Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Máster Universitario en Gestión de Desastres
June 2020

The hurricane Irma and its

interaction with Florida’s energy
sector

Author: Vittoria Marolo

Class: Tecnología en la respuesta y la recuperación
Professor: Manuel Romana García
Index
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 3
TIMELINE ........................................................................................................................... 4
FLORIDA’S ENERGY SECTOR ............................................................................................... 7
ELECTRICITY .............................................................................................................................. 7
PETROLEUM ............................................................................................................................. 7
NATURAL GAS ........................................................................................................................... 8
COAL ...................................................................................................................................... 9
RENEWABLE ENERGY .................................................................................................................. 9
OTHER ENERGY SOURCES ............................................................................................................. 9
SUPPLY VULNERABILITY ............................................................................................................... 9
ENERGY’S SECTOR RESPONSE DURING THE HURRICANE .................................................. 10
8TH OF SEPTEMBER 2017 ......................................................................................................... 10
9TH OF SEPTEMBER 2017 ......................................................................................................... 13
10TH OF SEPTEMBER 2017 ....................................................................................................... 14
11TH OF SEPTEMBER 2017 ....................................................................................................... 16
DAMAGES AND RESTORATION ........................................................................................ 18
THE ENERGY SECTOR................................................................................................................. 18
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS .................................................................................................. 20
BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................ 21

2
Introduction

Irma was a Cape Verde hurricane, that is an Atlantic hurricane that developed near the Cape
Verde islands, off the west coast of Africa, the most intense observed in the Atlantic Ocean
since Hurricane Dean in 2007.
It was also the most powerful Atlantic hurricane to hit the U.S. from Katrina in 2005 and the
first major hurricane to land in Florida from Wilma in 2005. Having reached winds of 185 mph,
it is also the strongest ever observed in the Atlantic basin outside the Caribbean Sea and the
Gulf of Mexico.

It caused 134 total deaths and $ 77.2 billion damages overall.

Its course was as follows: shortly after being named a tropical storm in the eastern Atlantic
Ocean on 30 August 2017, due to favorable conditions, it had rapidly strengthened into a
category 3 hurricane, with sustained winds of 115 mph. Due to the very warm ocean waters,
a humid atmosphere and light surrounding winds that favored its circulation, Irma became
stronger as it moved westward across the Atlantic, and on September 5th it had already
evolved to category 5.
Subsequently, it continued to move west, passing the Leeward Islands and just north of
Puerto Rico and Hispaniola, maintaining the category 5 status and, although it started to
weaken after the passage on the northern coast of Cuba, it crossed the Florida Keys as a
category 4 hurricane, where the resulting storm surge caused water levels 4 to 8 feet above
normal. After traveling over 3,000 miles across the Atlantic, Irma made her landing as a
category 3 hurricane in southwest Florida (on Marco Island) on September 10.
On the 11th of September it then weakened significantly and become a tropical storm as it
headed north to Georgia and Alabama. At 11pm later that day, it weakened further to tropical
depression and, on September 13th, dissipated over southeastern Missouri.

According to the National Hurricane Center, Irma is the fifth hurricane that has caused the
most damage in the continental United States, totaling about $ 50 billion.

3
Timeline
Storm activity: 30/08/2017-13/09/2017

Figure 1: Irma’s path

Legend:
Tropical Depression
Tropical Storm
Category 1 Hurricane
Category 2 Hurricane
Category 3 Major Hurricane
Category 4 Major Hurricane
Category 5 Major Hurricane

