Couldn't resist, but I live in Texas, so no stories here

 

How about some big bug stories?

 

Tex- ive been thru an earthquake in south texas.

 

1989 "big one" in No. California. you know, the one that collapsed a freeway in oakland, and caused a section of the bay bridge to fall. i was just finishing up my day as a phone system installer. i was just about to go back into a building when i heard creaking. then it hit big time. i stood in their front door while watching my aerostar and my partners aerostar rock and sway and they were parked close enough to actually hit eachother on the top. i was supposed to have been working in Emeryville that day, but i got re-dispatched to another town. i would have been on the raised freeway that fell right at that moment if i had gone to work in emeryville. a co-worker of mine was on the raised portion and he watched as it collapsed behind him. he was only about 1/4 mile from where the freeway goes back to being on the ground. when he saw the sections collapse, he floored his van and didn't stop until he got home.
i got home in 10 minutes. (i was working close to home). i called my brothers and they were in san jose. (15 miles away) like a fool, i jumped into my bronco and headed over there. i got 2 miles from home which took me 5 minutes. when i hit gridlock, i deceided to go back, and it took me 90 minutes go backtrack 2 miles.
crazy times.

 

ok ive only been in one earthquake that i can remember...my entire class didnt really notice it at first...it was big for my area...a 3.5 i think...anyway we were in class and everyone was in those rolling desk chairs...well at first we didnt notice it because the chairs moved with the quake lol...it was funny....all the freshmen were yelling and screaming and doing all the usual stupid kid stuff...lol

Signed,
The Don

 

Here in TX a few years back we had an earthquake although it was very small. It was centered around alpine but I was in San Angeloand It shook the bed and woke me up. It was actually big enough to crack concrete in Alpine I beleive. Out in west texas my grandpa was telling me about small quakes from the ground shifting when they pump the oil out.

 

The big one that equium refers to in '89...I was working in a small engine shop in Ukiah, about 2 hrs. north of SF. I was out in the back bending over a generator when I got hit by a sudden dizzy spell, I went inside the building and my boss said, "Did you fell that earthquake?" I said, "So that's what that was." We had some chainsaw bars hanging from a beam, they were swaying back and forth. When I got home my roomate, who was from SF was glued to the TV watching his neighborhood burn and freaking out, trying to phone his folks. When I was about 15 I was visiting a friend in the South bay when a 5.something hit, shook the house pretty good but no damage. I was living in the central part of the state towards the end of last year when we got that quake that rocked San Simeon and Paso Robles pretty good. That was exciting. -TD

 

I have one of these too !
When working for Bell Helicopter in Tehran, Iran between 1974 and 1976, we felt a tremor, but thought nothing of it...
Got a call from the in-laws the next morning (since there was like a 9 hour time difference IIRC) and asked if we were ok...
we're like, Yeah, fine, Why ?
Seems a monstrous earthquake had hit Southwestern Russia, northeastern Iran and it was all over the national news....
We had heard nothing about it !!!

 

at the time, i should have took it as a sign: watching the pre-game of the world series in '89, and saw al michaels almost crap himself...that was about 2 months before I was going to be heading out to SoCal for a job with McDonnell Douglas.

4:30 am. living in Long Beach, (about 30 miles south of Northridge) when that one struck. sorry don't remember the year...the whole house (rental, built in the '30's) was swaying, sorta in an oval, not just back/forth....I remember standing in the doorway to the bedroom, holding on to my then-girlfriend now-wife, chanting: "make it stop Make it stop Make it stop".. the stupid dog was running around barking at all the things creaking and falling over... not a pleasant one. but then we fared much better than the people north of us...



Oh, and another story...after getting out there, probably in January of '90. I had a training class in this two story building. It was a newer building, but not all that well built (you could feel the floor flex a bit as you walked. thin plywood maybe....). Anyway. we're all sitting there doing the student thing when BANG!!! it felt like a giant hit the side of the building...I was the only one to jump up, ready to high tail it out the door and into the hills. It was kinda funny--I'm the only one standing, ready to bolt, and every eye in the place was on me... got a good laugh though....what the heck, we didn't have any notice-able earthquakes in OH where I grew up...

Brian in NC
94 f150