Hurricane Preparation For Business: Back-Up Plan Essentials

Hurricane preparation for business means protecting your operations from some of nature’s most dangerous storms. Hurricanes cause challenges that range from minor disruptions to major damages. It can be tough for businesses to bounce back quickly from such difficulties. 

The National Hurricane Center states that hurricane preparation for businesses is crucial to reduce damage and ensure rapid recovery. This involves:

• Creating a comprehensive plan 
• Securing assets 
• Backing up data
• Training staff for emergencies 

Advance measures are required to protect businesses from the impact of hurricanes.

In this article, we’ll walk you through several steps to protect your assets, employees, and continuity during a hurricane. With this information on your side, your business can weather any storm.

Hurricane Preparedness for Business: Risks and Strategies

Hurricanes pose great risks to businesses, threatening structures and inventory. It’s crucial for companies to understand these risks and put strategies in place to overcome them. 

Good preparation protects physical assets and business processes. With a plan in place, business can continue in the aftermath of a severe storm.

Take a look at our piece on hurricane recovery statistics for more insights into these damaging storms.

How do Hurricanes Affect Business?

Hurricanes affect businesses in several ways, which range from immediate to long-lasting repercussions. The most direct impact is physical damage to business premises. 

With high winds and heavy rainfall, hurricanes can cause:

• Damage to windows and doors
• Inventory destruction
• Interruption to utilities like water and electricity

Beyond the physical damage, hurricanes also disrupt routes and supply chains. Regardless of where your business is physically located, it can still be negatively impacted. Ports may close, and some roads can become impassable. This can delay the delivery of products and services.

Business interruptions from hurricanes can have an impact on directly affected businesses and those within their supply network. Directly affected businesses are likely to endure water damages and loss of profit. 

The extent of business damages caused by climate disasters is illustrated in the following table.

Damages Caused to Businesses by Extreme Weather 2018-2022 

Source: reuters.com

While these numbers account for extreme weather in general, a large chunk of losses was caused by hurricanes. These powerful storms are like a buffet of natural disasters. As such, hurricanes don’t just bring high winds and rain. Floods, tornadoes, and even mudslides are all on the menu.

The short list of damages hurricanes can cause to businesses includes the following calamities.

• Facility damage
• Loss of inventory and equipment
• Disruption of utilities (electricity, water, internet)
• Downed power lines
• Power outages
• Closure of shipping routes, docks, and airports
• Interruptions to supply chains and delivery schedules
• Potential loss of customers and revenue due to business downtime

These impacts show the importance of effective hurricane preparation. Without it, businesses lack safeguards to ensure continued service after a major hurricane.

Find detailed information about inventory protection during storms in this guide.

How to Prepare a Business for Hurricane Season

Preparing for a hurricane can be divided into short-term and long-term measures. Each plays a vital role in safeguarding businesses from hurricane damage.

First, let’s quickly clarify what differentiates hurricane warnings and watches.

• If a hurricane watch is issued, your area may be hit by a hurricane.
• Conversely, a warning means that your area is expected to be hit.

If the National Weather Service issues a hurricane watch or warning in an area of concern, have the following short-term strategies ready to use.

• Emergency Plan: Put an emergency response plan in place designed for hurricanes. This includes designating a response team and defining their roles. 
• Securing Assets: Protect any brick-and-mortar stores by boarding up windows and reinforcing structures.
• Data Backup and IT Protection: Ensure that all critical business data is backed up and IT systems are secured against outages.
• Communicating With Employees: Build clear lines of communication to inform personnel about the company’s responses.
• Preparing an Emergency Supply Kit for Business: Put a kit together with essentials like flashlights and first-aid supplies.

Short-term preparation, while helpful, works best in tandem with a long-term strategy for handling poor weather.

Before a hurricane threatens your business, these long-term steps are also helpful.

• Supply Chain Diversification: Map out alternate supply routes in case your regular routes are closed. Have backup suppliers ready if you can’t access your regular business supply chain during hurricane season.
• Comprehensive Insurance Coverage: Your business should be insured against hurricane-related damages. This includes traveling freight.
• Regular Training: Hold training sessions and drills for employees so they’re prepared for hurricane scenarios.
• Community and Government Coordination: Build relationships with local emergency services. Understand government resources and aid available during a hurricane.

These short-term and long-term measures can reduce the impact of hurricanes and let businesses quickly return to normal operations.

