Is your business ready for storm season?

Download two free resources with practical, plain-language guides that help you protect your operations before, during, and after a storm.

What’s Inside

Storm Readiness Checklist

• A four-section, print-ready checklist covering everything to do before, during, and after a storm
• Pre-season preparation steps
• 48–72 hour action checklist
• Post-storm recovery steps
• Year-round resilience habits

Hurricane Season Survival Guide

• A comprehensive playbook covering the full arc of storm preparedness from planning to recovery
• Why small and mid-sized businesses are most at risk
• The 4 systems every business must protect
• Storm-window action plan
• Building long-term resilience

Flooding doesn’t wait. Is your business prepared?

Download our free Ultimate Guide to Flood Preparedness: a practical, plain-language resource that walks your team through exactly what to do before, during, and after a flood.

Floods are the most common and costly natural disaster in the U.S. — and most businesses have no plan for them. Not because they don’t care, but because they don’t know where to start.

Whether you’re in a high-risk flood zone or simply want to be ready for the unexpected, this guide covers everything from pre-flood preparation and insurance considerations to real-time response steps and post-flood recovery.

Companies that prepare in advance can save between 20% and 90% on the cost of stock and equipment loss. This guide shows you how.

What’s inside:

• Before the flood: A step-by-step preparation checklist for your business and team
• During the flood: Who to contact, what to shut down, and how to keep communicating
• After the flood: Recovery priorities, insurance steps, and equipment restoration
• Flood terminology decoded: The difference between a watch, warning, and flash flood alert
• A short guide to driving in flood conditions: For employees who need to travel

When a disaster hits your business, your brain does something counterproductive: it generates a list.

Call the generator company. Call the IT vendor. Find someone who can get temporary workspace set up. Figure out who handles logistics. Track down the contact for that equipment rental company you used three years ago.

Every minute spent working through that list is a minute you’re not recovering.

The Hidden Cost of a Fragmented Response

Most businesses don’t realize how fragmented their recovery approach is until they’re in the middle of a crisis. That’s when the coordination overhead becomes visible: multiple vendors with different response times, different priorities, and no shared view of your situation. Someone has the generators. Someone else has the fuel. A third party is handling communications. Nobody’s talking to each other, and you’re the one trying to hold it all together while also running your business.

The result is slower, more expensive, and more stressful recovery with more exposure to the gaps that fall between vendors.

What a Single Point of Contact Actually Delivers

Orestes Meeks, a resilience specialist at Agility Recovery, describes what customers are really asking for: “I need to be able to pick up the phone. I need to have a team of specialists who can engage with me — everything from logistics to asset management to installation to recovery.”

When one team manages all of that together, they’re working from the same playbook. They know what’s been deployed, what’s en route, and what still needs to happen. They can pre-position resources before a storm hits because they have the full picture. And the conversations that matter — Are you ready? Should we pre-deploy? What do you need on the ground? — can happen before the crisis, not during it.

There’s also an element of expertise that’s easy to underestimate. Many businesses, Meeks notes, get led “through areas they haven’t considered” — scenarios and vulnerabilities they simply hadn’t thought through until a specialist walked them through it during a call or a tabletop test. That kind of proactive guidance is hard to get when your resilience strategy is spread across a half-dozen vendors.

A Model Built Around When You Actually Need It

There’s a financial dimension worth addressing directly. Many businesses assume that consolidating their resilience strategy means carrying heavy ongoing costs. A membership-based model changes that math considerably — as Meeks puts it, “the membership fee’s pretty low compared to what recovery costs normally are.” You’re maintaining readiness for a manageable fee, with the full weight of recovery resources available the moment you need them.

The One Call That Sets Everything in Motion

The businesses that recover best prepared the right way: with a partner who already knows their operations, has already thought through their vulnerabilities, and can pick up the phone at any hour and immediately start moving resources.

“When you call us, we respond quickly,” Meeks says. “We’re on 24/7, 365 days a year.” One call. Full recovery. That’s what resilience looks like when everything’s already in place.

As the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season approaches, leading forecasts from both AccuWeather and Colorado State University Tropical Meteorology Project point to a moderate season—but with meaningful risk for U.S. businesses. 

And as history continues to prove, “average” doesn’t mean “safe.”

What the 2026 Forecast Predicts 

According to AccuWeather: 

• 11–16 named storms  

• 4–7 hurricanes  

• 2–4 major hurricanes (Category 3+)  

• 3–5 direct U.S. impacts expected  

Key risk zones include: 

• The northern Gulf Coast  

• The Carolinas and Southeast U.S.  

