Every South Florida business owner knows to put up shutters and stock water. Far fewer have a plan for their business computers, servers, phones and data, even though that is often what decides whether a business reopens the day after a hurricane or tropical storm, or a week later (or even continue to run during the storm and storm cleanup with employees working remotely).
This guide, written by PC Wizard IT Consulting, an IT and cybersecurity company established in 2004 with offices in Boca Raton and Miami, walks through what to do before the season, when a storm is approaching, and after it passes.
Key Takeaways
- The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30. Prepare your IT before it starts.
- A hurricane watch means hurricane conditions are possible within about 48 hours; a warning means they are expected within about 36 hours. Use the watch to start your IT checklist.
- Keep at least one backup copy away from your office, in the cloud or another location, and test that it restores.
- Wind is only one risk. Power outages, power surges, flooding and storm surge damage more business equipment in South Florida.
- Access to the office may impact employees’ ability to work.
- After the storm, never power on wet equipment, and watch for scams that target businesses in disaster areas.
Why Your IT Belongs in Your Hurricane Plan
A storm does not have to hit your building directly to put you out of business for days. In South Florida, the most common causes of IT damage and downtime during hurricane season are:
- Power outages that last hours or days, crashing servers and leaving staff unable to work.
- Power surges and spikes when electricity returns, which can destroy computers, network equipment and phone systems that survived the storm itself.
- Flooding from heavy rain, overwhelmed drainage or storm surge, especially in coastal and low-lying areas and in ground-floor server closets.
- Lightning from the thunderstorms that come with tropical systems and with ordinary summer afternoons.
- Heat and humidity in a closed office with no air conditioning, which is hard on servers and hard drives.
- Internet outages at your office, even when your building has power.
Flooding is not only a hurricane problem. Summer downpours and seasonal king tides regularly flood streets and ground-floor offices in parts of Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties, so the steps below are worth taking even in a quiet season.
Before Hurricane Season: The Planning Checklist
Ideally completed by June 1 and reviewed once a year.
Back Up Your Data Off-Site and Test It
A backup drive sitting next to your server can be lost to the same flood, surge or break-in. Keep at least one copy in the cloud or at another location, back up frequently so you lose as little work as possible, and confirm that the backups actually restore. A backup that has never been tested is a hope, not a plan.
PC Wizard IT Consulting recommends an automated backup system that takes hourly regular backups of your data, and at the end of the day duplicates the backup to the cloud. Further, this backup allows for regular checkups that it’s viable. We install and check these as part of our managed IT services for small businesses.
Move Daily Work to the Cloud Where It Makes Sense, Remote Access for Everything Else
When email, files and key business applications run in Microsoft 365 or similar cloud services, your team can keep working from home or another city while your office is closed. Check which applications still depend on a server in your office, and how staff would reach them remotely.
For anything else, set up remote access for your employees, in the event that the office data is operable, but the office is not accessible due to the storm or cleanup that follows.
Prepare Laptops and Remote Access
Make sure staff who may need to work remotely have company laptops or a secure way to connect, that multi-factor authentication (MFA) is set up, and that they have tried it before the storm, not during it.
We can set up secure, encrypted, VPN tunnels that will work seamlessly for the employees, no matter where they are.
Install Battery Backups and Surge Protection
An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) on servers, network equipment and key computers keeps them running through brief flickers and gives them time to shut down cleanly during longer outages. Proper surge protection guards against spikes when power returns. Batteries in UPS units wear out after a few years, so check their age and status on the UPS’s display.
Set Up Cloud Rack Space, In the Event That the Office Server or Data Become Inaccessible
Set up a service, where backups you make of your server can be turned on in the cloud temporarily (“rack space”), while office server functionality is restored.
A good managed services IT company can help with this. The price is very affordable these days, with one outage lasting one day for a company will offset the cost of this service for many years. PC Wizard IT Consulting offers this, with backups, under the managed IT services that we offer. You can be back up and running within a very short period, once you realize that the office server is inaccessible.
Get Equipment Off the Floor
Servers, network gear and computers that sit on the floor are the first things damaged by even a few inches of water. Use racks, shelves or wall mounts, and think twice about a ground-floor server closet in a flood-prone building or evacuation zone.
