CrimsonEclipse

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FarHorizon

Immediately after storms, I always do my daily ride anyway. I wear a hard hat instead of a cycle helmet, and carry my bike over obstacles such as downed trees. Other than taking longer to do my circuit, there's not much difference - I can see downed power lines and avoid them, and any really unstable areas I can bypass.

I get a good feel for the amount of damage in my area this way, and can usually see where any major problems are. If anyone needs help, I'm available, and if my cell phone works, I can call emergency response when needed.

In the week or two after the storm (during clean up), I avoid the gasoline lines entirely by commuting via bike. Although bike lanes are the last to be cleared, I can usually make some progress with hand tools that I can carry on the bike. A basket, bag, backpack, or pannier provides shopping means, and I often can shop for neighbors who can't get out of the subdivision in their cars.

Bikes are REALLY handy after disasters!

Sonic_Molson

wow, i wish i had hurricans here in canada - sounds like a fun ride filled with natural obstacles.

madman91

i live in the midwest... our biggest natural storm/disaster is a fire and the last one we had was a while ago (the great chicago fire )

but wow that must be really weird... are jobs and school canceled?

FarHorizon

Kind of like cyclocross in the wind and rain! Not that I mean to be flip - hurricanes (as we've recently seen) can be disasterous. My past two months have been spent in hurricane relief efforts... On the other hand, bicycles are often VERY useful after the blow when cars sometimes aren't.

FarHorizon

Depends on where you were and how hard the storm blew. In the past, only a couple of days off from work & school. With the flooding in New Orleans, though, lots of people lost everything (up to, and sometimes including, their lives). Some schools and jobs will NEVER come back. About the same effect (on property) as if a nuke were set off in a major city - total disaster for lots of areas and lots of people.

I've been stuck on the premesis of a chemical plant for a few days in the past as storms blew through (part of my job, at the time). Once you get somewhere before the storm hits, there's no moving for the duration of the storm (usually a day or two) and often no moving for days afterwards as flooding and downed trees must be dealt with.

I've been without electricity for up to two and a half weeks after hurricanes. Fortuantely, I've never lost water pressure or natural gas pressure (as they did in N.O. this time).

Conundrum

Katrina being my 5th category 2 or higher in my home town I can tell you from experience that every single thing about a hurricane completely sucks - there are no ands, ifs or buts. The power of them is awesome, the weather is cool to see, but it really sucks!!