#68- 16 Phrasal Verbs, Idioms & Slang Words all about Weather & Natural Disasters

Welcome to episode #68 of The Real Life English with Gabby. In this episode, we dive into the language of natural disasters and explore 16 essential phrasal verbs, slang words and idioms, such as ride out the storm, make landfall, wipe out, and blow over. You’ll hear real-life examples, clear explanations, and tips on how to use these expressions in everyday conversations—not just when talking about the weather. This episode is perfect for English learners who want to expand their vocabulary, boost their confidence, and sound more natural when discussing challenges, emergencies, or even everyday difficulties.

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• Definitions and example sentences
• The full transcript
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Transcript

[00:00:00] On this episode of The Real Life English with Gabby Podcast, I'll be teaching you 16 phrasal verbs, slang words, and idioms about weather and natural disasters. You'll be learning vocabulary like wipe out, sweep through, die down, ravage, and more. Let's get to it.

Hey there. Welcome to The Real Life English with Gabby Podcast. I'm your host Gabby, your fun and friendly English teacher from the one and only New York City. My goal is to teach you phrasal verbs, idioms, and slang that will help you speak English confidently and understand real American conversations.

Are you ready to improve your English skills? Let's jump right in.

Hey, hey, hey. Greetings from New York City! Here in New York City, we are happily enjoying the fall weather and activities. If you [00:01:00] love the fall season, definitely check out episode 67, the previous episode, because it's all about fall and what it's like to spend fall in the USA. I definitely suggest you check it out after this episode if you haven't already.

In this episode, we are diving into a really important and very real part of American life: natural disasters. Now, I know that might seem a little heavy at first, but here's the thing— in the U.S., natural disasters are something that we grow up being very aware of. Whether it's hurricanes near me on the East Coast, tornadoes in the Midwest, wildfires in the West, or blizzards up north, every region of the U.S. has its own specific, crazy natural disaster [00:02:00] that happens regularly. Some regions get more than one type of natural disaster. In fact, most regions do every single year. Here in the U.S., we have to worry about extreme weather and natural disasters. It happens to all of us at some point.

We talked a little bit about this in the survival lesson, but I wanted to do a lesson that was specifically talking about weather and natural disasters, because of how common it is here. You'll notice that Americans are often very prepared, as you've heard in previous episodes. We practice safety drills constantly for hurricanes, tornadoes, school shootings, for example. We stock up on emergency supplies, meaning that we all have extra water, canned food, flashlights, radios, things like that. We also have plans. A lot of us have [00:03:00] escape plans or survival plans—evacuation plans. Every city has a plan. If there's a hurricane or tornado, we have specific routes that we would have to take when leaving that city. This is just a very normal part of our culture.

Since it's a part of our regular life, it shows up in lots of conversations. I actually decided to look up the numbers—you know me, you know I love to present research and evidence. Currently, in the U.S. in 2025, up until now, we've had almost 200 tornadoes, wildfires, blizzards, fatal floods that have killed hundreds, and various other small disasters.

And actually, this is the first time that no hurricanes have made landfall in a really long time. We currently have hurricanes that are potentially hitting us, but this is the longest that we've gone in [00:04:00] a year without having a hurricane hit us. Last year at this time, we had already had five. It's actually hurricane season right now—from August until November—but August and September are the worst months for hurricanes.

Hundreds of Americans have died, like I said, from these disasters so far. Right now we're in the middle of hurricane season, and we're hoping that it stays this calm. Here in New York City specifically, the most common natural disasters for us are snowstorms, blizzards, regular storms, and flooding.

We have these pretty often. Blizzards are actually just extreme snowstorms. We also call them nor'easters when storms and wind come from the northeast. We have these pretty often. Every year we have at least one of these things, sometimes multiple at times. They cause death and destruction, and at other times they cause [00:05:00] blackouts. They destroy homes and more.

So as you can see, natural disasters are unfortunately a part of our normal life. It's a very popular conversation point for us. And because of this, there are a lot of phrasal verbs, slang, and idioms about this topic. So in this episode, I want to help you not only build up your vocabulary as usual, but I also want you to understand a really important part of American culture.

Before I share with you the words that you'll be learning in this episode, I just want to remind you that there's a free study guide waiting for you to help you practice everything you learn. The study guide has practice activities, transcript, definitions, example sentences, and more. To get it, click the link in the episode description.

Okay, let me share the 16 phrasal verbs, [00:06:00] slang words, and idioms that you'll be learning in this episode: get rained out, make landfall, come rain or shine, break out, blow down, touch down, go up in flames, sweep through, devastation, wash away, wipe out, ride out the storm, hold out, die down, blow over, and ravage.

