In a few weeks our old friends, Storm Season and his ominous big brother Hurricane Season, will make their annual visit, right about the time the snow birds have finished clearing out. Storm Season usually arrives around mid-May, with Hurricane Season officially arriving on June 1 . Storm Season’s visit is usually shorter, ending around the end of September or middle of October. Hurricane Season officially ends December 1.
I’ll Never Forget the Pounding…
In September ’04 the eye of Hurricane Jeanne, the fourth hurricane of the season to hit Florida, came within 20 miles of us. At that distance, sustained winds were gusting to 70 or 80 miles per hour. This is the closest I ever want to be to the eye of a hurricane. If you’ve never been that close, here’s a mental image: think of the hardest rain you’ve ever seen; now multiply it by three, then turn it sideways.
Each big gust was preceded by a very deep low-frequency rumble, caused by the wind literally pounding the ground as it rushed toward us. It sounded as if giants were having a footrace. More than the wind & rain, that pounding gave me a special appreciation for the power of tropical weather.
In 2004-2005, in a space of 14 months, Florida was hit by seven hurricanes. Since then hurricane activity has been rather light. What does that mean? Simple: we’re due.
Are you ready?
At a recent lunch in Tampa with a business partner, we marveled at how many businesses we encounter that are blissfully unprepared. I related the story of a prospective client – a 2500-employee business here in the Tampa area – that has not revised or tested its DR plan in more than two years. He related similar stories. I can’t say this harshly enough – if you aren’t ready, you are risking the life of your business, not to mention the livelihoods of yourself and your employees.
You need a plan.
If you are a business without a DR plan, there is no time like right now to start. If you already have a DR plan, haul it out & revise it – now. If you need help, FEMA has an excellent website with resources to walk you through the steps to develop and test a business DR plan. The URL is: http://www.ready.gov/business. The American Red Cross also has an excellent site with tools to help you assess your level of disaster preparedness and assist in developing your plan. The site address is: http://readyrating.org/. It is absolutely crucial that you spend some time on this.
Southern Data Storage is committed to helping clients with DR preparedness. The primary SDS focus is on assuring the survival of business data through effective backup, redundancy, replication and data recovery, but data protection is only one facet of comprehensive DR planning. I can connect you with other partners who can help you complete the picture. If you want to discuss this further please contact me at 888-255-6889 or by clicking here and filling out our contact form. I will be back in touch within 24 hours.
A postscript: Last year Hurricane Sandy graphically illustrated that areas north of Florida and the Gulf Coast are not immune to the risks of storm season. If you are a reader on the eastern seaboard, you are also at risk.
MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY.