Risk Awareness · Natural Disasters

Natural disasters

Weather and the ground can stop a business without any fault of its own.

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Overview

Weather and the ground can stop a business without any fault of its own.

Storms, floods, extreme cold and earthquakes damage buildings and roads, cut power and water, and keep people away from work. The examples below show how long utilities and transport can stay down after the event itself has passed.

Early warnings help most when a plan already says who acts, which sites close, and how staff and customers are told.

All themes are on the Risk Awareness overview. New to the subject? Read What is Business Continuity?

GCC and the wider region

Examples from the region.

May 2018 and October 2021OmanTropical cyclones

Cyclones Mekunu and Shaheen reach the Omani coast

In May 2018 the port and airport at Salalah were closed ahead of Cyclone Mekunu’s landfall, and the WMO notes that cyclones striking the Arabian Peninsula are rare but not exceptional. Cyclone Shaheen made landfall on the Al Batinah coast on 3 October 2021. Oman’s Directorate General of Meteorology reports flash floods that damaged homes, roads and electricity and water networks, with power outages that continued in many affected areas for seven days.

What it means for continuityPower, water and transport links can stay down for days after a storm has passed. Early warnings give time to protect staff, move equipment and reposition stock, and plans work best when they assume that utilities will not return at once.

Sources: WMO, 25 May 2018 · Oman Directorate General of Meteorology, Shaheen report

April 2024United Arab EmiratesExtreme rainfall and flooding

Heaviest rainfall in at least 75 years

On 16 April 2024 the UAE recorded its heaviest rainfall in at least 75 years, according to the National Center of Meteorology. Dubai International Airport received about 144 mm in a day, roughly two years of rain, and the study by National Center of Meteorology authors reports widespread flash flooding and severe disruption to transportation.

What it means for continuityDrainage, roads and buildings are designed for normal conditions, and a rare event can interrupt travel to work, deliveries and access to sites at once. Remote working, alternate sites and clear staff communications reduce the impact.

Source: Scientific Reports, 2026 (via PubMed Central)

Around the world

Examples from elsewhere.

February 2021Texas and the South Central United StatesExtreme cold and power failure

Winter Storm Uri and rolling blackouts

In February 2021 a severe cold weather event caused outages at electric generating plants across the region. FERC and NERC report that the Texas grid operator ordered 20,000 MW of rolling blackouts, the largest manually controlled load shedding event in US history, and that more than 4.5 million people in Texas lost power, some for as long as four days. Freezing issues and fuel issues caused 75.6 per cent of the unplanned generating unit outages.

What it means for continuityPower and fuel supply depend on each other. A weather event can disable both, and the knock-on effects reach every organisation that relies on the grid. Understanding how long a site could operate without mains power is a useful planning question.

Source: FERC, 16 November 2021

February 2023South-east Türkiye and SyriaEarthquakes

Two major earthquakes in one day

On 6 February 2023 a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit south-east Türkiye near the Syrian border, and several hours later another of 7.5 magnitude struck nearby. UNDP describes a disaster of unprecedented scale and scope, with an estimated 100 million cubic metres of debris in Türkiye alone, and says recovery and reconstruction will take years.

What it means for continuityA regional event can affect staff, suppliers, sites and transport together, and recovery can last years rather than days. Organisations can check how much of their supply chain and workforce sits in one hazard zone, and plan for people as well as premises.

Source: United Nations Development Programme

Related pages

Read on.

Operational Resilience

Keep important services within tolerable disruption.

Business Continuity Exercises

Rehearse a severe weather or utilities scenario.

What is Business Continuity?

A plain introduction to the subject.

Sources

Where this page comes from.

This page is ADVOX’s own summary, written in its own words. The sources remain the reference. The examples are public events, included for awareness. ADVOX was not involved in any of them. ADVOX is not affiliated with or endorsed by the organisations named as sources. It is general information, not legal, regulatory or professional advice. Copyright in the sources named above belongs to their owners.

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