4
Principal events:
o 30th of August: a tropical wave develops into a tropical depression near the Cabo
Verde Islands. 6 hours later the depression becomes a tropical storm;
o 31st of August:
• 2:30 a.m.: the tropical storm intensifies and becomes a hurricane;
• 8:00 p.m.: Irma reaches major hurricane status;
o between the 1st of September and the 4th of September: Irma fluctuates between
category 2 and 3 strength likely due to eyewall replacement cycles and intrusions of
dry air;
o 5th of September: at 2:00 p.m. Irma reaches its maximum intensity and becomes a
category 5 major hurricane, while approximately 70 miles east-southeast of Barbuda;
o 6th of September:
• 1:45 a.m.: Irma makes landfall on Barbuda as a category 5 storm, with
maximum wind speed around 178 mph. All of the residents of the island were
evacuated;
• 7:15 a.m.: Irma makes landfall on St. Martin with similar speeds as Barbuda.
Four people die and 90% of the structures are damaged;
• 4:30 p.m.: Irma makes landfall on the British Virgin Islands, still at category 5
and with 178 mph wind speed. Other four deaths;
th
o 7 of September:
• 11:00 a.m.: a hurricane watch is issued for Bonita Beach southward on the Gulf
Coast, from Jupiter southward on the east coast and for all of the Florida Keys.
A storm surge watch is issued as well;
• 8:00 p.m.: the eye of the hurricane passes just south of Turks and Caicos
Islands;
th
o 8 of September:
• 1:00 a.m.: Irma makes landfall on Little Inagua Island in the Bahamas as a
category 4 storm with maximum wind speed of 155 mph;
• 2:00 p.m.: the storm strengthens again to category 5 status and moves slightly
to the left and towards the northern coast of Cuba;
• 11:00 p.m.: Irma makes landfall near Cayo Romano, Cuba, with maximum
winds of 166 mph;
th
o 9 of September: Irma passes through the Cuban Keys throughout the day and this
causes it to weaken to a category 4 storm
• 2:00 p.m.: Hurricane Irma again downgrades to a category 2 storm with the
eye near Isabela de Sagua;
• 9:00 p.m.: The Lee County Emergency Operation Center reports housing
30,000 people and about 1,700 pets in shelters;
th
o 10 of September:

5
 • 2:00 a.m.: Irma has intensified to category 4 status, as stated by the Air Force
Hurricane Hunters, and it is about 55 miles south-southwest of Key West;
• 5:00 a.m.: Irma moves to the northwest and its winds reach 135 mph and its
gusts 160 mph;
• 9:00 a.m.: Irma makes landfall near Cudjoe Key, in the lower Florida Keys;
• 2:00 p.m.: Irma downgrades to a category 3 storm;
• 3:30 p.m.: Irma makes landfall near Marco Island, Everglades City, and
Chokoloskee, with maximum sustained winds of 111 mph and wind gusts of
128 mph. Naples Airport measures 142 mph wind gusts. Irma’s intensity again
drops due to hitting land and strong wind shear;
• 5:00 p.m.: Irma’s eye hits Bonita Springs and then the hurricane downgrades
to a category 2 storm, winds hit 110 mph and guts 130 mph. Although Irma
weakens over Florida, the tropical-storm-force winds extend up to 400 miles
from the eye;
• 5:47 p.m.: Irma stretches across Lee County hitting from Lehigh Acres to
Colonial and McGregor and into Cape Coral. Winds gusts hit 88 mph at RSW
airport;
• 8:00 p.m.: Irma downgrades to a category 2 storm;
th
o 11 of September:
• 2:00 a.m.: Hurricane Irma is now a category 1 storm and passes between
Tampa and Orlando;
• 8:00 a.m.: the hurricane weakens to a tropical storm about 20 miles west of
Gainesville;
• 2:00 p.m.: Irma's center moves over southern Georgia just west of Valdosta
with maximum winds of 50 mph;
• 11:00 p.m.: Irma weakens to tropical depression;
th
o 12 of September: Irma crosses Alabama;
o 13th of September: Irma dissipates over southeastern Missouri.

6
Florida’s energy sector

Florida is the fourth largest energy-consuming state in the USA and it uses almost eight times
as much energy as it produces. In particular, Florida’s consumption of transportation fuels is
elevated by tourism industry, which creates high seasonal consumption from highway and
airline travel from out-of-state visitors.

Electricity
Florida is the second-largest producer of electricity in the United States, after Texas, but it still
does not produce enough electricity to meet its power demand.

In 2018, natural gas fueled about 70% of Florida's electricity net generation. Six of the state's
10 largest power plants are natural gas-fired, but petroleum remains an important backup
fuel source: almost two-thirds of the state's natural gas-fired power plants can switch to
petroleum fuels in the event of disruptions in the natural gas supply. There are two nuclear
power stations on Florida's Atlantic Coast and other two proposed nuclear reactors at an
existing nuclear power station south of Miami which have plans on hold.

