Surviving Hurricanes and other Natural Disasters

Photo by USFWS

Reading that another tropical storm is headed for the EastCoast made me think about how many businesses had to close because of HurricaneIrene.
How many of those same businesses will have to close again because offlooding from this latest storm?
How many people will be dealing with flooddamaged home?
How many people will have no income because theirworkplace is closed?

And it’s not just people on the East Coast that could looseincome because of weather-induced damage.

I grew up in the Midwestwhere tornado sirens are a part of life in the summer.

You see the sky turnslightly greenish and you go inside away from windows.

No big deal. It’s justpart of summer weather.

But this summer, a few days after the deadliest tornado in US history ripped through Joplin Missouri,we had a tornado warning that had the sirens blasting for 40 minutes straight.

The tornado sirens never blast that long!

After seeing the devastation inflicted only one state over,I admit, I didn’t react with my typical:

“Oh bother, a tornado warning.”

This time I huddled with the dogs in the corner of thebasement watching the angry red blotches on my WeatherBug app on my phone.

The photos from the Joplindisaster reminded me that just because you get used to weather warnings doesn’tmean they’re not real warnings.

As I sat there on the sofa pillow I’d throw on the hardbasement floor, I had a lot of time to think. One of the things I thought aboutwas the amount of unexpected damage that weather can cause. I’ve had heavymetal lawn furniture thrown around the yard and siding ripped off the house.But that’s minor and easily fixed.

What if the weather caused enough damage that you couldn’t live in your house AND the place where you worked was closed because of the damage?House insurance would cover the long process of fixing your house.

But whatabout your income being cut off at the same time?

This is yet another reason to consider creating at least aside income from the internet.

If you had a website that produced income or anebook that sold well online, then that part of your income would be safe fromthe weather damage. Even if you lost your computer, you could borrow one and goto a coffee shop that had Wi-Fi in the next town over.

While the place where your job is might get a sign on thedoor that said “closed due to storm damage”, your website would still beworking. So while you’re trying to deal with recovering from unexpected stormdamage, you would not be totally dependant on government disaster relief moneythat we all know is very slow to arrive. Instead you would have the income tohelp you and your loved ones make it through that unexpected experience.

That’s a pretty powerful reason to put effort into creatingan online business.

Don’t you agree?

If you’re wondering how to get started online, sign up at the top of this page for a free ebook and newsletter on creating an ebook and being an entrepreneur.