Midwest Earthquake

[Tycho]

Hehe. Sleeping through it. You'd make a natural Californian, Frett.

Yeah, earthquakes aren't "special" out here in Cali. But I have to have an escape plan should it be necessary. I will probably try to save my cats, but that'll be it.

It was interesting that one should hit Illinois though.

[Ji'dai]

What struck me - and Jargo and bigbarada mentioned this in their posts - was how loud it was. It was the noise that got me out of bed, which was why I thought it might be a tornado. I've never experienced one of those first hand, but tornados are always likened to the roar of a freight train passing close by.

Apparently there were aftershocks all morning, including a fairly major one mid-morning, but I didn't feel those at all.

But I survived and there wasn't any real harm done that could see from the house, garage, and sidewalks. In fact the only real casualities were some of my SW figures that toppled over on their shelves. About a dozen need to be put back in place. It could be worse - I've got nearly 500 loose SW figures on display, most without stands!

[Tycho]

Yeah, I hated that part of earthquakes - what with doing dioramas and all.

Putting your figures on Clear Stands resolves most of that, but the vibrations still turn them and they wind up shooting in the wrong direction or with Han kissing Chewbacca.

[Deoxyribonucleic]

I know this sounds crazy to people in california who have been through them, but I'd love to be in one just once to see what it's like.

You know what, that doesn't sound crazy at all. It is a feeling unlike any other.

In hopes of not jinxing myself, I used to live up in Washington on some islands near Seattle and now I live in So. Cal and I've experienced WAY more earthquakes up in Washington than here!

Course, people not from tornado ally say the same thing about tornados. And they probably get the same reaction I will for saying this, which is,

Never, ever, ever, ever do I even want to see the hint of a tornado! I hate them, the way they look just seems to go against nature! They scare the S*** outta me!

[mabudonicus]

Me and Elf were on a bus in the middle of the praries when I looked out the bus window and saw a funnel cloud forming (took a picture since I was pretty sure we were about to see something impressive)

It came straight down and made a full-on funnel, the sky went dark and then everything went MAD, the bus got the CRAP knocked out of it by HUGE hailstones which were coming horizontally from all directions, something busted some part of the bus roof and water started pouring in, everyone on the bus sat in silence fro about 10 pretty frightening minutes as the bus pulled over and we just kinda hoped we wouldn't get hit by the actual twister

Needless to say we didn't die, but it was DAMN scary.

We get quite a few earthquakes around here but most you'd have to be lying on the ground somewhere far away from any roads in order to notice them
Iso&Baws
The local drive in got one of its screens torn down by a FREAK tornado while showing the movie "Twister", no joke

[bobafrett]

Never, ever, ever, ever do I even want to see the hint of a tornado! I hate them, the way they look just seems to go against nature! They scare the S*** outta me!

We had a huge windstorm here last summer. They weren't sure initially if it was a tornado, but it was what was described as "microbursts". We lost two large trees in our backyard, and power was out for three days or so. The thing is, I didn't know this was going on, so I am out driving in this, and I started noticing huge trees laying across roads. I went to work and had one delivery, but it had been made just prior to the power loss at the pizza ria.

[Bel-Cam Jos]

Just as I felt another aftershock, hope no one lost anything or was hurt from today's temblor. It was centered maybe about 15 miles away from my place.

[edit: that recent aftershock was a 3.4... check out this site for USGA reports for Nevada and California] Check for Shakin' Places

[Tycho]

Huh. I felt this but dismissed it as I thought it might be my cat jumping around on my bed and I went back to sleep.

I woke only for the brief thought of implementing my earthquake emergency plan which would involve getting down their cat-carrier from the closet and being prepared to pack them in it and get out of my building fast.

Except for doorframes, I don't really have a safe place to "duck and cover." My dining room table is GLASS and that's the last thing I want to be under.

[Ji'dai]

5.4... I thought that was pretty mild for you SoCal folks.

We had a tremor here a week or so ago, near the epicenter of the quake we had last spring, but I didn't feel it at all.

Here, we've just had to contend with floods (early June) and thunderstorms (all through July) with destructive winds.

[TeeEye7]

5.4... I thought that was pretty mild for you SoCal folks.

Nope. That magnitude in an attention-getter, and cause for concern.

I'm a little over a hundred miles north, but some folks in the south part of town felt a bit of it. I didn't or didn't notice. We have a house being built across the street and they've been pouring concrete most of the day. A lot of rumbling and noise from the trucks easily would have masked it.