As the Atlantic hurricane season enters its most active stretch and the nation observes National Preparedness Month, Bit-Wizards is again calling for businesses along the Gulf Coast region to have disaster recovery plans in place.

Although the 2026 season has been relatively tame, Forbes recently warned that a quiet season can still be disastrous for the people and businesses unlucky enough to experience its one consequential storm. That was evident earlier this summer, when Tropical Storm Arthur demonstrated businesses don’t need a major hurricane landfall to experience significant technology disruptions.

In June, it caused widespread flooding, extended power outages, business interruptions, and an estimated $4 billion to $6 billion in economic losses across parts of the Gulf Coast. According to AccuWeather, much of the damage stemmed from flooding, infrastructure impacts, and prolonged operational disruptions rather than extreme wind speeds.

We’ve seen how devastating the impact from one storm can be. When employees can’t access systems, communicate with customers, connect to cloud applications, or process transactions, then operations stop even if the office avoided major physical damage.
—Brian Schlechter, Director of IT

Recently, on Aug. 19, a severe storm slammed into Northwest Florida, bringing nearly 8 inches of rain, damaging winds, and lightning. It flooded streets, left property damage, and knocked out power, which shut down operations at Fort Walton Beach City Hall for a brief period.

Downtime from storms like these can lead to missed revenue, delayed payroll and billing, lost productivity, customer service disruptions, and extended recovery timelines. Bit-Wizards outlines these risks in its resource “How a Hurricane Can Cost Your Business,” which details how unplanned outages can contribute to business closures and long-term financial strain.

National Preparedness Month: What businesses should do right now

With September historically marking the peak of Atlantic hurricane activity, Bit-Wizards recommends that organizations take the following actions:

  • Review your current IT disaster recovery plan, or create one if no plan exists.
  • Validate backups (including restore testing), confirm recovery time objectives, and document key contacts and decision points.
  • Identify the systems and processes that must function during and after a storm, including communications, customer support, finance operations, and remote work access.
  • Establish clear employee guidance for severe weather disruptions, covering expectations for connectivity, device safety, and reporting outages.

Organizations that need a starting point can download Bit-Wizards Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning Guide: BCDR Planning Guide (PDF).

Preparation that works beyond hurricane season

Since 2000, Bit-Wizards Managed IT Services has helped hundreds of local businesses prepare for and weather hurricanes, unexpected outages, device failures, ransomware attacks, and everyday incidents that cause data loss or downtime.

Now, despite the current lull, it stresses the importance of staying ready.

“Quiet seasons like this give people a false sense of security, and that’s when preparation falls off,” said Schlechter. “These next two months are historically when the Gulf Coast sees its most dangerous storms. If your recovery plan hasn’t been tested this year, the window to do that is right now.”

To learn more about Bit-Wizards and how they support businesses before, during, and after disruptions, get in touch.