Preparing for a Hurricane: Business Continuity Planning

A continuity plan helps small business owners quickly resume operations after a hurricane. This plan should include strategies and procedures specifically designed to address the threat a hurricane poses. 

Here are the general steps that should be included in such a plan:

• Assess Risks: Identify the risks that hurricanes pose to your business. These include damage to the premises and loss of shipping lanes.
• Identify Critical Functions: Decide on the most important business functions and processes. Work to maintain these during and immediately after a hurricane. 
• Allocate Resources: Dedicate personnel and resources to implementing the continuity plan should a hurricane occur. 
• Emergency Response Team: Create an emergency response team with clearly defined roles and duties.
• Set Up Evacuation Routes: Make sure employees know the best way to exit the workplace during an emergency. This should include safe routes and assembly points.
• Protect Data: Protect vital business data with regular backups. Keep backups clearly labeled and off the power grid when not in use.
• Communicate with Suppliers and Customers: Establish communication plans to keep suppliers and customers informed before, during, and after a hurricane.
• Protect Your Assets: Protect your inventory and equipment. Consider reinforcing buildings and securing equipment and inventory.
• Training and Drills: Conduct drills to ensure employees are prepared when disaster strikes.

By including these steps in a business continuity plan, a company can be better prepared to face a hurricane. Although in most cases, there is significant advance warning, storms can often change direction unexpectedly. 

Keeping an updated plan in place, even if it seems you won’t be immediately impacted, is important. Potential damages will be minimized, ensuring a quick return to normal operations.

What Goes Into an Emergency Supply Kit for Businesses?

An emergency supply kit for businesses is an important part of hurricane preparedness. Items in this kit should include supplies that help maintain operations and ensure employee safety during and immediately after the storm. 

There are plenty of lists that include first-aid kits, flashlights, and batteries as essentials. As a business, these items will be helpful, but you’ll need more to push your business through the aftermath of a hurricane.

Hurricane Business Supply List

Businesses should consider larger items that can keep operations running in a post-hurricane environment. Emergency supply kits for businesses need to go beyond first aid.

Examples of emergency supplies for a business include:

• Gas or diesel generators and fuel
• Water pumps to treat flooded areas
• Heavy-duty tarps and pop-up tents
• Large-capacity battery packs
• Portable fans and A/Cs
• Emergency lighting systems
• Industrial plastic wrap to protect inventory
• Sandbags for flood defense
• Structural reinforcements such as plywood

These items should be part of a business’s emergency supply kit, ensuring the ability to respond to the challenges posed by a hurricane. To store and maintain these supplies, consider partnering with an emergency logistics provider.

If your business is one that must stay in operation during a storm, perhaps providing a critical service, also consider things such as portable cots and emergency food supplies. These can be used by individuals staying to run operations. 

Looking for alternate suppliers? Find out how to access alternative sources for necessary goods and materials.

How to Maintain Business Supply Chains During Hurricane Season

Whether you’re bringing in emergency supplies or trying to keep your inventory topped off, post-hurricane supply chains are a huge challenge. With roads closed and property damages piling up, disasters compound the inherent difficulties of logistics.

Businesses who want to keep the supply chain moving after a hurricane strikes must prepare in advance. Preparations should include

• Emergency Logistics Options: If the storm grounds multiple providers, work with carriers who’ve weathered it with enough resources to maintain operations.
• Lines of Communication: Don’t rely on cell phones and wireless communications when a hurricane hits. You may need to use satellite phones to keep in touch.
• Alternative Transportation Routes: Identify alternative transportation routes and means in advance. This might include different ports, roads, or even modes of transport, such as switching from sea to air freight if necessary.
• Strengthening Warehouse Infrastructure: Warehouses in storm zones should be built and fortified to withstand hurricane impacts, such as flooding and high winds.

Using an emergency logistics provider makes preparing for hurricanes easier. They know how to help businesses deal with hurricane challenges. Even if it costs a little up front, the benefits can lead to success when other businesses may falter.

Why Partner with Emergency Management Logistics for Hurricane Preparedness?

Depending on the location of your business, hurricanes may be unavoidable during certain times of year. The storms themselves can’t be stopped: however, much of the damage they do can be reduced with careful planning. 

Emergency Management Logistics has the vehicles, experience, and distribution network businesses need during a disaster. No matter what kind of disasters your business might need to endure, trust us for assistance with:

• Corporate emergencies
• Disaster relief
• Emergency logistics consulting
• And more

Call our team of experts at (855) 420-9447 or contact us online today. We’re standing by to help you and your business ride the storm out.