WASHINGTON – Hurricane season begins this week on the heels of a deadly tornado in Oklahoma. Where can you live to avoid natural disaster?
Based on Sperling’s Best Places, the New York Times pinpoints several regions of low or moderate risk from natural disaster.
The Pacific Northwest, northern and central California are pinpointed as places where the hazards of natural disaster are low. Lower risk is also cited in the southwestern states, while moderate risk is identified in the Mid-Atlantic and New England states.
But not all the experts agree.
“Anywhere you live you’re going to run into some very natural hazards,” says Dan Kottlowski, senior meteorologist for AccuWeather.
“The Pacific Northwest you have to worry about Mount Rainier or perhaps a resurgence of Saint Helen’s exploding,” Kottlowski says.
An Alaska earthquake, he adds, could cause water levels to dangerously rise in Puget Sound.
Kottlowski concedes that the lush valleys of central California are not prone to severe storms, but there are other hazards, including drought.
“The fact that they are in a valley, they could certainly have a lack of rainfall over a number of years,” he says.
Moderate weather risk in New England? Kottlowski points to the potential of damaging winter storms.
And as for the Mid-Atlantic states, he warns that low lying areas are prone to severe flooding.
“I think wherever you live there are going to be hazards,” he says.
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