Politicians in Tampa Bay, Florida, ordered residents in select parts of the region to evacuate yesterday on the heels of Hurricane Milton, a category 4 storm that experts say could quickly become a category 5. Tampa Bay Mayor Jane Castor didn’t mince any words when she said: “If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you are going to die.”
Tampa Bay’s population of 400,000 people hinges on a few hospitals, the largest being Tampa General Hospital (TGH), a complex built by Skanska in 2007. Ambulances connect to and from TGH on Davis Island via two beam bridges hovering above Hillsborough Bay. This means there’s just one way in, and one way out. And if the bridges fail, or any of its piers, that would spell out catastrophe.
Storms just need to surge four feet to breach TGH’s sea walls, which happened on September 25 during Hurricane Helene. But thankfully, hospital officials took action the day before that storm struck, with just hours to spare.
To insulate the region’s only Level 1 trauma center from Hurricanes Helene and now Milton, TGH officials have (again) installed flood prevention technology called AquaFence.
AquaFence was previously deployed in 2022 during Hurricane Ian. The barrier, designed by a Norwegian company, can be assembled within hours and doesn’t require sand, or any fill for that matter. It ranges between 5 and 10 feet high and is sealed to the concrete.
“We have a proactive and comprehensive plan in place to protect our locations against severe weather so we can continue to provide the exceptional care for which our patients turn to Tampa General,” said Erinn Skiba, TGH’s assistant director of public safety.
Skiba continued: “Our fence around the Davis Islands campus is up, supplies are stocked at all hospital locations, and the teams stand ready to provide care through Hurricane Milton.”
TGH also has its own on-site energy and water sources for emergency scenarios. Its 16,000-square-foot electricity plant was finished in 2022 and built 33 feet above sea level. Its emergency well and water storage tank holds 5,000 gallons.
“We’re right here on the bay. We can’t evacuate,” Dustin Pasteur, TGH’s vice president of facilities, recently told Fox. “There are not enough hospital beds in the region to take our patients.”