Eye of the Storm: A Guide to Hurricane Preparedness for Businesses

There’s never any way to fully know anything about hurricane season or upcoming hurricanes in advanced. But experts are predicting the Atlantic hurricane season will last between June 1 and November 30.

Even though AccuWeather isn’t predicting any major storms in 2019, we often don’t know of devastating hurricanes until they form.

This is why your business needs to prepare for a hurricane. While this is essential for Florida-based businesses, it’s important to remember that Hurricane Florence damaged the Carolinas in 2018.

If your business is based anywhere near the Atlantic, developing a hurricane plan will prevent major losses.

Read this hurricane preparedness for businesses guide.

Set Up Disaster Recovery

You never know what a major storm will damage and which systems will be compromised.

That’s why a disaster recovery plan is crucial. This can include all major areas of your business — communications, equipment, HR information, payroll, and even individual software.

Back Up Your Data

All businesses rely on crucial data for their day-to-day business regimen. To ensure you can get your business up and running after the hurricane, back up your data.

If you haven’t invested in the cloud yet, do so now. Invest in a couple of external hard drives and keep them in safe places.

Safeguard Your Documents

Your electronic data isn’t the only information you need to protect. Your important physical documents can easily get ruined during a hurricane, especially if your business floods.

If you haven’t scanned your documents yet, do so immediately. Make different copies of these documents and hide them in different, safe places.

Create an Emergency Checklist

While weather experts have tentative dates and routing for a hurricane, this is always unpredictable. What if the storms take a turn and hit your town? What if you experienced unexpected storm surges?

In case a hurricane hits during business hours, create an emergency checklist for you and your staff. Even if the hurricane isn’t expected to hit your town, do the tasks mentioned previously.

Then, create an evacuation plan in case the storms get too intense. Identify emergency exits, methods of transportation during flooding, and keep protective gear such as life vests.

Always keep contact information for hurricane support help, your insurance, and other important emergency contacts.

Even if you don’t have to evacuate, prepare your business in case you lose power.

Your checklist should also include actions to take after the storm. This can include cleanup or emergency assistance.

Hurricane Preparedness for Businesses: Is Your Business Ready?

From devising a checklist to recovering your essential business items, there are many duties your business must take during a hurricane.

Hopefully, this hurricane preparedness for businesses guide can help you revive normal business functions after a hurricane.

Another important factor to include in your plan is having a disaster recovery team at your side.

These teams can help with vital functions such as emergency response, restoration, water damage assistance, and other hurricane-specific duties.

We have multiple locations around the country, including Orlando and Tampa. Take a look at our services to see how we can help.

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