Typhoon on Nanikore

Typhoon Times and Motorcycles

Tue, 24 Dec 2019 03:38:39 +0000

First up:

Typhoons 15 (‘Faxai’) to 19 (‘Hagibis ‘) swept through a decent chunk of Japan and especially our region this year, resulting in dangerously high winds and dumping a whole lot of water over the place for several weeks in a row, in a typhoon season seemingly later and stronger than previous years. Not only did this lead to a lot of damage, flooding and power outages, sadly this also resulted in quite a lot of loss of life, so this post is quite far down the list of things to think about during a typhoon - stay safe, have an emergency kit handy and know your evacuation points!

On to the Motorcycle Part

I don’t have a garage or any other enclosed area, so my bike has to rough it outside albeit on concrete and with a nice Nelson-Rigg cover to keep most of the elements off it. Over the years, I’ve come up with some tips for keeping the bike upright in a bad storm.

The main thing is to know your prevailing wind. I know which way weather (mostly) works near me, and pretty much all typhoons and storms channel down the street from west to east. Because of this, I park my bike up close and parallel to my garden wall, and lean it away from the wall on the side-stand, into the wind. The reason I don’t lean it the other way is that powerful gusts can push it over its centre balance point, on over to it’s side - this way it’s pushing it onto the centre stand and if there’s a sudden change of direction, the wall should brace it (I’ve never seen this happen in 10years). When I first moved here and knew nothing, I left my bike out side on to the wind and it was blown over twice - the second time bending the handlbars.

I don’t use the centre stand - I want 3 solid contacts to the ground and keep it lower, not higher. I know some people who do use the centre-stand, I just don’t think it’s a good idea for me.

Next, I have a heavy duty ratchet strap which goes over the seat, under the bike and around our post box post which goes a way down into concrete. I then ratchet that tight. I used to use rope, but unless you’ve got the good stuff it gets loose and slips over the bike bodywork, so isn’t as effective.

Next, I reverse my car right up close to it, to act as a wind spoiler. You can probably do this one by itself as a massive benefit. Beware of odd vortices if you park the bike directly behind the car, out in the wind.

Other tips:

Leave the bike in gear. That’s not going to hurt and prevents it rolling.
I know some friends who also ziptie the front break on.
Place a brick or block behind the wheels. This can help prevent rolling too.

A big topic of conversation is whether or not you should remove the cover. I think when you know it’ll be a very windy one, it doesn’t hurt to remove the cover, and worst case it’ll need a dry and clean in the morning. If you want to leave it on, you’ll want to tie it tight to the bike with rope to stop it bellowing and behaving too much like a sail.

The other option is finding temporary shelter for it. Around us there’s a metal structure carpark for a local pachinko place. I’ve heard some people take their bikes there and tie them to the steel frame. Some other friends chipped in for a storage container between them - not a bad solution if you can find a decent price for 24-48 hour storage. Other people park in sheltered multi-story car parks. On typhoon 19 I decided it was a good time to get my bike yearly check done, or perhaps you need an oil change.

Be a Good Neighbour

Remember, prior to a typhoon, to secure or move inside anything which could blow away, as it’s a mutually beneficial act - the things which get blown away from your house/apartment balcony are the things which hit other houses/apartments, so if everyone does this, additional damage can be minimised.

(The image at the top of this post is my old Honda after it got blown over and bent the handlebar to almost 90 degrees.)

Two Earthquakes and a Typhoon

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 22:18:48 +0000

They say things come in threes; or you lose things in threes; or both, I forget which. So after a fairly long and welcome break from larger earthquakes, we got hit with two in three days in the middle. The temblors came in at 6.4 and 6.9 at source respectively, which were quite significant really, with shockwaves around us in eastern Kanagawa going well above 4.

It was also the first time for us to be in our new house in an earthquake, and I have to say (crossing fingers and so on) that it wasn’t too bad. I think some of that sense was knowing I only had one floor and a roof above me to potentially collapse, rather than the thirty floors of concrete - and eleven below - that we had in the old rented apartment. Also the doors are a lot closer.

Anyway we made it through all three events OK but sadly some people did die around the country and quite a lot of people were injured.

Here’s to hoping that has at least, relieved some pressure on the fault lines.

Typhoon Tokage

Tue, 19 Oct 2004 01:10:19 +0000

It’s raining outside. Again. It seems to spend most of it’s time raining. Sorry to go on and on either about the weather or funky apps for your computer, but the fact is, it’s raining. This seems to be the small front end of the latest typhoon - [Tokage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Tokage_(2004%29). Tropical Storm Risk (based in the U.K. of all places) have a good plot of it’s estimated course here.

As I’ve mentioned before, this year seems to have been a very active year for typhoons, and I’m kind of hoping that this is the last one. Reuters have claimed that the storms have claimed 78 lives this year, mainly people by the coast. Let’s hope this one doesn’t take any more.

Rain, Waves and Shakers

Thu, 16 Sep 2004 10:01:01 +0000

Last week saw quite a few earth tremors here in Japan, and combining with the typhoons which also swept the country, resulted in dramatic footage on TV of whole roads sliding away and a lot of general discussion in the press (“more concrete!”). This year has been one of the most seizmically active years for a while, and hopefully this will be a good thing - easing tensions over many small quakes rather than in one huge shift. Coverage in Japan Today, CNN and IndoLink.

Another facet of quakes which tends not to get a lot of press, but which should be borne in mind with many earthquakes are tsunami (tidal waves). Asahi did a commentary on Japan’s preparedness for these here.

Typhoon Beach Party

Mon, 30 Aug 2004 14:22:07 +0000

It rained. It really rained.

As I mentioned a while ago, last Saturday was the Kamakura Beach Party. Unfortunately, a typhoon rolled into town and swept the beach. However, if anyone thinks this may have brought the whole thing to a standstill, they’d be wrong. The music played, the lights in the beach huts stayed on and the rum and cokes had just enough coke in them that you couldn’t taste it.

Let’s face it, if people are going to make their way down to the beach in a typhoon, they’re pretty serious about having a party, and that was definitely felt - the rain added to fun, as we dodged the leaks in the roof, and the bands made sure all their gear was dry. Over 150 people turned up, and I for one had a great time. Make-a-Wish Japan also made some money and when you can have a good time, and make some money for children so they can have a good time, then that’s a pretty decent day out in my opinion.

I can’t wait for next year, but maybe then, I’ll move out of that comfy deck chair I was in a little more often…