Lyft just illustrated how it will respond in the middle of a crisis. The company has introduced a Disaster Relief Access Program that promises support for people in affected areas. In situations when the roads are safe, the ridesharing firm will typically hand out free codes both through its own social network avenues as well as local news outlets, non-profits and Facebook's Crisis Response Hub. It'll also honor emergency declarations that affect road closures and pricing, including caps on Prime Time (read: surge pricing).

The company also promises to offer transportation help to first responders and volunteers. It'll steer customers toward valuable resources as well, such as Airbnb Open Homes, United Way 211 info and shelter locations.

The disaster plan is part of Lyft's larger City Works strategy aiming to support the community at large. While there's clearly a public relations angle to all of it, this latest program could be particularly vital. If there's a disaster, you don't want to guess where help will come from. This could help you plan a retreat to safety, and make it clear when you'll have to look for alternatives.

The volume of water dispensed on US soil by Hurricane Harvey was so vast it caused the Earth’s crust to give way and sink under the weight.

Around 33 trillion gallons of water was left behind by the hurricane — four times the amount left by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The flooding added around 275 trillion pounds of weight to the landmass of the southern US region, according to calculations by https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/09/hurricane-harvey-deformed-the-earths-crust-around-houston/538866/" data-vars-event-id="c6">The Atlantic.

Chris Milliner, a geoscientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, says this caused the Earth’s crust to warp and sink by two centimetres.

He tweeted a map of Houston, Texas, the worst affected area hit by flooding, which shows the phenomenon.

GPS data collected from stations around the city detected the area had been depressed under the weight of the extreme floods caused by Harvey.

Although it is possible some of the subsidence around Houston is the result of soil compacting, some of the measurements were taken from stations situated on bedrock, which shows the Earth’s crust did give way.

In addition, it is possible the Earth’s crust around Houston will gradually spring back to its original position over time, but this is not certain.