Warrior Cats | Guide And Extras

Natural Disasters

| Types of Disasters |

| Fire |

Fire is deadly to the Clans because of the wooded areas they live in. Even a small spark can lead to a raging forest fire which destroys all the flammable material in its path.

Dry spells can make a fire more of a possibility. ThunderClan especially has had much trouble with fires due to their territory being the most thickly wooded and the most prone to fires spreading quickly.

Yellowfang, Patchpelt, and Halftail were all killed in a forest fire back in Rising Storm. During a forest fire, many cats can die by breathing in too much smoke. They can also lead to prophecies and omens, such as the omen Cinderpelt predicted about Fire and Tiger.

| Storms |

Storms are quite common, but not all are dangerous. In extreme cases, they can cause other disasters. Heavy rain can cause flooding, and many forest fires are caused by lightning striking a tree and setting it on fire.

On rare occasions, large amounts of rain can erode the dirt from around a tree's roots, making it fall. Multiple storms or lengthy storms can lead to flooding. Flooding is mostly trouble to RiverClan because of the rivers surrounding their camp.

They are sometimes forced to move out of their camp to avoid the flood. There have also been occasions when cats have been indirectly killed by lightning.

| Flood |

Flooding is not unusual for the Clans in heavy rains, but RiverClan is most susceptible to it because of their habitat along the river.

Floods often occur in newleaf after the leaf-bare snow and ice has melted, causing the excess water to flow to the river and make the water level rise.

In some cases, RiverClan has been forced to relocate their camp temporarily due to flooding.

| Drought |

Sometimes in greenleaf the streams dry up from heat and lack of rain causing a drought. When this happens, it affects all the Clans, although sometimes RiverClan is better off because the river allows them a larger water source that does not often dry up completely.

This can be very dangerous for an entire Clan as water is essential to survival, and warriors have to pitch in and fetch water, using moss, for kits, queens, and elders, so that they do not die of dehydration.

| Snow and Freezing |

Snow is frozen water that falls from clouds and is very cold. During leaf-bare, temperatures are always lower than usual, and this can present several dangers.

Not only is it colder for the cats themselves, but it also causes scarcity of prey, and frost can kill herbs used by medicine cats, making them helpless to heal their Clanmates.

Freezing of the river is also dangerous to RiverClan because it makes them unable to catch fish, their primary food source. On rare occasions, a cat (especially a very young or very old cat) can freeze to death if outside in snowy, freezing temperatures (such as Mosskit).

| Falling Trees |

Falling trees are hazardous and can crush whatever they land on. Falling trees occur naturally in the forest due to old age, borers, erosion, floods or lightning strikes, but Twolegs sometimes chop them down.

In the New Prophecy Series, Twolegs chopped down the forest to build a new Thunderpath. One well-known example of a falling tree is in Fading Echoes, when a tree fell from its place after heavy rains. It killed Longtail and broke Briarlight's spine, leaving her crippled for life. It also damaged the ThunderClan camp and the nests had to be rebuilt.

| Other Disasters |

There are also other, less common natural occurrences that still present danger to the Clans. When the sun eclipses, it removes the Clans' only source of light, and leaves them barely able to see for a few minutes.

Also, in rocky areas such as the tunnels, ThunderClan's hollow, Sunningrocks, or theTribe of Rushing Water's mountains, rockfalls are possible and can crush a cat just as easily as a tree.