Disasters

For the DLC, see Natural Disasters.

Disasters are a feature added in the Natural Disasters DLC for Cities: Skylines. There are several disasters which can occur based on trigger conditions in scenarios, randomly, or be created by the player.

Tornado

A Tornado is a spinning column of dust and debris accompanied by wind and rain, the tornado knocks down trees and leaves a trail of flooded ground, it is also accompanied by lightning in the top of the storm.

The Weather Radar predicts strong thunderstorms and tornadoes. It provides early warning and approximate location. One Weather Radar building is sufficient to cover the entire city. Its forecast advanced warning time depends on the "Emergency Services" budget.

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  Disaster: Tornado

Earthquake

Earthquakes shake the ground and terrain levels change. They often destroy roads and buildings leading to an extensive rebuild. Underground infrastructure such as water pipes, metro/train/road tunnels can also be destroyed. Earthquakes may cause structure fires. In higher intensity quakes, buildings may collapse even away from the epicenter and ground deformations.

The player can build "Earthquake Sensors" to provide early warning of earthquakes and sinkholes. These buildings have a range, which is dependent on the "Emergency Services" budget, therefore multiple sensors may be required to cover a large city.

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  Disaster: Earthquake

Sinkhole

A sinkhole creates a hollow in the ground which can cause collapse of buildings and roads. Underground infrastructure such as water pipes, metro/train/road tunnels can also be destroyed.

The player can build "Earthquake Sensors" to provide early warning of earthquakes and sinkholes. These buildings have a range, which is dependent on the "Emergency Services" budget, therefore multiple sensors may be required to cover a large city.

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  Disaster: Sinkhole

Thunderstorm

Thunderstorms bring wind and rain along with lightning strikes which can do damage to the electrical grid by destroying power lines and towers. Lightning strikes may start forest fires or structure fires.

The Weather Radar predicts strong thunderstorms and tornadoes. It provides early warning and approximate location. One Weather Radar building is sufficient to cover the entire city. Its forecast advanced warning time depends on the "Emergency Services" budget.

Use of the Lightning Rods policy lowers the likelihood of buildings catching fire during a thunderstorm.

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  Disaster: Thunderstorm

Forest fire

Forest fires are a conflagration in the trees which expands outwards from the source and can burn down buildings. The city can be protected by removing nearby trees with the bulldozer tool. Burning trees cannot be bulldozed. An announcement about a forest fire will not occur until Cims can see the fire, by which point it is dangerously close to city structures.

The use of "Firewatch Towers" can provide early warnings of approaching fires. A "Fire Helicopter Depot" is required to dispatch firefighting helicopters to extinguish the flames. Each depot supports three helicopters which have to dip their buckets into a water source (river/lake/sea) to fill them before traveling to the location of the fire.

Trees "grow back" after being burned.

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  Disaster: Forest Fire

Spreading fire can be disabled by the player.

Collapse

A building in the city falls down and people may be trapped inside.

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  Disaster: Collapse

Fire

A fire that spreads from building to building.

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  Disaster: Fire

Spreading fire can be disabled by the player.

Tsunami

A tsunami is a wall of water that floods the local area, which may wash vehicles off the roads. Some buildings may collapse due to the large volume of water striking them, and Underground Metro Stations are particularly vulnerable. The water may travel a significant distance inland depending on the geography and size of tsunami.

If the flooding persists, buildings will become abandoned. Flood water may cause many other problems in the city, such as blocked roads/rails delaying or stopping the transportation of goods and citizens. Services such as healthcare, death care, police, fire, and garbage collection can all be reduced by blocked roads, flooded or collapsed service buildings. Water, sewer and power can be disrupted as well due to flooding.

Polluted water that is washed into the city will leave pollution behind for awhile. Any polluted pools of water in low lying areas will remain polluted.

The "Tsunami Warning Buoy" monitors the water level for changes indicating a tsunami is approaching. The sensitivity is dependent on the "Emergency Services" budget, and it decreases below 100% funding, but does not increase above 100% funding. Buoys must be placed in the water within the city limits, which affects the warning time given. A keen eye may spot an incoming tsunami well outside the city limits long before the buoy is able to detect it.

Building away from bodies of water, especially on higher ground can reduce or eliminate the threat posed by Tsunamis. Also, using the Landscaping Tools, the player can build dykes/levees/ditches that may prevent the water from entering the city. Strategically placed flood walls, decorative cliffs, and canals may also help to keep water out of the city, however larger tsunamis may go right over them.

The "Pumping Service" can send out trucks to vacuum up the water and return to the "Pumping Service" building to dispose of the water, which leaves the building via the sewer service. Ensure the sewer service is not disabled by the tsunami.

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  Disaster: Tsunami

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  Disaster: Tsunami further inland

Meteor

The meteor strike is a ball of flaming rock from the sky that devastates a large area and touches off several fires. Underground infrastructure such as water pipes, metro/train/road tunnels can also be destroyed.

The "Deep Space Radar" increases the warning time the city receives when an approaching meteor is detected, and it can also show the approximate impact area. This allows for improved evacuations to shelters if they are available. One radar building is sufficient to cover the entire city. The warning time is dependent on the "Emergency Services" budget. It does not increase above 100% funding, but does decrease with lower than 100% funding.

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  Incoming Meteor

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  Meteorite Impact

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  Meteorite Crater

Cascading disasters

It is possible for one disaster to lead to another and the gallery below shows a meteor striking water and causing a tsunami.

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Player Spawned Disasters

The player may create a disaster of their choosing to occur in the city. These are selected from the "Disasters" tab within the "Landscaping and Disasters" menu. A slider will appear to allow the player to adjust the intensity of the disaster if applicable. ("Collapse" does not have varying intensities.) A crosshair will appear to allow the player to place the disaster in the desired location. Note that some disasters cover large areas, and tsunamis have no location, so the location is not particularly important in that case. Each disaster has a cool down period before another of the same disaster can be placed. The delay time for the cool down differs between the disasters.

Disabling fire spreading

Disable Fire Spreading is a setting that is available in the OPTIONS/GAMEPLAY menu.

This applies to all kinds of fires from forest fires to building fires. When this option is turned on, it prevents large scale forest fires by not allowing fire to spread from one tree to another. It also prevents fire from spreading from trees to buildings and from buildings to buildings and so on. However, if the player turns on random disasters, this option is disabled. Also, setting random disaster probability to more than zero or playing a scenario turns the option off.

The fire behavior update also brings change to how fire behaves with Parklife and Campus buildings placed on paths. Normally these buildings can catch on fire only if they are placed on roadside. However, buildings placed alongside paths can also catch fire if the player has Natural Disasters installed and has unlocked helicopters and has turned random disasters on or is playing a scenario.

See Also

• See Natural Disasters for the DLC information page.
• See Disaster Services for the buildings and vehicles that respond to disasters and give early warnings.
• See Landscaping and Disasters for in-game disaster controls.