Florida's businesses taking Hurricane Dorian 'very seriously'

Jennifer Shanker
·Segment Producer
Updated

Tropical Storm Dorian’s growing strength signals the official kick off-of hurricane season. The storm sideswiped Puerto Rico, and meteorologists are predicting it to hit Florida by this weekend.

“Businesses are taking this very seriously. Companies that have operations in Florida and across portions of the Carolina coastline are also closely monitoring this [storm],” said Jonathan Porter, Vice President of Business Services at AccuWeather.

Floridia residents and businesses alike are taking precautionary measures to protect themselves and their property from the coming storm, as the costs of repairing damages post-hurricane can be hard to surmount. Past hurricanes have cost the U.S. billions of dollars. The costliest storm was Hurricane Katrina in 2005, totaling the U.S. an estimated $161 billion.

Workers prepare the building outside a store for the arrival of Tropical Storm Dorian in Humacao, Puerto Rico on, August 28, 2019. - Tropical Storm Dorian bore down on Puerto Rico Wednesday as residents braced for a direct hit, the first since the island was ravaged two years ago by Hurricane Maria. US forecasters said they expected Dorian to make landfall in populous eastern Puerto Rico at near hurricane strength later in the day. A hurricane watch also was up for the US Virgin Islands. (Photo by Eric Rojas / AFP) / The erroneous mention[s] appearing in the metadata of this photo by Eric Rojas has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: [August 28, 2019] instead of [August 2, 2019]. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention[s] from all your online services and delete it (them) from your servers. If you have been authorized by AFP to distribute it (them) to third parties, please ensure that the same actions are carried out by them. Failure to promptly comply with these instructions will entail liability on your part for any continued or post notification usage. Therefore we thank you very much for all your attention and prompt action. We are sorry for the inconvenience this notification may cause and remain at your disposal for any further information you may require. (Photo credit should read ERIC ROJAS/AFP/Getty Images)
Workers prepare the building outside a store for the arrival of Tropical Storm Dorian in Humacao, Puerto Rico on, August 28, 2019. (Photo credit should read ERIC ROJAS/AFP/Getty Images)

AccuWeather estimates the total damage and economic loss caused by Hurricane Dorian will be $18 billion to $20 billion, including damages to homes and businesses.

“They’re [businesses] starting to activate their emergency active plans, thinking about what locations they may need to protect from the perspective of ensuring there is not a flooding risk at that location, where they may need to be concerned about their employees’ safety, and if there are locations that they’re going to need to close, and if so, where, and when,” Porter says.

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