Renewables, mainly biomass and solar energy, accounted for most of the state's remaining
net generation. Almost all of the state's recent and planned additions of generating capacity
are natural gas-fueled or solar powered.

Petroleum
Florida has minor crude oil reserves and accounts for less than 0.1% of the nation's oil
production but geologists believe there may be substantial additional reserves in federal
waters off Florida's western coast in the Gulf of Mexico.

There aren’t crude oil refineries or interstate petroleum pipelines, which leaves the state
reliant completely on petroleum products delivered by rail, truck, tanker, and barge to inland
terminals and to marine terminals, which are located primarily at Jacksonville, Port Canaveral,
Port Everglades, and Tampa. Providers are Gulf Coast refining centers and foreign supply
sources but also distribution terminals in Mobile, Alabama, as well as terminals in Bainbridge,
Georgia that receive fuels off of the Colonial Pipeline. From the marine terminals, products
are further distributed to markets along the coastline by intrastate barge and truck
movements, and via pipeline to Orlando.

7
 Figure 2: Ports, terminals, and pipelines serving Florida

The state has no ethanol production plants, but it does have three biodiesel production
facilities, with a combined output capacity of 24 million gallons annually. Its electric utilities
have retired older petroleum-fired units and replaced them with natural gas-fired ones.

Natural gas
Florida has no significant natural gas reserves and a very small amount of natural gas
production, all from the same fields that produce crude oil, which is mainly reinjected to
increase the pressure in oil reservoirs to maintain or improve oil production. For this reason,
only about 5% of the state's natural gas gross withdrawals are marketed.

Geologists believe economically recoverable natural gas reserves may lie offshore in the
eastern Gulf of Mexico, but Florida has banned exploratory drilling in state waters in that part
of the Gulf, and the federal government has placed a moratorium on exploration in federal
waters in the eastern Gulf through June 2022.

All of the state’s natural gas supplies arrive from the Gulf Coast region via several major
interstate pipelines, passing through Alabama and Georgia. One subsea pipeline runs 745
miles across the Gulf of Mexico, forming a direct link from Mississippi and Alabama to central
Florida.

Most of Florida's natural gas is consumed for electric power generation, accounting for almost
90% of the state's total gas use.

8
Coal
Florida does not have any coal reserves or production and relies on coal from other states and
from overseas to meet its limited coal demand, almost all for electricity generation. Domestic
coal supplies are delivered by railroad and barge, mostly from Illinois, Kentucky, and Indiana.
The Tampa port receives U.S. coal imports.

Renewable energy
Most of the state's renewable electricity generation comes from biomass and solar energy,
with the remainder coming from two hydroelectricity plants in the Florida Panhandle. In 2018,
utility-scale and small-scale solar facilities contributed more than one-third of Florida's
renewable-sourced net generation.

Other energy sources

Florida has few other renewable energy assets: there are no significant wind resources and
no installed utility-scale wind power generating capacit, but there’s potential for an additional
hydroelectric generation in the northern part of the state that is not close to sea level.

Supply vulnerability
The continuity of the state’s supply chain is overwhelmingly dependent on the flow of
transportation fuels through its ports and a continuous waterborne supply from domestic
refining centers in PADD 3. This dependency on marine volumes makes Florida’s supply chain
particularly vulnerable to hurricanes and tropical storms, which can disrupt both Florida’s port
operations and production in coastal PADD 3 supply centers.
Florida’s largest ports are critical chokepoints for the state’s supply: extended disruptions to
port operations in Tampa Bay and Port Everglades could very quickly lead to fuel shortages in
Central Florida and South Florida, respectively. Moreover, the long distances from South and
Central Florida markets to refining centers on the Gulf Coast and pipeline terminals in Georgia
make it difficult to make up through other modes of delivery in case of disruptions to Tampa
Bay or Port Everglades.
Florida is also vulnerable to disruptions at Gulf Coast refining centers in Texas, Louisiana,
Mississippi, and Alabama. A supply shortfall due to disruptions to Gulf Coast refining or
marine out-loading capabilities could be replaced by importing transportation fuels from
Atlantic Basin or global supply centers.