Importantly, “direct impact” doesn’t require landfall—it includes: 

• Flooding rain from offshore systems  

• Storm surge  

• Tropical-storm-force winds reaching land  

The CSU Perspective: Why “Average” Seasons Still Cause Major Damage 

Forecasts from Colorado State University Tropical Meteorology Project add critical context: 

• The long-term average (1991–2020) includes:  
  • ~14 named storms  
  • ~7 hurricanes  
  • ~3 major hurricanes  

• Recent seasons have trended above normal in overall energy (ACE)—a measure of storm strength and duration  

• Even in seasons with limited U.S. landfalls, storms can still be:  
  • Extremely intense  
  • Highly destructive internationally  
  • Operationally disruptive across supply chains  

A single storm—or even a near miss—can trigger widespread disruption. 

The Wildcard: El Niño and Shifting Risk 

Both forecasts point to a developing El Niño pattern, which typically: 

• Reduces the number of storms  

• But does not eliminate high-impact events 

At the same time: 

• Atlantic waters remain warm enough to fuel storm development  

• Rapid intensification remains a growing concern  

• Late-season volatility is possible depending on El Niño timing 

This creates a dangerous dynamic: Fewer storms overall, but less predictable, higher-impact events.  

Why This Matters for Business Continuity 

Hurricanes rarely disrupt just one system—they trigger cascading operational failures, including: 

• Prolonged power outages  

• Loss of connectivity and communications  

• Facility damage or inaccessibility  

• Workforce disruption  

• Supply chain interruptions  

And with storms strengthening faster than ever, response windows are shrinking—making preparation more critical than prediction. 

How Businesses Should Prepare Now 

Preparedness isn’t about having a plan—it’s about ensuring your plan works under real conditions. Testing your plan ahead of an interruption allows you to close gaps, clarify roles, demonstrate readiness, and build muscle-memory among teams.  

Here’s how to operationalize readiness across the five core pillars of business continuity: 

1. Power: Plan for Extended Outages 

• Secure assured access to generators and fuel 

• Plan for multi-day outages, not short disruptions 

• Prioritize critical systems and locations 

2. Connectivity: Maintain Operational Uptime 

• Deploy redundant connectivity (LTE or satellite) 

• Test failover capabilities 

• Ensure remote teams can function independently  

3. Communications: Stay in Control During Chaos 

• Pre-build employee, customer, and vendor messaging templates 

• Maintain updated contact databases 

• Define a clear communication chain of command 

4. Workspace: Prepare for Physical Displacement 

• Identify alternative workspace strategies 

• Plan for on-site recovery where possible (especially customer-facing operations) 

• Evaluate mobile or temporary workspace solutions 

The Takeaway 

The 2026 hurricane season may appear “average” on paper—but the risk to your business is anything but. As some will recall, the 2005 season seemed mild until late-season storms, including Hurricane Katrina, resulted in regional devastation, long-term interruptions, and countless permanent closures. 

Between: 

• Multiple expected U.S. impacts 

• Warmer ocean conditions 

• And rapid intensification trends 

…the real threat is operational disruption—not storm count. After all, it only takes one storm to test your entire business continuity strategy.  

The organizations that recover fastest won’t be with the best plans on paper; they’ll be the ones that prepared, tested, and operationalized their response before the storm formed. 

A major climate shift may be on the horizon. According to AccuWeather, conditions are aligning for a potential El Niño to develop in 2026—bringing with it widespread and often unpredictable impacts across the United States.

What is El Niño?

El Niño is part of a larger climate pattern driven by warming ocean temperatures in the Pacific. As those temperatures rise, they disrupt global weather systems—shifting storm tracks, altering precipitation patterns, and increasing volatility across regions.

What Could El Niño Mean for the U.S.?

If El Niño develops, businesses should prepare for less predictable and more uneven weather impacts, including:

• Shifts in storm patterns and severity
• Potential suppression of Atlantic hurricanes—but not elimination of risk
• Increased rainfall and flooding in some regions
• Drought and prolonged heat in others
• Peak impacts building into late 2026 and early 2027

The key takeaway: this is not a “one-risk” scenario—it’s a volatility scenario.

What El Niño Means for Business Continuity

El Niño challenges a common assumption in resilience planning: that risk follows predictable seasonal patterns. Instead, organizations may face simultaneous or unexpected disruptions—from flooding and power outages to supply chain delays and workforce displacement.

Resilient businesses don’t try to predict every outcome—they prepare across core operational dependencies:

How to Prepare for El Niño: 5 Pillars of Resilience

1. Power: Plan for Outages—Not Possibilities

Severe storms, grid strain, and extreme heat all increase the likelihood of outages.

Recommendations:

• Secure backup power solutions (generators, fuel supply)
• Test failover capabilities before peak storm season
• Identify critical systems that must remain operational

2. Connectivity: Stay Online When Infrastructure Fails

Connectivity disruptions—whether from fiber cuts, network outages, or infrastructure damage—can halt operations instantly.

