My hometown is McMurray, PA. McMurray is located in southwest PA and is about 30 minutes south of Pittsburgh. The Nathan World Map of Natural Hazards showed that my hometown is in areas of risk for tornadoes, extra tropical/snow storms, and hailstorms. McMurray was in zone 2 for the risk of a tornado and was in zone 3 for extra tropical storms. McMurray is also at very low risk to having any earthquakes or wildfires. The Nathan World Maps are great at showing where these disasters take place, but without clear state borders and other features, it is hard to correctly read the chart without zooming in.
A current disaster that I found using the Hungarian National Association of Radio Distress Signaling and Infocommunications’ (RSOE) Emergency and Disaster Information Service (EDIS) was a snowstorm happening in the US state of Wyoming. IT is a state wide snowstorm. The event happened on March 30th around 1:50 PM and had a threat level of medium, with 2/5 of the damage level meter filled. There were no dead, injured, or missing people. My hometown has been at risk of snowstorms in the past and is most years waiting for the inevitable to happen. Our township does a pretty good job with handling the snowstorms. They usually have salt trucks get out early enough to lay down salt before the snow starts to hit, then plows will work continuously to try to control the snow and make sure the roads are in good shape. There was one year where we got four feet of snow and the roads were too bad to drive on for three days, but since then, our township has improved their snow removal. The scale of this event is way larger than the scale of my hometown. This snowstorm is occurring statewide in Wyoming and comparing that to my hometown is ridiculous. Because of the scale of my hometown, we have better chances of controlling our area and making sure our citizens are safe. With snowstorms, everyone is vulnerable, but during this time, older people are in the worst position. With the dropping temperature, it is harder for older people to get the supplies they need to prepare for the storms. For example, during the snowstorm that I described earlier, my parents and I had to use my uncle’s truck to drive to my grandparent’s house to help them. They live thirty minutes away from us. When we got to their house, they didn’t have much food left and their heating and electricity was knocked out. We had to bring them back to our house to make sure they were okay.
Tornadoes are the main concern for my hometown, as listed by USA.com (USA.com). I can agree with this by drawing from my own personal experiences. The only times my house has ever had flooding issues was when there were tornado warnings. With hail and large amounts of rain, the storms that came through Peters Township were rough and caused many problems. On one occasion, around 2010, after a tornado warning, my neighbor had four trees in his yard that were uprooted and scattered in his yard and the street. Other than snowstorms, the side effects of tornadoes has hit my hometown the hardest. This is why I am not surprised by the results that I saw on usa.com about my hometown’s chances of getting hit by different natural disasters.
“Pittsburgh, PA Natural Disasters and Weather Extremes.” – USA.com™. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2016. <http://www.usa.com/pittsburgh-pa-natural-disasters-extremes.htm>.
The best way to reduce vulnerability to snow storms and tornadoes, my hometown must be smart and know how to handle its citizens. First, citizens should receive pamphlets or be invited to attend awareness events hosted by the township in order to help the citizens know what they must do to prepare for these events. Households should all be prepared by having supplies and plan out what they should do in case of different natural disasters. In my hometown’s school district, the administration did a great job of performing natural disaster drills. During the tornado drill, students would go into the hallways, away from any glass windows. We would then get down on our knees and cover our heads and the backs of our neck with our hands. In order to decrease vulnerability, these drills should be performed more often throughout the school year. For snowstorms, the administration would test the roads and decide if there should be a delay/ cancellation for the day. This helped to make sure that students who drove to school and the school buses would get there safe. I can help my family by making sure they have a plan for each natural disaster. Also, we can make survival packs filled with items we could use during a natural disaster.