Midwest Flooding 2008: A Disaster for Wisconsin Businesses

Bad Weather Causes Wisconsin Business Headaches

Written by
John Eberhardt
Thursday, June 12, 2008


Déjà vu all over again
Today I awoke AGAIN to the news “flash flood warning for all of” my world and everywhere around me! I need to get a boat and head for higher ground. This summer (and this past winter) it seems that just living in Wisconsin is hazardous to my health. Violent storms are pummeling Germantown, Wisconsin as I write. This storm is traveling at over 59 miles per hour and is packing gusts of wind over 65 mph, hail the size of quarters and the threat of tornadoes! I can’t even hide in the basement because I may drown!

It just goes from bad to worse
In the last few weeks, and more importantly this past weekend, devastating flooding here in Wisconsin has caused a lot of us to run for higher ground. And the bad news just keeps coming--the forecast for the next five days calls for rain every day. The pain caused by the storms and flooding has affected thousands of homeowners. But for area business, the economic effects are just beginning.

“You can’t get there from here”
Yesterday I tried to get some copies made at FedEx Kinko’s in Germantown only to find the road closed due to flooding. To my dismay, I found that the detour also was under water. I am thinking that this happened probably after the city officials closed the main road (or it was someone’s idea of a cruel joke). I had to turn around and get on the expressway to find a route past all the road closures. While driving around the blockage, I noticed that the water right next to the expressway was ready to overrun this road as well. Later in the day I heard on the news that Interstate 94 West was closed just after Johnson Creek! This is a really big deal, since I-94 is the main artery between Madison and Milwaukee (and all the traffic going almost anywhere north and west in Wisconsin). Not only is the access to area businesses denied to many customers due to flooded roads, but entire companies have been wiped off the map by a torrent of water.

Computers don’t like water
In this new world of information technology, most any company you visit will have all its information on computers. So what happens when these computers get wet? Whether it comes from above or below, water destroys computers. It does not matter if the roof is leaking or if flood waters lap at your front door, you’d better have given this a little thought before today (or before tomorrow and next week!). Unless you are selling boats, wetsuits or life preservers, rising water is just plain bad for business.

What to do
Companies need to have a clue. It begins with a disaster recovery plan. The powers that be should gather and go over a series of “what if” scenarios and put together some sort of a plan that would deal with them in an organized way. I always think of the Dilbert cartoon1 where they go over their disaster recovery plan in a meeting with the pointy-haired boss. The cartoon has Dilbert pointing to a picture of an office worker running and screaming “HELP! HELP!” You should try to do a little better. Go ahead and let yourself think bad things. Try to brainstorm for all the potential disasters that you can think of before an actual tornado, flood, leak, chemical spill, fire, explosion or even a terrorist attack actually happens. Then write down a few ideas and develop a plan to address them. When you are a small company (as most of us are these days) it is best to hire a company that does this sort of thing to help you navigate through the rough spots.

Where to begin
Begin with the end in mind. At the very least, you should back up everything and take it far away from the company to a safe place. With a good Disaster Recovery plan, your company will be up and running in no time. Without one, you may be out of luck and out of business. When using the latest technology, however, it is even possible for your company to avoid downtime altogether. By using services such as online backups, offsite storage, and remotely located servers, your customers may not even know you are having any issues at all- even when your building is under water. Our IT services department can get you started and keeps you out of trouble. Contact us today for a FREE network audit!

As you can see, there are many way to protect your business from all sorts of bad things, like flooding. Luckily most of my work is done with websites and website marketing so I just have to hold my notebook computer over my head in high water and make sure I back it up regularly. My servers are located all over the U.S., so if a disaster takes them all out at the same time, I think I’ll have bigger things on my mind (like food and shelter).

For the meantime, stay dry, plan ahead and enjoy the ever-changing Wisconsin weather without having to fear it.

Good luck to all!

John Eberhardt
Written By John Eberhardt of
Wise Enterprise Group, LLC
N115W16877 El Camino Drive
Germantown, WI 53022

Technology Solutions Experts-
"Make the Wise choice"
http://WiseGroup-LLC.com

Edited by Tina M. Hunter

If you have a question that you'd like addressed in a future article, you can contact John by email at: questions at wisegroup-llc.com


1. "Our Disaster Recovery Plan Goes Something Like This: Dilbert 2002" can be seen at: http://www.amazon.ca/Disaster-Recovery-Plan-Goes-Something/dp/images/0740715674