With flood waters pressing into the Australian city of Brisbane, residents and businesses alike have had to evacuate or otherwise safeguard or abandon their homes and businesses. For professionals, this should highlight the need for measures to protect their work throughout catastrophic natural disasters.

The flooding has already afflicted nearby cities such as Ipswich, in a situation that has been described in the press as "total chaos," and the moving waters have placed some 20,000 homes in the Brisbane area at the risk of damage and destruction.

With the Brisbane River expected to reach a peak of 5.2 meters on Thursday, Mayor Campbell Newman said the day will "be devastating for the residents and businesses affected."

Matthew Drane, of D2K, an IT consultancy in Queensland, said: "I couldn't even see the roof of the building on one of our oldest clients" in the flooding. "Another one of our current clients, a large farming provider, had the whole office go underwater."

Problems caused by flooding have regularly afflicted parts of the UK, though perhaps not at the same magnitude, and businesses and residents have continually been warned to take precautions so that high water levels do not permanently damage their homes or affect their businesses in the long term.

One such practice that can ensure business continuity during adverse natural incidents includes implementing hosted services and storage, ensuring access to business critical systems is maintained throughout a disaster and beyond.

Written by Jason Morton
 

Hosted services can preserve business data during natural disasters