On August 26, 2011, a hurricane named Irene was approaching the east coast of the United States. The data center in Ashburn, VA had taken several precautions to prepare for the storm, including backup generators, staff availability, emergency supplies, leak diversion kits, sandbags, and verified drains and sump pumps. However, what made users feel more reassured was that CloudFlare's architecture minimizes single points of failure, allowing traffic to continue flowing even if a data center goes down. The company also pledged to help keep websites online for those affected by the hurricane.