Hurricane-season IT checklist for Treasure Coast offices

On the Treasure Coast, hurricane preparation is an annual business task, not an emergency one. The work that protects your data and keeps staff productive takes days to put in place and minutes to confirm once it exists. This checklist is organised by when each step matters.

Before the season (do this in spring)

Know what you’d need to recover first. List the systems the business can’t operate without — usually email, accounting or practice-management software, shared files and phones — and decide how long each could be down before it causes real harm. That list sets your backup and recovery priorities.

Make sure at least one backup copy is off site. A backup sitting next to the server protects you from a failed disk, not from a flooded or roofless building. Keep at least one current copy in a different location or in the cloud, and make sure it’s isolated or immutable so ransomware can’t reach it either.

Test a restore. A backup that has never been restored is an assumption. Restore a sample of files and, ideally, a complete server or virtual machine, and write down how long it took.

Confirm remote access works for everyone who needs it. If the office is closed for a week, staff need secure remote access — VPN, remote desktop or cloud applications — tested from home, with multi-factor authentication enrolled before the storm, not during it.

Plan your phones. Decide where your main numbers will ring if the office loses power or internet. Hosted phone systems can forward to mobiles or another site automatically; set that up and test it.

Check UPS batteries. Uninterruptible power supplies give equipment time to shut down cleanly. Batteries typically degrade over a few years; test them and replace any that fail.

Document the shutdown and start-up order. Write down which equipment is shut down in which order (servers before storage, storage before network) and the reverse order for start-up, with who is responsible for each step.

Keep contacts somewhere other than your email. Your IT provider, internet carrier, insurer and key vendors should be on paper or on phones, in case email is unavailable.

When a storm is forecast (48–72 hours out)

1. Confirm the most recent off-site backup completed successfully.
2. Run an extra backup of anything changed since.
3. Tell staff how to work remotely and how they’ll be contacted.
4. Turn on phone forwarding, or confirm it’s ready to switch on.
5. Move equipment off the floor, away from windows and, if practical, cover it to protect from water.
6. Shut down servers and network equipment gracefully, in your documented order, before power becomes unreliable. Don’t rely on equipment staying up through repeated power cuts.
7. Unplug equipment where surge risk is high.

After the storm

• Inspect before powering on. Check for water and damage before restoring power to equipment.
• Start up in order. Network and storage first, then servers, then workstations. Check that backups resume.
• Expect phishing. Disasters bring scams: fake relief appeals, fraudulent invoices from “contractors” and messages impersonating insurers or government agencies. Remind staff to verify payment changes by phone using a known number.
• Review what happened. Note what worked and what didn’t while it’s fresh, and update the plan.