Scooternado
The city of Miami officially called for shared electric scooters to be removed from the streets on Thursday. And pronto — all scooters need to disappear by noon, Friday. That’s because Category 3 hurricane Dorian, referred to as “a monster storm” by CNN, is destined to make landfall any time now.
For the uninitiated, Category 3 hurricanes are, in a word, massive. All of Florida was put under a state of emergency earlier this week. “It’s going to impact the entirety of Florida, and residents need to be prepared,” Acting FEMA Administrator Pete Gaynor said Friday morning on CNN’s “New Day.”
So a massive whirlwind of 45-pound Lime scooters whizzing through the air as Floridians are looking for shelter wouldn’t necessarily be helpful. Ken Russell, Miami’s City Commissioner of District 2, called it a potential “scooternado” in a Thursday tweet.
If Scooters Could Fly
Lime obliged to the request, and pulled its bicycles from major cities across Florida. The scooter sharing company has about 1500 e-scooters spread out across those cities, according to The Verge. Lyft claimed it will remove its hundreds of scooters from Miami’s streets and secure them by the city’s deadline, as CNET reported.
This isn’t the first time a potential scooter hurricane held cities in Florida hostage. In 2017, Hurricane Irma caused Lime to pull its bike fleet from throughout the Sunshine State.
READ MORE: Miami calls for removal of electric scooters before Hurricane Dorian arrives [CNET]
More on e-scooters: Hackers Can Access Your Electric Scooter While You’re Riding It