The Bureau of Meteorology’s outlook for the 2026-27 season gives Queensland businesses a clear message: there is an increased chance of at least one severe cyclone this season, driven by warmer sea temperatures in the Coral Sea, along with warmer than average temperatures across much of the state. Fire authorities have also warned of a potentially significant bushfire season after several wet years built up fuel loads.
Most continuity plans cover sandbags and generators. Fewer cover the systems a modern business actually runs on: the website, the booking system, payments, email and customer data. Here is a practical checklist for South East Queensland businesses, written by a Brisbane team that hosts and supports business platforms through storm season every year.
What the 2026-27 outlook says
- Tropical cyclone season runs from November to April.
- One to two severe systems typically cross the Queensland coast each year.
- The BOM says this season carries an increased chance of a severe cyclone, because warmer seas give systems more energy.
- Last season saw two category 5 cyclones in the Coral Sea, the first time since records began in 1970.
Brisbane is not usually in a cyclone’s direct path, but flooding, severe thunderstorms and power and internet outages affect businesses across the region most summers.
1. Know where your systems actually live
If your website, files or software run on a server in your office, a power or NBN outage takes them offline for everyone, not just your staff. Make a list:
- Website and online store: cloud hosted or office server?
- Email: Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, or something local?
- Practice, booking or job management software: cloud or on-premises?
- Accounting and payroll: cloud?
- Files: SharePoint, OneDrive, Google Drive, or a NAS in the back room?
Anything on-premises needs a plan for running without the building.
2. Test your backups (really test them)
A backup you have never restored is a hope, not a backup. Before November:
- Confirm your website has daily off-site backups with at least 14 days of history.
- Restore a copy to a staging site and check it works.
- Check that cloud services such as Microsoft 365 are backed up, not just synced.
- Store at least one copy in a different region from your main hosting.
3. Prepare your website for “we’re closed” days
When the roads flood, customers check your website first. Prepare a site-wide banner you can switch on in seconds, with a short message and updated hours. Make sure more than one person can log in to publish it, and that their access uses multi-factor authentication.
If you take bookings online, decide how you will pause or reschedule them, and draft the SMS or email you will send to affected customers.
Want your site hosted somewhere storms cannot reach?
We host and manage business websites on AWS, DigitalOcean and Cloudflare-protected infrastructure, with daily off-site backups and monitoring.
4. Plan for payments when the internet drops
Card terminals that rely on your office internet stop when the NBN does. Ask your provider whether your terminal has a 4G fallback, keep a mobile hotspot charged, and know how to take payment links by SMS. Our payment resilience checklist covers this in more detail.
5. Make sure people can work from home
- Every staff member can access email, files and key systems from home, securely.
- Phones divert to mobiles or a cloud phone system.
- Shared passwords are in a password manager, not on a sticky note in the office.
- Laptops are charged and go home when a severe weather warning is issued.
6. Write down who does what
A one-page plan beats a 40-page document nobody reads. Include who decides to close, who updates the website and Google Business Profile, who contacts customers, and the phone numbers of your IT provider, web host and internet provider.
7. Watch out for disaster scams
Scammers follow storms. Expect fake invoices from “suppliers”, fake grant offers and phishing emails about insurance. Remind staff to verify any change to bank details by phone using a number they already have.
Storm season tech checklist
- List of systems and where they are hosted
- Website backups tested by restoring them
- Emergency banner ready, with two people able to publish it
- Booking pause plan and customer messages drafted
- Payment fallback (4G terminal or payment links)
- Remote access tested for every staff member
- One-page plan with contacts, printed and shared
Sources
- ABC News: Queensland facing increased chance of severe cyclone and heatwaves (6 October 2026)
- Bureau of Meteorology: Queensland weather
- Get Ready Queensland
Get storm-ready before November
We will review where your website and systems are hosted, test your backups and set up the emergency switches, in one short engagement.