Free online tool kit can help small businesses prepare for climate change

Corner stores, day cares, auto mechanics … small businesses provide vital services to communities.

But many are vulnerable to increasingly extreme weather as the climate warms.

Moritz-Chapelliquen: "As more and more disruptions end up happening … they have to face the reality that this is something that is only going to become more severe as time goes on."

That's Armando Moritz-Chapelliquen of the Local Initiative Support Corporation, a national nonprofit.

To help businesses prepare for climate impacts, the group works with chambers of commerce and offers a free online tool kit.

He says it's important that business owners understand the climate risks they face, like whether they're in a flood plain - and if they can take steps to make their property more resilient.

He suggests planning for different scenarios, like how the business could keep operating during a power outage, or how to continue offering services if customers cannot get to the property.

And he says it's essential that business owners know how to access relief aid and other financial resources if it's necessary to temporarily close.

Moritz-Chapelliquen: "This can be an emotionally taxing and heavy subject for a lot of business owners to deal with in terms of potential loss of property or damages to a place that you're really proud of."

But planning ahead can make it easier to recover if disaster strikes.