Hurricanes do not usually break your technology in one dramatic moment. They break the basics: power, internet, access to key systems, and your ability to reach your own people.

This checklist is for the week before a storm, when you still have time to make calm, practical choices that keep work moving.

Start with one question: what must still work?

Before you touch any settings, get clear on your “keep-the-lights-on” list. If you skip this, you will spend time protecting the wrong things.

  • Your essential workflows. Pick 3 to 5 processes that keep revenue coming in or keep customers safe (taking payments, dispatching, scheduling, shipping, payroll).
  • Your essential systems. For each workflow, write down the system behind it (Microsoft 365, line-of-business app, VoIP phones, file server, cloud accounting, RMM, etc.).
  • Your minimum viable team. Name the specific people who can run those workflows if you are short-staffed.

Keep this list short. You are not trying to be perfect, you are trying to be operational.

Backups and data access (do this first)

If the storm knocks out your office, you do not want “our files are in that building” to be the reason you cannot work.

  • Confirm you have a recent backup you can actually use. Check the last successful backup date for your servers, critical PCs, and any key cloud data you rely on. If you use a managed backup tool, make sure alerts are green and not quietly failing.
  • Make one copy hard to overwrite. Ransomware often shows up during chaotic periods, and it targets backups too. Keep at least one backup copy offline or otherwise isolated from normal user access.
  • Decide what must be available offline. If internet may be spotty, choose the folders your team must open without connectivity (price sheets, job templates, customer lists, emergency procedures).
  • Set those folders to stay on the device. For OneDrive and SharePoint libraries synced to PCs, mark the critical folders as “Always keep on this device” and confirm they have finished downloading.
  • Test access with Wi-Fi turned off. Pick one laptop, disconnect it from the internet, and open a few of those files. You are proving reality, not hoping.

Power and internet: plan for “partial operations”

Most businesses do not need to run everything during an outage. They need enough power and connectivity to do the essential work you listed.

  • List what needs power. Modem, firewall, switch, Wi-Fi, one printer, one workstation, a charging station, and any on-prem server or NAS you truly cannot do without.
  • Check your UPS batteries. A UPS is there to ride through short outages and to shut down equipment cleanly. Confirm the UPS is not beeping with a dead battery, overloaded, or unplugged.
  • If you have a generator, test it under load. Starting is not the same as running. Make sure you know what circuits it supports and who is allowed to operate it.
  • Have an internet fallback. If your primary ISP goes down, decide what “good enough” looks like (mobile hotspot, secondary circuit, staff working from home). Also confirm you can power whatever provides that connection.

Remote work readiness (assume the office may be inaccessible)

A lot of hurricane downtime is really “we could work, but we cannot reach our tools.” Fix that now.

  • Confirm MFA is on for cloud logins. If staff are signing in from new locations, you want strong sign-in protection.
  • Make sure laptops are not optional. If key people only have desktops in the office, decide whether they need a company laptop, a spare, or a documented alternative location.
  • Verify VPN or remote access works from outside the office. Test it from a phone hotspot, not from the office Wi-Fi.
  • Check admin access is not tied to one person. You should not be locked out because the one admin is offline. Use named accounts, documented recovery options, and a safe way to access break-glass credentials.

Communications: reduce confusion before it starts

When the weather gets serious, your team needs one clear place to look, and customers need one clear message.

  • Pick your primary channel. For internal comms, choose one (Teams, SMS group, phone tree) and tell everyone, “This is where updates will be.”
  • Write a short status template. One paragraph you can reuse: who is open, what hours, what delays to expect, and how to reach you.
  • Know what happens to phones. If you use VoIP, confirm where calls can be forwarded if the office is down (to a call queue, to mobiles, to an answering service).
  • Print the right contact list. Keep a paper copy of key vendor and IT contacts, plus account numbers for internet and phone providers.

Protect equipment and speed up recovery

Even if you expect to work remotely, you still want your on-site gear to survive and to come back cleanly.

  • Shut down non-essential equipment early. If outages are likely, power down desktops and non-critical gear before the power gets unstable.
  • Move critical hardware off the floor. Flooding and roof leaks happen. Get network gear, servers, and NAS devices higher if you can.
  • Take photos of your network closet. A few clear pictures of cabling, firewall, switch, and ISP gear can save hours when you are rebuilding.
  • Document what is where. Write down the make/model of your firewall, internet circuit details, and where key passwords and configs are stored.

The day before: a 30-minute final pass

This is the quick sweep that catches the last-minute surprises.

  • Confirm backups ran last night. If something failed, fix it now, not after the storm.
  • Make sure key laptops are charged and updated. Updates are annoying, but forced updates during an outage are worse.
  • Check OneDrive sync is healthy. No sync errors, no stuck files, and the offline folders show as available locally.
  • Send one clear internal message. “Here is how we will communicate, here is who is on point, here is what we are doing with customers.”

If you want a second set of eyes

A good hurricane IT preparedness plan is mostly about removing single points of failure, then proving the basics work when the internet and power do not.

If you would like help turning this checklist into a simple, tested plan for your specific systems and locations, the Flexnet Networks team can help you get it in place.

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