Early on Friday, January 28, 1977, the National Weather Service warned people of an impending blizzard barreling toward much of the Great Lakes Region. By the afternoon, much of Ohio and western New York had been shut down with gusting winds of up to 70 miles per hour and snow accumulation of 12 inches or more. Drifts of snow blocked roads, power lines snapped, and essential services closed down. My house lost power, we slept next to the fireplace, and schools were shut down for a week. It was a big storm! By the end of the weekend and throughout the following week, 48 people from New York and Ohio would lose their lives.

While the onslaught of the blizzard conditions came quickly and seemingly without warning, the situation was predictable. The weather in December 1976 and January 1977 was colder than normal, limiting lake-effect snow. This build-up of precipitation and wind materialized in one of the worst blizzards the region has seen since. In spite of the blizzard, coordination with emergency services, police, and fire crews, as well as the National Guard allowed for roads and businesses to open back up as early as the following Monday. The Ohio National Guard even flew patients in need of emergency services to hospitals in National Guard helicopters.

What can the Blizzard of 1977 teach us about emergency preparedness and response? There are three main takeaways I’d like to highlight:

- First, weather-related catastrophes WILL happen. Major weather events are inevitable. Snow, wind, ice, and cold often bring many parts of the country to a grinding halt during the deep winter months. You will not STOP a severe weather event.

- Second, you will not be successful in your emergency planning if you do not consider your community. Think back to the Blizzard of 1977. Residents and business owners, despite a generational snowstorm, were able to return to relatively normal life in a couple of days. How did they achieve this? They worked TOGETHER.

This can look like a couple of different things. Maybe it’s working with other tenants in your building to make sure essential services stay on. Perhaps it’s meeting with your local government to see how your business or even you personally can assist in the event of an emergency. It could even be checking with local charities to see what sort of help they need during these sorts of emergencies.

- Third, better preparedness will lead to a better recovery. Can you sustain closing for a day? A week? Two weeks? Can your employees work from home if they need to? Can you keep your customers safe?

How do you prepare? Well, first you need to prioritize. If your business relies on customers and foot traffic, make sure you have a plan for them to safely come to you. That could be salting your sidewalks, contracting someone to plow your parking lot, or ensuring spaces inside are clean and dry. Maybe your business depends on reliable power or internet access. Do you have backup power generation capability? How long can you sustain a power outage? Answering these questions and prioritizing your preparedness resources will pay off exponentially in your recovery.

While you’re sitting down with your team and working on your emergency preparedness, keep these things in mind. Don’t run from a disaster, plan for one. An emergency will happen, you won’t survive it alone, and how you prepare will determine how you and your business will recover.

Go on the offense and make sure your team is ready to handle any natural disaster in the coming year.

If you want some help preparing yourself or your team for a future disaster, reach out to me here for a free consultation.