Consider a Redundant Secondary Internet Connection for the Office
Is access to the internet during (and after) the storm critical, so that your business can continue working, in the event the internet goes down? Consider a secondary internet connection from a different provider, that your router can automatically failover and fall back to automatically. Many routers can be set up for this purpose.
Write a Simple IT Disaster Recovery Plan
Your business continuity plan does not need to be long. For IT, it should list:
- Who makes decisions and who contacts staff, clients and vendors.
- How staff will communicate if office phones and email are down, including personal phone numbers.
- Which systems are most important, and the order to shut them down and restart them.
- Where backups are kept and how to restore them.
- How office phone lines will be forwarded to mobile phones.
- Contact details for your IT provider, internet provider, software vendors and insurance agent.
Print a copy and store one in the cloud. A plan that only lives on the office server is not much use when the office is dark.
Record Your Equipment
Keep a current list of computers, servers and network equipment, with photos, serial numbers and purchase dates. It makes insurance claims and replacement orders much faster.
When a Tropical Storm or Hurricane Watch Is Issued
A watch means storm conditions are possible within about 48 hours. If your area is in or near the cone of uncertainty, this is the time to act, while you still have power and time:
- Run a final backup and confirm it completed.
- Make sure staff take company laptops and chargers home, and know how to connect remotely.
- Test remote access and Microsoft 365 or cloud logins from home.
- Arrange call forwarding from office phones to mobile phones, or confirm your phone system can do it remotely.
- Send staff the communication plan, with phone numbers and who to contact.
- Prepare an out-of-office message and a short note for your website about how clients can reach you.
When a Warning Is Issued: Shutting Down the Office
A warning means storm conditions are expected within about 36 hours. Before you lock up:
- If possible, shut down computers, servers and network equipment in the order your plan lists, then unplug them. Unplugged equipment cannot be damaged by a surge.
- Move equipment away from windows and off the floor, ideally to an interior room on the highest floor available.
- Cover equipment with plastic sheeting or bags to protect it from roof leaks and blown-in rain.
- Take the printed plan, and any portable backup drive, with you.
- Turn on your out-of-office messages and phone forwarding.
Safety comes first. Do not stay behind to finish IT tasks if officials order an evacuation.
During the Storm
If it is safe, staff can keep working from home, another area in the state, or even out of country on cloud services as long as they have power and internet. Secure VPN tunnels can be set up for them to connect to the office systems, if needed, and if those are functioning. If the office server and other systems are not functioning, but need to be accessed by the employees, please refer to the earlier section about Cloud Rack Space to keep the employees working, and the business’s IT running. Expect cell networks and home internet to be unreliable. Keep critical communication short, and avoid making business decisions based on unverified emails or messages.
After the Hurricane or Tropical Storm
Check for Water Before Powering Anything On
Do not power on equipment that was exposed to flood water, storm surge or a roof leak, even if it looks dry. Powering on wet electronics can destroy them and can be a safety hazard. Have it inspected first. Data on a water-damaged drive can often still be recovered if the drive is not powered on.
Wait for Stable Power
Power often flickers on and off for hours after restoration. Wait until it is stable, and plug equipment back in through surge protection or, better-yet, a UPS.
Restart in Order and Test
Bring back the internet connection and network first, then servers, then individual computers and printers. Confirm that email, files, line-of-business applications and phones all work, and check that backups are running again.
Document Damage for Insurance
Photograph damaged equipment before moving or discarding it and match it to your equipment list.
Watch for Post-Storm Scams
Federal agencies, including the FTC and CISA, warn that scammers target people and businesses after hurricanes. Watch for emails, texts and calls that pretend to come from FEMA, the SBA, insurers, banks, utilities or vendors, fake invoices for repair work, and urgent requests to change payment details. Staff are tired and distracted after a storm, which is exactly when these attacks succeed. Confirm any payment request by calling a number you already know.
How PC Wizard IT Consulting Helps South Florida Businesses Prepare
Managed IT clients can have much of this checklist built into their ongoing plan.
- Hourly backups verified daily
- Temporary cloud rack space
- Redundant internet planning
- Written disaster recovery plan
- 24/7/365 manned SOC monitoring
- Protected off-site copies
- Microsoft 365 & cloud setup
- Secure remote access & MFA
- Equipment inventory & UPS planning
- Weekday help desk, 8 a.m.–8 p.m.
Frequently Asked Questions
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