I can remember as a kid in Texas, riding with my mother in her '79 Pontiac and being scared out of my mind by thunder and lightening. I can remember her trying to reassure me that we were perfectly safe in the Houston traffic. She assured me that the chances of being hit by lightening were less than wining the lottery, that rubber wheels protected the car, that only high places got struck by lightning, and many other comforting facts that I wouldn't learn were completely untrue wives' tales until I was much older.

Landslides and mudflows are often a secondary effect from earthquakes or floods, but they are a serious concern on their own. They usually strike without warning. The force of rocks, soil or other debris moving down a slope can devastate anything in its path, and are a force to be reckoned with.

Keeping wind and water out is critical to your home’s survival. The variety of materials on the market today means it’s easier and more affordable than ever.

Volcanic dangers include not only an eruption of a mountain and associated lava flows, but also ashfall and debris flows. If you are near a mountain range, be familiar with the following:

Most times they are small and not noteworthy. Kids and adults alike find them fascinating.    They have been known to cause over a billion dollars of damage a year to cars and crops in the United States alone.  Hail, which rarely falls for more than 15 minutes at a time in any one location, drops with little warning and a lot of power. The risk of hail denting cars and breaking windshields is especially great during the spring and summer - and especially for people who live in "Hail Alley," a string of southern and central Plains states prone to damaging hailstorms.

If your house is at the edge of a large open field or the edge of a golf course or within 1500 feet of open water, you are more exposed to the full force of the wind and more susceptible to damage caused by wind forces acting directly on your home.