Now I'm going to read you a story that I created that has all of the vocabulary in real-life contexts. As you listen, try and use context clues to see if you can figure out the meanings of the vocabulary. If you can't, it's no problem. After I finish the story, we're going to talk about all of the words, the definitions, and I'm going to give you new context for each vocabulary word or [00:07:00] expression. Alright, let's get started.

Last summer, I had a crazy experience at my town's annual food festival. Every year we celebrate the start of fall season in early September by having this large festival. Unfortunately, this time of year is storm season here in my area in the U.S. Usually we get lucky with beautiful weather, since hurricanes aren't that common here, but every once in a while we get heavy rain and because of this we are rained out and have to postpone the festival due to the weather.

Last year though, something absolutely crazy happened that no one could have predicted. The week before the festival, there was a hurricane that was [00:08:00] forecasted to hit our town. Since we're located right by the coast, it was expected to be pretty bad. Closer and closer to the festival, though, the hurricane seemed to be moving away from us and was no longer expected to make landfall. We were all very happy about this, and the mayor decided not to cancel the festival.

In fact, he said, “We'll have this festival come rain or shine.” Well, the day of the festival came, and in the morning the weather was amazing. It was cloudy, but it was still nice weather. However, as the day went on, we started noticing that the sky was getting darker and darker. Apparently, the hurricane had turned at the last minute, and even though it wouldn't hit us [00:09:00] directly, it would bring rain to our area. So we started to rush to clean up so that we could end the festival early. None of us wanted to get stuck in the rain, but around five o'clock that evening, earlier than expected, a storm broke out.

There was thunder, lightning, and high winds. The wind got so strong that it even blew down some trees. All of a sudden, an emergency alert went off on our phones that a tornado was in the area. We needed to take shelter immediately, and we had less than five minutes to do so. Everyone ran to find shelter. When the tornado finally touched down, the winds were terrifying. Things began to fly everywhere and [00:10:00] some power lines fell. The sparks from the power line caused a few surrounding trees to go up in flames.

The tornado swept through the town, leaving devastation everywhere. Streets were flooded, houses were destroyed, and cars were washed away by the storm. For many families, it seemed like the disaster might wipe out everything they owned, but everyone tried to stay calm and tried to stay strong.

Many of the townspeople rode out the storm together in their homes or local businesses. Many of us managed to hold out until the worst was over, and the storm passed. By the next day, the skies cleared and the danger started to blow over. Even though the storm had ravaged parts of the town, we [00:11:00] didn't lose hope. We all worked side by side, rebuilding our homes and businesses, cleaning the streets, and supporting one another. We truly were a team.

One difficult night caused a few difficult months of rebuilding and recovering. For this reason, this year's festival is going to be special. It's a reminder not of the bad things that happened last year, but of how strength and unity helped my community get through a very difficult time.

The end.

Now let's talk about what all of the vocabulary means and look at some examples in real-life contexts.

First up, we have get rained out. Rain out on its own and get rained out together both mean when an event is canceled or postponed because of rain. So if [00:12:00] it rains and we need to change an event, we say we got rained out. For example: unfortunately, the baseball game was rained out after the heavy downpour. In case you have not listened to the episode that I made last year about the spring, a downpour is extremely heavy rain. It's like the sky is pouring water down.

Next up, we have the expression make landfall. To make landfall is when a storm or hurricane reaches land from the sea. Hurricanes form over water, so there are a lot of hurricanes that are over the ocean. And then, when they actually hit land, this is what we say—we say it made landfall. For example: the hurricane made landfall near my city last night.

Next up, we have come rain or shine. Come rain or shine is an [00:13:00] expression, and it means that no matter what happens, in any situation, we are not canceling.

Maybe someone sends an invitation and they say, “Party is December 5th, come rain or shine.” That means that this event is going on no matter what happens in any type of situation. For example: they're still having the concert in Central Park come rain or shine.

Next up, we have the phrasal verb break out. Now, remember that phrasal verbs usually have more than one meaning. Some phrasal verbs can have like 10, 11, or 12 different meanings depending on the context. So when you see a phrasal verb, it's important to look at the context in order to figure it out.

So we have break out. In this context, break out is when something starts suddenly. So we say: a fire broke out, a war broke out, [00:14:00] disease broke out, virus broke out across the country. We can also say, when we are at a movie theater or watching a performance, they broke out in applause—like clapping. They started clapping and celebrating. For example: a fire broke out in the old warehouse during the night.

Next up, we have another phrasal verb: blow down. Blow down is when strong winds knock something over. For example: the strong winds blew down several power lines in the neighborhood. Power lines, by the way, are wires and poles that carry electricity from one place to another. In some parts of the U.S., power lines are outside on the streets. In other parts of the U.S., power lines are below the ground.

