HomeFinancial Managers in the Public Sector Reconsider Infrastructure Preparedness as Hurricane Season Peaks
ATLANTA – (October 2, 2019) – The recent devastation of the Bahamas and damage to the southeastern United States due to Hurricane Dorian has prompted finance managers in the public sector to evaluate their natural disaster preparedness plans to better support their constituents and proactively manage their infrastructure.
The unplanned costs of hurricanes and natural disasters can be detrimental. According to the Wall Street Journal1, the trio of Hurricane’s Harvey, Maria and Irma in 2017 combined to cost $268 billion, leaving government organizations bustling to reallocate dollars efficiently to bring cities back to normalcy. “Extreme weather stresses all people, including the office of the CFO, since organizations usually aren’t sure how to budget for the unexpected,” said Rob Corazzola, Vice President of Asset Investment Optimization Strategy at PowerPlan. “Most cities are already facing an infrastructure funding deficit, so when a disaster hits, it becomes even harder to prioritize and rebound.”
Public sector organizations must consider how much infrastructure risk they currently have and their potential risk tolerance in the event of a natural disaster in their region. “Organizations must be able to pivot on the fly – adjusting plans so they remain financially balanced, provide expected levels of service and protect the safety of their constituents,” added Corazzola.
Organizations can assess their disaster preparedness by asking questions like, “what is our definition of allowable storm restoration costs?” For a full list of questions to evaluate your organizations disaster preparedness and for next steps to take a proactive stance, download the free white paper, “Are You Prepared to Prevent an Infrastructure Disaster from Being a Financial Disaster?” here: http://bit.ly/2mXDNbA.
1 Dapena, K. (2018, September 29). The Rising Costs of Hurricanes. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-rising-costs-of-hurricanes-1538222400. Copyright © 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
