Cyclone preparation checklist for business: before the season, at the watch, at the warning

Cyclone season officially opens on 1 November. Most of the work that protects a business has to be done before then, because a watch only gives you a day or two. In that time you can lift stock and fill fuel tanks. You can’t fix a roof, change an insurance policy or find a generator.

This checklist is split into the three moments that matter: before the season, when a Cyclone Watch is issued and when a Cyclone Warning is issued. Print it, tick it off, and give a copy to whoever runs the business when you’re away.

When does cyclone season start, and what’s different this year?

The Bureau of Meteorology’s official tropical cyclone season runs from 1 November to 30 April. The Bureau puts the average at about 10 cyclones in the Australian region each season, with 3 to 4 crossing the coast, and says the average since 2000 is closer to 8 or 9.

Two things to keep in mind for 2026–27:

• Cyclones don’t wait for the calendar. The Bureau’s Tropical Climate Update noted that Tropical Cyclone Wati formed near the Cook Islands on 17 October, about two weeks before the official start, helped by warm Pacific waters.
• El Niño doesn’t mean you can skip preparation. El Niño seasons have tended to bring fewer cyclones to the Australian region, but one cyclone crossing your coast is enough. Prepare as if one will.

How do you prepare your business for a cyclone before the season?

These are the slow jobs. Finish them in October, or as early in the season as you can.

Premises

1. Get the roof and eaves checked. Loose sheets, rusted screws and lifting flashing are how wind gets in. Book a licensed roofer now, because they’re booked out by December.
2. Trim overhanging branches and clear the yard of anything that could blow around: sheet iron, pallets, timber, A-frame signs, bins.
3. Sort out window protection. Shutters or screens have to be measured and made. Tape won’t stop debris.
4. Clean the gutters and drains so a cyclone’s rain has somewhere to go.
5. Know your storm-surge zone. Coastal councils publish surge and evacuation maps. If you’re in a zone, decide now where stock and vehicles will go.

Power and data

6. Plan for a long power outage. Decide whether you need a generator, get it wired by a licensed electrician if it will connect to the building, and test it. Our page on power and access outages covers the trading side.
7. Back up your data to the cloud and to a drive you can take with you. Test that you can restore from it.
8. Arrange somewhere to take perishables. That could be a cool room in a town less likely to be hit, a refrigerated trailer hire, or a deal with a similar business. Queensland’s cyclone and storm surge checklist suggests these reciprocal arrangements with businesses outside the likely impact area.

People and paperwork

9. Update your staff contact list, including personal mobiles and an out-of-area contact for each person.
10. Pack the business cyclone kit. See the full list in our business emergency grab bag guide: insurance schedules, ABN details, asset lists, torches, a battery radio, power banks and car chargers.
11. Photograph the premises, equipment and stock now. “Before” photos make “after” claims much easier. Our guide to documenting damage for insurance shows what assessors look for.
12. Write the plan on one page. Who closes up, who calls the staff, where you’ll trade from if you can’t get in. Our one-page business continuity plan is a template.

Why must insurance changes be made before a cyclone is named?

This is the step most owners leave too late. When a cyclone threatens an area, insurers commonly put a temporary embargo on new policies and on increases in cover for that region. A submission to Treasury on the cyclone reinsurance pool explains that the start point varies: some insurers start the embargo when a cyclone is named, others at the watch stage, and some won’t cover new policies until a waiting period has passed. Existing policies keep running.

So if you’ve bought new equipment, taken on a bigger lease or fitted out a second site, update the cover before the season. Work through these questions with your broker:

• Are building, contents and stock sums insured up to today’s replacement cost?
• Is flood and storm surge covered, or only storm?
• Does business interruption cover outages and loss of access, not only physical damage?
• Is there a separate cyclone excess, and how much is it?

Our guide to reviewing your insurance before disaster season covers all twelve questions.

The money side of preparation. Work out how many weeks the business could pay wages, rent and suppliers with no sales. Our shutdown cash runway tool does the sum in a few minutes. If the buffer is thin and you’d like to know what backup funding might be available before you need it, you can check your options here. It doesn’t involve a credit check.

What do I do when a Cyclone Watch is issued?

The Bureau of Meteorology issues a Cyclone Watch when gales of 63 km/h or more could reach communities within 24 to 48 hours. It updates the watch about every six hours. At this stage you’re still trading, but you’re getting ready to close.

1. Check the Bureau and your council’s disaster dashboard at each update. Follow official advice over social media.
2. Brief the staff. Confirm who is doing what and when everyone will be sent home.
3. Lift stock and equipment off the floor and away from windows. Move computers and paperwork into the most solid room, in sealed plastic tubs.
4. Tie down or bring in anything outside: signage, outdoor furniture, bins, gas bottles.
5. Fill vehicles and generator fuel, and charge every phone, laptop and power bank.
6. Draw down perishable stock. Stop reordering, sell what you can, and move high-value chilled stock if you’ve arranged somewhere.
7. Run a final backup and take the drive offsite.
8. Withdraw some cash. EFTPOS and ATMs can be down for days after the power goes.
9. Put a notice on your website, socials and voicemail saying when you expect to close and how customers can reach you.