Next up, we have [00:15:00] touch down. Now, if you are an American football fan, we have touchdowns, and this is when they score. This is not that touch down. In the context of weather and natural disasters, it’s when a tornado reaches the ground. We can also say this when an aircraft reaches the ground. So if you're in an airplane and it's landing, we say: the plane touched down at 9:00 PM. But in the context of this reading, we said the tornado touched down. For example: the tornado touched down right outside of town.

Next, we have the expression go up in flames. This means to be destroyed by fire. For example: the abandoned house went up in flames after the lightning struck it. Now this is also used as an idiom that means to fail suddenly. [00:16:00] For example: all of my plans went up in flames.

Next up, we have another phrasal verb: sweep through. To sweep through is when something moves quickly and powerfully across an area. For example: the wildfire swept through the forest in just a few hours.

Next up, we have the word devastation. This is a pretty high-level word. It means great destruction or damage—a lot of things are destroyed. We typically use devastation with natural disasters. This comes from the word devastated. Devastation, however, is a noun. Devastated is when someone is extremely sad, like: she was devastated. This is an adjective. Here, devastation is the noun. For [00:17:00] example: the earthquake left mass devastation across the city. In this context, the word mass means a lot, or significant, or even a word like widespread. Mass devastation = a lot of destruction, a lot of damage.

Next up, we have another phrasal verb: wash away. Wash away is when something is carried away, cleared, or destroyed by water specifically. For example: the floodwaters washed away the bridge entirely.

Next up, we have the phrasal verb wipe out. This is to completely destroy or remove something. For example: the tsunami wiped out several villages along the coast. So wash away is [00:18:00] similar to wipe out. The difference is that wash away is specifically with water. Wipe out can actually be anything—it could be a car striking a building and wiping it out. It could be wind. It is typically water, but it could be anything. We can also use this in a context of war, like one country wiped out another country. For example: the tsunami wiped out several villages along the coast.

In case you don't know what the coast is, by the way—I’ve used it a few times so far. The coast is right by the ocean; it's where the land meets the water. So if you live along the coast or by the coast, it just means you live near the water.

Next up, we have the expression ride out the storm. Ride out is a phrasal verb, but it's combined with the storm in order to [00:19:00] make this expression. This means to survive or endure a difficult situation. You might also hear people saying, “ride out this difficult time,” but we typically say ride out the storm. For example: the villagers stayed in the shelter to ride out the storm safely.

Next up, we have hold out. This is a phrasal verb. Hold out means to survive, to resist, to continue in a difficult condition. You don't quit—you keep trying to survive and fight. For example: the small town held out until help finally arrived.

We actually use hold out to mean less severe things day to day. Like if I'm really hungry, I'll say to my friend, “Hey, I'm hungry, but I can hold out until dinner.” Meaning I'm hungry, but I don't need to eat—I can continue until later.

Next up, we [00:20:00] have the phrasal verb die down. Die down is when noise, wind, or a storm becomes less intense. It's kind of like calm down. For example: the hurricane finally began to die down by early morning.

Next up, we have another phrasal verb: blow over. Blow over in this context is when a storm finally passes. Sometimes it means that it can pass without doing much harm to people, but typically it just means when something is over. We also use this when we're talking about arguments, conflict, or trouble. For example: their argument is going to blow over.

An example of blow over is: thankfully, the storm blew over in just a few hours.

And lastly, we have the word [00:21:00] ravage. Ravage is a verb and it's a very high-level word. Make sure you pronounce it ravage. It looks like you could say rav-age, but it's not rav-age. This means to cause severe damage or destruction. For example: wildfires ravaged the forest last summer. It completely destroyed and damaged it.

All right, I'm so proud of you. You have just learned 16 really popular vocabulary words and expressions, and knowing these words will help you feel more confident when you have discussions with native speakers, when you watch American media, and when you read American books or articles. It'll really help you to build confidence and build your vocabulary.

But remember something—hearing it is [00:22:00] only the first step. Listening to this podcast is step one. You really want to make sure that you're practicing what you hear. And this is why every episode, not only do I make a study guide, but I also challenge you to use these words.

So your homework for today, step one, is to download the study guide. Step two is to pick about six or seven words from the episode and try to use them today or tomorrow. Have a conversation with someone about natural disasters that happen in your part of the world. Write it down in a journal. Send a text to a friend. Record yourself creating sentences on your phone in the Voice Notes app. There are a lot of different ways that you can practice these words outside of a classroom, so don't forget to do your homework.

Well, that's [00:23:00] a wrap for today's episode of The Real Life English with Gabby Podcast. Be sure to download today's study guide so that you can learn how to use this vocabulary confidently. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe for more weekly adventures in English learning. Also, I'd love to hear from you, so please leave me a review.

Thanks so much for tuning in.