in the country. Since the "Blizzard of '77," Buffalo has been hit with at least four major snow storms that have completely shut down the city. Since November 2000, the Buffalo area has experienced three major snowstorms that left people without power for weeks and have crippled the city.
- Dallas, TX: Scientists love to speculate on things and one of the things that scientists have speculated on is the American city that is the most prone to natural disasters. In a 2011 study by The New York Times, it was determined that Dallas, TX is now the U.S. city that is most prone to experience natural disasters in the future. These disasters include, but are not limited to, drought, tornadoes, wildfires, hail, and flooding. It is Dallas' close proximity to other weather hot spots and the large population that lives in Dallas that makes it the number one city in the U.S. that is considered to be most prone to natural disasters.
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