When Cyclone Alfred made landfall in North Queensland, the immediate impact was physical — damaged infrastructure, flooded roads, and widespread power disruption. But the real crisis emerged in the hours that followed, as failures across energy, water, logistics, and technology systems began to compound.
This case study follows the fictional organisation Meridian Ports & Energy and explores how a single external event escalated into a broader operational and regulatory crisis. It highlights the challenges organisations face when critical services rely on interconnected systems, shared providers, and assumptions that have never been tested under real-world conditions.
Developed for risk, resilience, and critical infrastructure audiences, the scenario examines the gap between documented plans and actual operational capability during a major disruption — and the lessons organisations can take from it before a real event puts those assumptions to the test.