Recommendations:

• Establish redundant connectivity (LTE, satellite, or secondary providers)
• Ensure remote access to critical systems and data
• Validate network failover through regular testing

3. Communications: Control the Narrative Before and After the Storm

Clear, timely communication is essential to maintaining trust and reducing confusion.

Pre-event:

• Define communication protocols and escalation paths
• Segment audiences (employees, customers, stakeholders)
• Pre-draft messages for likely scenarios

Post-event:

• Provide real-time updates on operational status
• Share recovery timelines and next steps
• Maintain consistent messaging across all channels

Tools matter: Platforms like MyAgility enable organizations to send targeted email and SMS alerts to specific groups—ensuring the right people get the right information at the right time.

4. Workspace: Ensure Operations Continue—Anywhere

Flooding, storm damage, or unsafe conditions can make primary facilities unusable.

Recommendations:

• Pre-arrange alternate workspace solutions (mobile offices, recovery centers)
• Enable remote work capabilities with secure access
• Identify critical roles that require physical space vs. remote flexibility

5. People: Turn Plans into Action Through Practice

Even the best plan fails if teams don’t know how to execute it.

Recommendations:

• Conduct regular tabletop exercises (2–4 times per year)
• Simulate a range of scenarios—not just one type of disruption
• Clarify roles, responsibilities, and chain of command
• Identify gaps in decision-making, communication, and response time

Tabletop exercises ensure your team doesn’t just have a plan—they can execute it under pressure.

Resilience is the Advantage

El Niño is a powerful reminder that disruption doesn’t follow a script. As climate patterns shift, so do the risks businesses face.

The organizations that come out ahead won’t be the ones who guessed right—they’ll be the ones who prepared across every critical dependency: power, connectivity, communications, workspace, and people.

Because when volatility increases, resilience becomes a competitive advantage.

A regional manufacturing and logistics company based in the central U.S.—a region known for frequent tornado activity—relies on a tight fleet schedule and uninterrupted production to meet customer expectations. With distribution hubs across the region and dozens of drivers on the road each day, any unplanned downtime can cause significant operational and financial disruptions.

In preparation for storm season, the company implemented Agility’s MyAgility platform to centralize their business continuity planning and ensure rapid access to critical disaster recovery resources. That investment paid off when a devastating EF3 tornado struck the area, damaging infrastructure, cutting power, and causing widespread fuel shortages.

The Challenge: Restore Power Operations and Provide Emergency Updates for On-Site and Field Employees

The tornado’s impact extended beyond physical damage. Local fuel stations were either offline or empty, power was out at multiple sites, and road closures made normal routes impassable. Key employees—including fleet drivers—struggled to get to work due to fuel scarcity. At the same time, the logistics team faced growing pressure to maintain delivery schedules and resume production quickly to avoid revenue loss and customer dissatisfaction.

The Solution: MyAgility for Quick Recovery Deployment & Provide Critical Updates to Staff

Thanks to preloaded documentation and planning within MyAgility, the business continuity team activated their tornado response plan immediately after the storm. All critical documents—including site-specific resource needs, emergency contact lists, and equipment requirements—were already organized and accessible within the platform, making it easy to declare with Agility’s recovery team.

Centralized Document & Resource Access

Before storm season, the company had uploaded all critical documents—including emergency contact lists, equipment needs, facility layouts, and vendor contracts—into MyAgility. This made it easy to activate their tornado recovery plan without delay, even with limited on-site access. Because their equipment and fuel needs were already documented easily accessible through the MyAgility portal, the organization was able to request and receive support quickly. Agility deployed a backup generator and fuel pods within 24 hours, providing a vital lifeline for both operations and employees during a time of local fuel scarcity.

Emergency Alert Notifications to Drivers

The team used MyAgility’s emergency notification system to send real-time alerts to fleet drivers, including:

• Confirmation that Agility had delivered an on-site fuel pod for both personal and fleet vehicles
• Alternate routes to avoid road closures and damaged infrastructure
• Updates on facility access and work assignments

These communications helped ensure that essential employees could report to work and that deliveries stayed on schedule, despite regional disruptions.

The Results

• Zero missed delivery commitments in the weeks following the tornado
• Full production line restart within 48 hours
• 100% driver coverage maintained through proactive alerts and fuel access
• Improved team confidence in emergency processes due to clear communication and seamless coordination

Key Takeaways

• Preloaded plans and resource needs within MyAgility accelerated recovery and reduced response time
• Real-time alerts kept drivers informed and mobile, even during widespread infrastructure challenges
• Rapid deployment of critical resources like mobile fuel pods helped sustain both operations and employee attendance during a crisis
• MyAgility provided the structure and communication needed to navigate a fast-moving disaster and maintain business continuity