Power outage and hurricane readiness for a small business’s IT

Why island businesses plan differently

The Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA) notes that hurricane season for Hawaiʻi runs from June through November, historically peaking in August and September, and that hurricane winds can bring down utility poles and power lines, causing power and communications outages. After Hurricane Iniki in 1992, some homes on Kauaʻi were without power for more than three months. HI-EMA’s 2-Weeks Ready campaign also points out that Hawaiʻi relies on shipping for most of its food and supplies.

For your IT, that suggests three working assumptions: a site may be without power or internet for days, a replacement device may not arrive quickly, and no single person or office should hold the only copy of anything important.

1. Know what you would need to restore, and where it lives

Ready.gov’s IT disaster recovery guidance starts with an inventory of hardware, software and data, identifying the critical applications and data and the hardware they run on. It asks you to plan for losing the room, the hardware, the connection, the software or the data itself.

Cloud services keep running when your office is dark, as long as people can get online somewhere. Data on a machine in the back room is only as available as that building. CISA recommends combining on-site and remote backups: the local copy restores quickly, and the remote copy survives if the building does not.

2. Before the season: backups that survive the building

3. Power: chargers, surge protection and UPS basics

Ready.gov advises planning alternatives such as a portable charger or power bank, and unplugging electronics during an outage because power can return with momentary surges or spikes. The Ready Business power outage toolkit suggests surge protectors on important equipment, backup power for critical systems, and a maintenance, operation and fueling plan for any generator.

• A UPS (uninterruptible power supply) is a battery unit that keeps a computer, modem or router running briefly. Treat it as time to save work and shut down cleanly, not as a way to work through a long outage.
• Put the modem, router and any office server or network drive on a UPS, and check that it really takes over when the wall power is cut.
• When a storm watch is issued, charge laptops, phones and power banks. HI-EMA notes that power banks can be recharged from a wall socket and kept ready.
• Generators belong outdoors, at least 20 feet from windows, according to Ready.gov. Install battery-backed carbon monoxide detectors.

4. Internet: the phone hotspot fallback

The Ready Business toolkit suggests planning internet or server access with backup power outside the affected area, and having a web-based or mobile way to take orders and payments. For most small teams, the practical version is a phone hotspot and cloud tools.

• Decide which laptops may use a phone hotspot, and try it once before you need it.
• Make the folders people need for the next day available offline.
• Know your fallback for card payments, from your provider’s own instructions.
• Do not count on the hotspot alone: HI-EMA warns that storms can cause communications outages too.

5. A contact tree that works without the office

Ready.gov’s crisis communications guidance says to gather contact details, including mobile numbers, before an incident, keep them updated and secure, and remember that employees, customers and suppliers will want information.

• The owner or manager calls two leads; each lead calls their people and reports back anyone they cannot reach.
• Keep the list on paper and on phones, not only on the office server.
• Add your internet and phone providers, IT support, landlord and insurer.
• Sign up for HI-EMA’s free local emergency text alerts, and follow the National Weather Service Honolulu office for forecasts.

6. After the event: a recovery checklist

1. 01Safety firstDo not power on equipment that got wet until it has been checked.
2. 02Power up in orderOnce power is stable: modem and router, then any server or network drive, then computers.
3. 03Check sign-inConfirm email and admin accounts work, including multi-factor sign-in.
4. 04Check before restoringNIST advises checking the integrity of backed-up data before using it to restore.
5. 05Restore by priorityBring back what the business needs first, using the list you made before the season.
6. 06Reset what was sharedChange any password that was shared under pressure during the outage.
7. 07Order replacements earlyShipping takes time, so order failed equipment as soon as you know.
8. 08Write it upA short after-action note, as NIST suggests: what failed, what worked, what to change.

Where to start

Before the next season, make the data table above for your own business, run one restore test and print the contact tree. The free IT Health Check covers backups, devices and access, and shows which gaps to close first.