Emergency Planning Every Lake County Small Business Owner Needs Before Disaster Strikes

Most small businesses operate without a disaster plan — and the numbers behind that gap are stark. Despite facing some of the greatest risks from natural disasters, 94% of small businesses don't have a disaster plan, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation's Small Business Readiness for Resiliency program. For businesses across Lake County and the greater Racine area — where inland flooding, severe thunderstorms, and tornado watches are a seasonal reality — that statistic isn't abstract. A solid emergency plan doesn't just protect property; it determines whether your business survives at all.

What Are Your Actual Risks?

Before you can plan, you need to know what you're planning for. Start by identifying the hazards most likely to affect your specific location, building type, and industry.

For Midwest businesses, the list is familiar: inland flooding, power outages, ice storms, and severe wind or tornado events. FEMA's Ready Business Toolkit — available free at Ready.gov — includes hazard-specific preparedness guides covering exactly these categories. A retail shop near a low-lying area faces different flood exposure than a second-floor professional office. Assess your situation honestly before moving on.

Write a Response Plan — On Paper

A plan you carry in your head isn't a plan. A written emergency response plan is a documented set of procedures your business follows when a crisis hits, covering evacuation routes, shelter-in-place protocols, communication chains, and who's responsible for what.

Assign roles clearly:

• Who calls 911 and notifies building management?

• Who accounts for all employees after an evacuation?

• Who has authority to close the business and communicate with customers?

• Who holds backup keys or access credentials?

The SBA walks business owners through building a disaster response plan at no cost — and it matters more than most owners expect. According to the SBA, 25% of businesses don't reopen after a major disaster.

Set Up an Emergency Communication System

When something goes wrong, communication breaks down fast. Build your system before you need it.

At minimum, your emergency communication plan should include:

• A group text or messaging channel for all employees

• An out-of-state contact who can relay information if local lines are jammed

• A clear way to notify customers and vendors of closures or delays

• Posted emergency contacts at every workstation

Test it. Send a drill message. Make sure everyone on your team knows how to use it before the moment arrives.

Present Your Plan — and Get Buy-In

A written plan only works if your team understands it. Create a presentation your employees can actually follow, not just a document filed away in a drawer.

When building training materials, it helps to have everything in an editable format. If your emergency procedures exist as a PDF, you can consider this free browser-based tool from Adobe Acrobat to convert PDFs into editable PowerPoint files — no software installation needed. A well-structured slide deck makes it easier to walk employees through evacuation routes, communication roles, and supply locations during a training session.

Back Up Your Business Data

A disaster that destroys your equipment can also wipe out your customer records, financial data, contracts, and vendor contacts. Offsite or cloud-based data backup means those records survive even if your physical location doesn't.

Set automated backups to run daily. Store copies in at least two places — cloud and an external drive kept offsite. Make sure someone other than the owner can access critical accounts if needed.

The stakes are high: according to data cited by the Congressional Research Service, 40% of businesses never reopen after a disaster and 75% of businesses without a continuity plan fail within three years.

Train Your Employees Regularly

Plans get stale. Employees turn over. Procedures change. Schedule emergency training at least once a year — more often if your team or location changes.

Drills don't need to be elaborate. A 20-minute walkthrough covering evacuation routes, emergency supplies, and communication procedures is far more valuable than a thick manual nobody reads. Free SCORE mentoring can help you build a customized preparedness plan, while SBA disaster loans of up to $2 million are available to affected businesses following a declared disaster.

Stock the Right Supplies

Keep a basic emergency kit accessible in your workspace. The essentials:

• First aid kit (and AED if your space warrants it)

• Flashlights and extra batteries

• A battery-powered or hand-crank radio

• Bottled water and non-perishable food (72-hour supply minimum)

• Copies of critical documents in a waterproof container

Review your supplies every six months. Batteries die, water expires, and first aid kits get raided for everyday cuts. A stocked kit that hasn't been checked in two years is a false sense of security.

Check Your Insurance — Including What Most Owners Skip

This one catches more business owners off guard than you'd expect. Standard property insurance covers physical damage to your building and equipment. It does not cover lost income while you're forced to close.

That gap is what business interruption insurance is designed to fill — covering revenue lost during a disaster-related closure. Only an estimated 30–40% of small business owners carry this coverage, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, leaving the majority financially exposed during exactly the kind of event their property policy was never meant to address.

Review your policy with your agent and ask specifically about a Businessowner's Policy (BOP), which bundles property, liability, and often business interruption coverage into a single package.

In practice: If your property insurance doesn't include business interruption coverage, that's your most urgent gap to close before the next storm season.

Keep the Plan Current

Set a calendar reminder to review your emergency plan every year — or any time your team, location, or operations change significantly. An evacuation route that worked in your old space may not apply to your current one. A communication tree built around employees who've since left is worse than useless in a crisis.

Lake County businesses have real resources to lean on. No-cost preparedness consulting is available through the Wisconsin Small Business Development Center Network, which connects Racine-area businesses to SBA and state-level recovery resources. The Lake County Chamber of Commerce also connects members to professional seminars, business networks, and peer relationships that can help you build and pressure-test your preparedness strategy.

The time to build your emergency plan is before you need it. Start with one step this week — identify your top two risks and assign an owner for your response plan. That's enough to make real progress.