Hurricane Season is Here. Are You Ready?

If your business is located in the coastal regions or any hurricane risk area, then you should be ready to face the hurricane season. Typically, these tropical storms, which begin on June 1, come with various challenges, especially power interruptions. For example, Hurricane Irma caused power outages in Florida, leaving businesses and over 6.5 million people without electricity.

Considering the vital role of electricity in a business, you must ensure that power problems resulting from the storm do not paralyze your operations.

This post explains the risks and mitigation strategies for a power outage during hurricanes.

What to Expect in the 2021 Hurricane Season

Before we look at what to expect during this year's season, you need to understand the following terms:

1.    Hurricane Watch

A hurricane watch means that hurricane conditions will hit the area in the next 48 hours.

2.    Hurricane Warning

When you hear this, expect winds of at least 74 mph in the next 36 hours

3.    Named Storm

A named storm is a storm behind winds of at least 39 mph.

4.    Major Hurricane

This refers to tropical storms in Categories 3-5 on a wind scale. These can cause severe damage, including flooding, extended outages, and downed power lines.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecasts, there will be at least 13-20 named storms out of which:

• 6-10 will be 74 mph winds or higher
• 3-5 will be in category 3, 4, or 5

With the above predictions, chances are your business could face several power problems through the season.

Potential Risks and Losses

Business owners need to know the financial losses they would incur in case of a power failure.

Here is how you can determine the level of your exposure:

1. Establish the amount of business that depends on electricity. A power failure may account for entire revenue for a business that operates fully on computers or telephones.
2. Sum up the total value of assets subjects to destruction or damage due to power interruptions. It could be sensitive machinery or software, perishable goods, or even long-term relationships with clients due to their perception of unreliability.
3. Sum up the extraneous energy costs that would result from having to restart heavy machinery or reboot powerful computer equipment

A total of the three is the lost revenue that a business can lose in a single day of a power outage. Unfortunately, the hurricane may be severe enough to cause days, weeks, or months of power blackouts, thus compounding losses to your business.

Risks

Power failure, especially when it occurs suddenly, could endanger people's lives. For instance, heavy components may tumble down upon their operators in case of aborted cycles. Besides, an extended outage can jeopardize essentials such as emergency communication, hot water, airflow, and more.

The Best Offense

Electrical infrastructure may suffer extreme damages, and large areas can run out of power for some time, depending on the infrastructural damage and storm size. Since industries, health facilities, residences, and local services depend on electricity to run efficiently and safely, the best preparation is to have an emergency power source. Therefore, ensure your business has a backup generator to supply power if the tropical storms cause power interruptions.

At Generator Source, you can get new, surplus, and low-hour used emergency generators. We ensure thorough inspection and load testing before we deliver. Besides, if your facility wants to cater to temporal needs, we can also supply the generator that meets your requirements on a rental basis.

The good news is our generators are in stock and ready for load, meaning we deliver quickly and arrange shipping or crane services. Reach out to us for help with all your generator needs.

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