Hurricane Ikea (Why Bulk Emails Should Be Proofread Carefully)

This is probably the worst proofreading error I’ve ever seen (I’m hiding the identity of the sender to protect his job)…

Gustav, Hanna, Ikea, …

The storms are lining up.

Residents in southern Louisiana are now being allow to return after hurricane Gustav. While the damage is not nearly as bad as the destruction wrought by Katrina, nearly 1.2m homes and businesses across Louisiana were still without electricity on Wednesday, and officials said it could take as long as a month to restore power to all. Electricity is critical to reopening schools and businesses, and even for pumping gas at fuel stations. While the repairs are already beginning, several more storms, including Hanna and Ikea are threatening to wreak havoc across parts of southeastern U.S.

While physical damage to businesses is not enormous, until electricity is restored, many companies will stay shut down, some for several weeks. Even those with generators may have trouble getting enough fuel to stay running in the short term. Could your business survive without power for several weeks? The loss of electricity needs to be part of all disaster recovery plans.

While the East and Gulf coastal areas are potentially in the path of hurricanes, every area in the country is prone to some kind of a natural disaster, whether it is earthquakes, tornadoes, floods or fires.

Ouch!