Mundane scorched earth

[lvgreen]

@Carologus

As mentioned already, William I of England’s Harrying of the North was expressly punitive and deliberately destructive. The worst affected areas were depopulated to the extent that the Domesday Book of almost 20 years later recorded many areas as wasteland (‘wasta’). In general, conquerors usually had an eye to the future value of the land, so deliberate destruction beyond a certain point was rare.
A hungry or enraged dragon could probably approach such a level of destruction if suitably motivated, but in such a case depth of destruction would be less of a factor than sheer terror of such an unstoppable predator. However, depopulation would still be a likely outcome; Tolkien referred to “The Desolation of the Dragon” with good reason.

Meaning the legend of New England/Nova Anglia had a factual basis.
So in the case of scorched earth/harrying activities, the survivors run as far, far away as they can.