What I can't understand - all these companies knew at least 48 hours in advance that the storm and flooding was going to hit them, and that power outages were very likely. Even I knew that in advance, and I'm not even near the area affected.
How come they were still surprised?
Of course, disaster recovery plans need to balance wildly different kinds of disasters, and can't predict everything - but if you know that a flood is coming, what excuses could there be for not looking up (or making up) your flood-plans?
Of course, storing diesel for generators in basement might be better for most scenarios - but if you know that for the next week your risk is power outage+flood, then what prevented you from putting a few barrels of diesel upstairs, while the elevators, pumps, shops and delivery vans were still working as usual?
How come they were still surprised?
Of course, disaster recovery plans need to balance wildly different kinds of disasters, and can't predict everything - but if you know that a flood is coming, what excuses could there be for not looking up (or making up) your flood-plans?
Of course, storing diesel for generators in basement might be better for most scenarios - but if you know that for the next week your risk is power outage+flood, then what prevented you from putting a few barrels of diesel upstairs, while the elevators, pumps, shops and delivery vans were still working as usual?