when i was growing up, my best friends name was allison, which coincidentally is also on the hurricane name list. allison once went out of town, and a hurricane hit the east coast, also named "Allison", and the news reporters would always say her name and sounded very concerned. i would cry for hours in front of the television, hoping to see her and see if she was okay, because i somehow was convinced that she had a really bad cold and was in dire need of help.

Jenny

I was very young in 1989. One of my earliest memories, growing up in the Charlotte, NC, area was when hurricane Hugo devastated that city in September of 1989. Then the very next month, with Charlotte still far from completely recovered from hurricane Hugo, a major earthquake hit the San Francisco / Oakland area (perhaps best remembered as the earthquake that interrupted the first game of the World Series that year!). With our electricity in Charlotte not long restored from hurricane Hugo, we were watching on television reports of the devastation in the San Francisco Bay area. For me at that time, the name "Hugo" became so associated with natural disaster generally that I often found myself calling the earthquake "Hugo". People were surprised and amused when they found out that some of my references to "Hugo" meant the California earthquake rather than the hurricane on our side of the country. For quite some times afterwards I puzzled as to why earthquakes don't have names as hurricanes do!

Erica

When I was younger, I thought that a hurricane was a big spaceship looking thing( kinda like a submarine) that had 3 big holes on the bottom of it that opened and closed and had long benches on both sides where people could sit. I thought that when it struck, it would suck the people up into it and when i heard people talking about sending blankets and food to hurricane victims, that we would place boxes of the items where the spaceship was and it would suck the boxes right up.

Danielle

When I was in 4th grade, almost every kid in my class was convinced that the peninsula of Florida would sink into the ocean by the year 2000.

Anon

I used to believe that tornadoes were potatoes. Whenever there was a tornado warning I thought Mr. Potatoe head was walking around stomping on houses.

sm

When I was little, I was so freaked out be natural disasters that I absolutley could not go to sleep unless my mom told me everynight, "No earthquakes, no fires, no tornados, and nothing else bad will happen to not." I guess my Mom thought it was neat that I believed her saying that will make it happen.

Angela

In Kindergarten, I thought that every fire drill, tornado drill, ect. was real. I always screamed and cried because I thought we'd all die, and I'd never get to see my grandparents again.

Jessica Tinch

When I was a child I believed that when people said California would fall into the ocean with the next bit earthquake, that the whole state would break off from the rest of the U.S. and sink.

Tracy

Chain link fences were called Cyclone fences when I was a kid (or maybe that was a brand name). I used to wonder how cyclone fences kept cyclones out and why we didn't have one to protect us.

Lee

I grew up in Califonia in the 70's, when they were always trying to predict when an earthquake would hit. Living near the coast I was terrified at the prediction in which California would fall into the pacific, and rumor had it that beach front property was being sold in Arizona..On the night of one such prediction, that most people "poo pooed," including my parents, I gathered a few snacks and a jacket and headed up the street to my best friend Theresas'. I pleaded, "Are you going with me to Arizona or not?!" Thinking of course that Arizona was just beyond the hills near my home.....

aimee

When I was in the firt and second grade I used to think that a Tornadoe was a giant Tomatoe that came rolling through town crashing peoples houses.

Brittney

When I was about 3 or 4 I tomato and tornado sounded the same to me. So one time my dad told me that there was a tornado warning so I went up to my mom and brother and said "Theres a tomato warning!!"

Anon

I remember my mother standing on the porch saying "By the looks of those clouds, a tornado may coming." I waited for tomatoes to come down like rain.

Tonya

I used to think that tornados were made when God farted.

Catherine

I'm not sure where this thought originated--if I misconstrued something someone said, or if my cousin babysitter hinted at it. I used to believe that tornadoes were huge, muscled black men with sleeveless white t-shirts and khaki-colored pants that were either rolled or cuffed to their knees. Whenever our part of the country experienced tornado weather, I thought these men were responsible for carrying our houses and cars away. Thankfully, I am grown and ashamed of this childish visual.

anon

When I was 6 years old I was afraid of the "eye of the hurricane" passing over us because I thought it was a real eye.

Rosemary

I had a recurring dream that an earthquake hit Phoenix and the ground cracked open sucking my grandpa into some great abyss. I always thought I was psychic and that dream was true, and any time a plane would fly overhead and shake the house a little, I would grab my grandpa's hand to "save" him from being sucked down into the middle of the earth.

Trina A.