Except for cops, medical personnel, and the power company, the city pretty much shuts down DURING a hurricane. And that has to be pretty much a direct hit which does not happen all that often. For stronger hurricanes even the cops and energy company shut down for the worst of it. Can't get anywhere - trees and power lines will be down across roads. Not many people are going to be biking when a hurricane hits, so no special bike required. Local officials are going to be BEGGING people to stay put. If you get hurt out there somehow, you are on your own until the storm passes and debris gets cleared.

As far as a major flood event like Katrina happening again, that is unlikely. At least for now until sea levels rise as is being predicted for 30 years down the road. The city actually survived Katrina. Defective levees that were built improperly and not inspected properly (by the Army Corps of Engineers) failed the NEXT DAY due to high water pushing on the floodwalls with big waves at a perfect angle. The 9th ward being the exception. They got flooded during the storm as they are closer to the Gulf outlet canal. For the past eight years the levees have been fixed, improved, and extended. Correctly we hope. New and bigger pumping stations have been constructed and are still being built one by one. So as far as property damage due to levees breaking again, we all feel pretty sure that we are in much better shape.

How do people handle it? Depends on lots of factors. My wife and I just pack up her car and get out. It's like a bull fighter dodging the bull. We just "step out of the way" of the storm as we move to the west. Hurricanes are strongest at the center and the NE quadrant. So we go to the weak side. Stay with friends, or a hotel somewhere. Some of my friends go camping up north. Some live in their cars at various rest stops, truck stops etc. Others stay in NOLA and go to a shelter if their house is not sturdy or often floods when it rains hard. Shelters area a crowded mess but at least you won't get cut off from help if you got sick or have special needs. Many people just stay home and tough it out with no power or a generator, extra food and water. There is a new evacuation program to help people get out of town on buses. It's been tested once and was not the nightmare I thought it would be. If you have pets, they go on a different bus. So if you are car-free, this is one option. We leave town to save my wife's car because our street floods. Our house is raised enough off of the ground but the car is exposed. We don't go back home until the power grid is back up.

In short, we rarely get clobbered. You have time to prepare or get out. It does give us something to worry about all Summer and Fall. There is almost always a storm brewing somewhere between Africa and NOLA to keep an eye on. And they are hard to predict EXACTLY where they are going sometimes. So mostly it's worry for nothing, but we still get stress at some level even when the danged things don't come near us in the end.

Hurricanes, in my opinion, are the safest natural disasters. Tornadoes, earthquakes, fires, tsunamis, and volcanoes, all strike without much advance warning - maybe while you are asleep. And blizzards hit up north one after the other after the other all winter. You can't just pick up and leave every time. I think we leave town to avoid a hurricane once every three or four years - usually for two or three days. Not too bad.

Hope this helps.