9
Energy’s sector response during the
hurricane

The consistency of Irma’s track forecast made by the Global Forecast System and the
European model allowed Florida to declare a state of emergency with the right advance,
providing ample time for residents to prepare for the storm’s impacts. The National Hurricane
Center’s ability to issue consistent forecasts days ahead of time highlights how much
hurricane track forecasting has improved over time.
The energy sector has prepared for Irma by pre-positioning additional crews, supplies, and
equipment to support emergency restoration work. Electricity, oil, and natural gas industry
partners daily coordinated with the Department of Energy (DOE) to identify gaps in resources
and coordinate response efforts.
DOE also worked with the Energy Information Administration to assess potential impacts to
the oil and gas sector from Hurricane Irma and with the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) to issue waivers that allowed more fuel to be provided to the country.

8th of September 2017

In preparation to the hurricane, the Department of Energy (DOE) remains in contact with the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), which is placing on-site inspectors at the two plants in
Florida.
Mutual aid crews begin staging resources closer to Florida and utilities in the storm path are
monitoring the storm and activating plans regarding response and restoration.
Hurricane warnings have been stated for Jupiter inlet southward around Florida, the Florida
peninsula to Bonita Beach, the Florida Keys, Lake Okeechobee and Florida Bay.
Florida Power & Light (FPL) has 13500 mutual aid personnel ready to aid restoration efforts
and is reaching out for more crews. Also, it reports that the Turkey Point and St. Lucie nuclear
plants may remain offline for an extended period if access routes to the plants are impassable.
All plant safety systems are normal and available.
Concerning the oil and gas sector, the U.S. Coast Guard is setting conditions for the ports to
either be closed or open with restrictions, in particular:
• Sector Miami:
o Port of Miami: open with restrictions;
o Port Everglades: closed to all inbound vessels;
o Port of Palm Beach: open with restrictions;
• Sector Key West:
o All ports: closed;
• Sector St. Petersburg:

10
 o Port Manatee: open with restrictions, no vessel permitted to transit without
authorization;
o Port of Tampa: open with restrictions;
• Sector Jacksonville:
o Port Canaveral: open with restrictions;
o Port of Jacksonville: open with restrictions;
• Sector Mobile:
o Port of Pensacola: open with restrictions. Port condition extends to include miles
170-375 of the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway;
o Port of Panama City: open with restrictions;

EMERGENCY DECLARATIONS & WAIVERS

Waivers regarding fuel requirements were issued, to help ensure that an adequate supply of
fuel is available, particularly for emergency vehicle needs, in particular:
- On September 5, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved an
emergency waiver tariff allowing the pipeline system to accept gasoline with higher
RVP (Reid vapor pressure) to fill nominations for lower RVP gasoline; and to ship
conventional gasoline in lieu of reformulated gasoline. Colonial’s tariffs and tariff
practices would not normally permit it to accept product that does not conform to the
specifications of the product that was nominated.
- On September 5, a Stafford Act declaration was made for Florida. This gives FEMA (the
Federal Emergency Management Agency) the responsibility for coordinating
government-wide relief efforts. The Federal Response Plan includes contributions
from 28 federal agencies and non-governmental organizations, such as the American
Red Cross.
- On September 6, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a limited waiver of
highway diesel fuel red dye requirements in Florida through September 22 so that,
under the waiver, the EPA will allow the sale, distribution, and use of red dye NRLM
diesel fuel in the State of Florida for use in highway diesel vehicles, but the diesel fuel
must meet the 15 ppm standard.
- On September 7, EPA issued a waiver of the federal requirements for low volatility
“summertime” gasoline requirements for the states located in PADD1, PADD2 and
PADD3 (The Petroleum Administration for Defense Districts, or PADDs, are geographic
aggregations of the 50 States and the District of Columbia into five districts: PADD1,
PADD2, PADD3, PADD4, PADD5). This multi-state fuel waiver covers Florida and other
Southeast states threatened by Hurricane Irma.

