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Hurricane supply list for businesses
A business kit is not a bigger version of a home kit. At home you are keeping a family safe for a few days. At a business you are also protecting stock, records and payroll — and deciding, before the wind arrives, who is expected to be where.
The supply list
Keep this on site, not at someone's house. The point is that whoever is closing the building can do it without a supply run.
- Water and shelf-stable food for anyone who may be stuck at the site, plus the staff closing it down.
- Flashlights and headlamps with spare batteries. Not phone torches — you will need the phone.
- A full first aid kit, and a fire extinguisher that has actually been inspected.
- Plastic sheeting, tarps, duct tape and contractor bags to cover stock and equipment.
- Sandbags for doorways and loading bays, if the site has ever taken water.
- Cash in small bills. Card readers need power and a network, and a reopening shop that cannot make change loses the first customers back.
- Coolers and ice, if you hold anything perishable.
- Printed copies of the phone list, insurance policy numbers and the shutdown checklist. Paper works with no power and no signal.
- A camera, or a charged phone kept aside for documenting the building before you close it.
Your stock and equipment
This is the part a home list never covers, and the part that costs the most.
- Move inventory off the floor and away from windows. Water comes in low, glass fails high.
- Refrigerated food is unsafe after four hours without power. A full freezer holds about 48 hours and a half-full one about 24, provided the door stays shut. Those figures are from FoodSafety.gov.
- Order fewer perishables in the days before landfall. Empty shelves are cheaper than spoiled ones.
- Unplug and raise anything electrical. The surge when power returns damages as much as the outage did.
- Back up your systems off site or to the cloud, and confirm you can actually get in from somewhere else.
Power, and what really needs to stay on
Decide in advance what a generator is for. Running a whole building is a different purchase from keeping one walk-in cold.
- Never run a generator indoors, in a garage, or near a doorway or vent. Carbon monoxide is the danger, and it is the one that kills people after the storm rather than during it.
- Have the fuel before the storm, stored the way your fire code requires. Fuel is the first thing to run out and the last to come back.
- Know which circuits matter: refrigeration, alarm, cameras, the till. Trying to power everything usually powers nothing for long.
- If the business depends on a generator, service it before the season, not in the queue once a storm has a name.
Your people
- Decide who closes the building and who is not expected to travel. Put it in writing before the storm, so nobody is guessing during it.
- Keep a contact list that works with no network — printed, with personal numbers, held by more than one manager.
- Work out how people get paid if the systems are down for a week.
- Know your staff's evacuation zones. Someone in a zone under order will not be reopening with you.
Documents and insurance
- Read the policy before the season, particularly what is excluded. Flood is usually a separate policy from wind.
- Check whether you have business interruption cover, and what triggers it.
- Keep policy numbers, the adjuster's contact, the lease, deeds and tax records in a waterproof container, with a copy off site.
- Photograph the building inside and out beforehand, including shelves, equipment and serial numbers. An adjuster comparing before and after settles faster than one taking your word for it.
- Keep every receipt from the response — supplies, repairs, generator fuel. Some are claimable, and some count toward disaster assistance.
Before the season, not before the storm
Ready.gov's business section is built around three plans, and the order matters: how you respond on the day, how you keep operating afterwards, and how you recover your data. A supply list without those is a pile of equipment with nobody assigned to it.
- Write down who decides to close, and what triggers the decision.
- Test the generator and the shutters. Both fail quietly when unused.
- Talk to suppliers about what happens if they cannot deliver for a week.
Reopening
- Do not go in until the building is cleared — structure, gas, and standing water anywhere near something electrical.
- Throw out refrigerated food that was above 40°F for four hours or more. When in doubt, throw it out; you cannot tell by smell.
- File the claim early. Adjusters are working through a whole county.
- Tell customers you are open. After a storm nobody assumes anything is.
- If the disaster is declared, SBA disaster loans and Florida state programs may apply. Check the current terms at the source — they change with each declaration.
Common questions
What should a business have on site that a home kit does not?
Cash in small bills, tarps and plastic sheeting for stock, a camera for documenting the building, and printed copies of the phone list and insurance details. A home list assumes the power comes back and that someone can drive out for whatever is missing. A business closing ahead of a storm cannot count on either.
How long will refrigerated stock last without power?
FoodSafety.gov puts refrigerated food at four hours, a full freezer at about 48 hours and a half-full freezer at about 24, provided the doors stay shut. Anything held above 40°F for four hours or more should be discarded, and it cannot be judged by smell.
When should a business start preparing?
Before the season rather than before the storm. Insurance reviews, generator servicing, shutter testing and staffing agreements all take longer than the days you get once a storm is named, and by then every supplier is busy at once.
This guide follows official guidance from Ready.gov, FEMA, the Florida Division of Emergency Management and FoodSafety.gov. Insurance, assistance and loan terms change with each disaster declaration — check them at the source. This does not replace instructions from your local officials. In an emergency, call 911.