What do I do when a Cyclone Warning is issued?

A Cyclone Warning means gales are expected within 24 hours, or are already happening. The Bureau updates it about every three hours and includes the expected maximum wind gusts. Now the priority is people, not stock.

1. Close early and send staff home while it’s still safe to travel.
2. Fit the shutters, close and lock up, and turn off gas and non-essential power.
3. Move vehicles under solid cover or to higher ground away from surge zones.
4. Take the grab bag with you.
5. Follow emergency services. In Queensland and the other states, emergency warnings use the Australian Warning System levels: Advice, Watch and Act, and Emergency Warning. An instruction to evacuate overrides everything on this list.

The Bureau’s watch and warning tell you when the wind is coming. The Australian Warning System levels tell you what action to take. Watch both.

Cyclone preparation for shops, cafés and other businesses

Every business will need extra steps of its own. A few that come up often:

Cafés, restaurants and food businesses

Write down the time the power goes off and check fridge and cool room temperatures. That record decides what you can keep and supports a spoilage claim. Run stock down early in the watch, and don’t restock until power is reliable again.

Shops and retail

Move stock from front windows and low shelves. Photograph the shelves just before you close so you have a record of stock on hand at the time.

Trades and transport

Your tools and vehicles are how you earn. Store them in the most secure place you have, and keep them away from creek crossings and low-lying roads. Expect a surge of repair work afterwards, so restock materials early in the season.

Tourism and accommodation

Make a plan for guests, not only staff. Check your booking platforms’ cancellation settings and prepare the message you’ll send.

Who should be on your cyclone call list?

Who	Number or where	When you’ll need them
Emergency	000	Danger to life
State Emergency Service	132 500	Roof damage, flooding, fallen trees
Bureau of Meteorology	bom.gov.au	Watches, warnings, track maps
Your insurer or broker	Policy schedule	Claims, make-safe approval
Electricity distributor	Your power bill	Outage times
ATO Emergency Support Infoline	1800 806 218	Deferrals, payment plans, lost records
business.gov.au	13 28 46	Current disaster assistance
Small Business Debt Helpline	1800 413 828	Free financial counselling

The ATO says it may automatically defer payments or pause correspondence for businesses in areas hit by major disasters. Call anyway, before any BAS or payment date the cyclone puts at risk, so you know where you stand.

What do you do once it has passed?

Wait for the all-clear, then switch to recovery. Our storm and cyclone damage page has the full sequence. In short: photograph everything before you clean up, stop further damage, lodge the claim, and search DisasterAssist for your area. After recent cyclones, Queensland businesses have had access to concessional disaster loans through QRIDA, and NSW has offered Natural Disaster Relief Loans of up to $130,000 for recent events. Our emergency action checklist turns the first week into a printable list.

An illustrative example

Illustrative only. A café and catering business in a north Queensland coastal town works through the list in October. The roofer replaces a run of rusted screws, the owner arranges overflow space in a supplier’s cool room inland, and the insurance is updated to cover a new coffee machine and the catering van.

When a Cyclone Watch is issued on a Tuesday, the café stops reordering, moves chilled stock to the supplier, fills the van and backs up the POS. At the Wednesday warning, staff are sent home at noon. The cyclone passes as a Category 2 and the café loses power for four days. It reopens with a short menu on day five, with a time-stamped temperature log and before-and-after photos to support its spoilage claim.

What mistakes cost businesses the most in cyclone season?

• Leaving insurance changes until a cyclone is named. By then the embargo may already apply.
• Relying on a generator nobody has tested. Start it in October, not during the warning.
• Keeping the only backup in the building. If the building floods, so does the backup.
• Clearing up before taking photos. Evidence comes first, the skip bin second.
• Paying for repairs out of the tax money. Call the ATO instead, and fund the actual gap.

Prepared for the storm, but what about the cash?

You can secure a roof before the season. Cash flow is harder to plan for: a week or two of closure, an excess to pay, chilled stock to replace and repair invoices that arrive before the insurer pays. Grants and concessional loans are worth checking first. When there’s still a gap, owners commonly use unsecured working capital (typically $5,000 to $500,000, sized on turnover and bank statements) or, for bigger needs, funding secured against property from $20,000 to $5,000,000.

Enquiring takes about 60 seconds, and your credit file stays untouched while you find out what’s possible. A credit check only happens if you choose to go ahead. We don’t send your details to a pile of lenders, so your phone won’t start ringing with strangers in the middle of cyclone season. A real person looks at your situation and calls you.

Please fill the form in accurately: your location, what’s insured, how much you’d need and what it’s for. That way we can find the right option the first time.

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