Great Scott, It's A Disaster!

Back towards the beginning of this thread I posted some cards of the Cliff House in San Francisco. After surviving more than one disaster, the historic restaurant finally announced it would permanently close its doors at the end of this year.

https://abc7news.com/8756231/

tremendous amount of history in this thread. I did know of the flood but not the extent.

I was thinking the same, as the moon is rendered as a Muslim crescent. Indonesia is mostly a Muslim country.

Except that picture postcards didn't really come into mainstream existence until a decade after 1883. And Krakatoa was much greater explosion than what is depicted.

More disasters -- mostly floods, this time. This seems to be the most common occurrence.

Stockton, Kansas - 1919 (I think)


Watkins Glen, NY - 1935


Jeffersonville, NY - 1937


I'm not sure what caused this collapse in N. Stonington, CT, probably a windstorm. No date.

I was disappointed that the thread devoted to the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake has been locked. You can still visit it here -- https://www.stampcommunity.org/topi...PIC_ID=33058 -- but we can't add anything to it. So I guess I'll just start posting new additions on this thread.

Now to pick on Crescent City, California:

1915 "Cyclone" actually just a tornado with a category under two. Over 50 category two and above tornadoes have been recorded there since 1-1-1960.

Just property damage--





Five dead:



See: http://www.militarymuseum.org/Emedio.html

On 20 December 1941, 25 miles west of Cape Mendocino, the Imperial Japanese Navy's I-17 shells and then fires two torpedoes at the 6, 912-ton Socony-Vacuum oil company tanker EMIDIO returning empty from Seattle to San Francisco. A patrolling PBY "Catalina" flying boat of Patrol Squadron (VP) 44 spots the EMIDIO dead in the water with people going over the sides and getting into lifeboats. The PBY also spots the I-17 on the surface and starts an attack. As depth charges are dropped, Commander Nishino Kozo dives and makes his escape. The EMIDIO, hit in the stern, does not sink. She is finally run aground off Crescent City, California, 85 miles north of where she was torpedoed. The Coast Guard Cutter SHAWNEE rescues 31 survivors.


The 1964 Alaska Earthquake (has postcards) also sent a significant tsunami into the Pacific. Along the California Coast, Crescent City was the hardest city hit.





From 184 miles south east of Crescent City, there are some wonderful real photo Lassen Peak Volcano eruption postcards by Mr. Loomis from the circa 1914-21 eruptions, but lack of personal property damage and death precludes being called a disaster.

I'm with Greg on wondering why the One dedicated to the S.F. earthquake was locked. Maybe it was starting to get repetitive, or maybe the thousands of cards on the topic that were coming would have crashed the server


I found the card and story on the first ship torpedoed interesting.
Thanks for sharing,
pat

Anyway, not to be repetitive, here are the survivors of the quake coping as best they can.

Lots of interesting additions! I especially like your post-quake cards, Pat. I've seen lots of cards showing the damage to buildings and streets, but very few that show the human aftermath.

Here's another human aftermath card. Pretty beat and missing it's stamp.

The longer threads were locked when search was freezing the forum. I asked if an old thread could be unlocked after the recent server change, and it was. I used the "send note to Staff" button at the bottom right of the last post in the thread. 138 pages of this thread!

https://goscf.com/t/11887&whichpage=138#694050

Here's a ruined house from Sandusky, Ohio with no explanation or date (blank on the back). My guess is some kind of windstorm.

Here's another undated postcard, but judging by the apparel it looks to be from the late '20s, early '30s. All that's on the back is "York Flood" -- which presumably was York, PA. Does anyone know more?

A wrecked railroad bridge from the 1913 Ohio-Indiana flooding. Nothing of interest on the back.

I missed littleriverphil original post of the 1906 SanFrancisco Fire/earthquake . Brought back memories of my Grandmother who survived Same as an infant. She died back in 2000.York flood reminds me of the Johnstown flood, about the same time, and Uncle John who broke both arms escaping the water. He was photographed drinking beer with a straw, being served by his loyal daughters.
Cheers mark

You are correct on the Sandusky postcard. There was a major tornado there in 1924. This exact image is in the Library of Congress collection as part of a montage:
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2018695355/
I suggest not opening the TIFF unless you have tons of memory

Major postcard makers seem to have had their archives collected in the LoC. Not all are available online (yet?).