11
 Petroleum Administration for Defense Districts

MT
WA ND PADD1A:
New England
PADD 4: MN
WI
ME

OR
ID
Rocky SD
PADD 2: MI PADD1B:
VT

PADD 5: Mountain Midwest

Central
Atlantic NY
NH
MA
West Coast WY
NE IA CT RI
IN OH
UT IL PA
NV NJ
CO KS MO
MD DE
KY
CA
OK
TN WV
VA
PADD 1:
East
AZ NC
Coast
AR
NM SC
PADD1C:
MS AL GA Lower
Atlantic
PADD 3: Gulf Coast
TX LA
AK HI
FL
FL

Figure 3: PADDs

- On September 1, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration

(PHMSA) issued an Emergency Stay of Enforcements for operators affected by
Hurricane Harvey, declaring it does not intend to take any enforcement action relating
to their noncompliance with certain operator qualification requirements, or pre-
employment and random drug testing requirements, arising from the use of personnel
for pipeline activities related to response and recovery. On September 7, PHMSA
issued an enforcement stay for the waiver to include states affected by Hurricane
Irma, including Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Puerto Rico.
- On September 8, PHMSA issued an Emergency Waiver to persons conducting
operations under the direction of the U.S. EPA and the U.S. Coast Guard that support
appropriate actions to prepare for, respond to, and recover from a threat to public
health, welfare, or the environment caused by actual or potential oil and hazardous
materials incidents resulting from Hurricane Irma in Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands,
Florida, and South Carolina.
- On September 8, the Secretary of Homeland Security waived the Jones Act
requirements in order to facilitate the shipping of fuel to Florida from foreign flag
vessels, to help with the fuel shortages caused by the threat of Hurricane Irma.

More precisely, the Jones Act states that "a vessel may not provide any part of the
transportation of merchandise by water, or by land and water, between points in the
United States to which the coastwise laws apply, either directly or via a foreign port"
unless the vessel was built in and documented under the laws of the United States
and is wholly owned by persons who are citizens of the United States. The request to
waive the act was presented by the Department of Defense and the Department of
Energy, and, thanks to it, for a 7-day period, the movement of refined petroleum
products, including gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel is facilitated and has to be shipped
from New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Louisiana to South Carolina, Georgia, Florida,

12
 and Puerto Rico. This waiver applies to covered merchandise laded on board a vessel
within its 7-day period.

Moreover, on September 6, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued
a Regional Emergency Declaration which automatically exempts FMCSRs (Federal Motor
Carrier Safety Regulations), including hours-of-service (HOS) regulations, in the States of
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and in the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
This means that the number of hours that a commercial motor vehicle driver may work per
day, or week, or other period as mandated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
(FMCSA), can be exceeded, this way motor carriers hauling resources help with restoration
efforts. The declaration exempts FCMSR in every state along the motor carrier’s route as long
as the final destination is with the declared disaster areas and some HOS waivers apply
specifically to the movement of petroleum products in or through the state.

Evacuation orders were given to the areas shown in picture.

Figure 4: Evacuation areas

9th of September 2017

Electricity Sector

As of 2:30 PM EDT, Florida has 56,758 customer outages (< 1% of total state customers).
Anyway, Florida Power and Light (FPL) expects 3.4 million of their customers to lose power

13
based on Irma’s current path. FPL has 16,000 personnel from over 30 states on standby to aid
restoration efforts and has stood up 22 staging sites in order to expedite restoration.

Mutual aid crews begin staging resources closer to the predicted impacted areas and utilities
in the storm path are monitoring it and activating their response plans.

The NRC is positioning additional on-site inspectors at the two nuclear plants in Florida, which
are suspected to be hit by Irma, and remains in contact with DOE.

Oil and Natural Gas Sector

Total motor gasoline inventories are above the five-year average for all regions analyzed.

The conditions for the ports have changed:

• Sector Miami:
o Port of Miami: closed;
o Port Everglades: closed;
o Port of Palm Beach: closed;
• Sector Key West:
o All ports: closed;
• Sector St. Petersburg:
o Port Manatee: closed;
o Port of Tampa: closed;
• Sector Jacksonville:
o Port Canaveral: closed;
o Port of Jacksonville: open with restrictions;
• Sector Mobile:
o Port of Pensacola: open with restrictions;
o Port of Panama City: open with restrictions;

10th of September 2017

DOE is closely monitoring the storm and ESF (Emergency Support Function) #12 responders
are deployed to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Region II (New Jersey,
New York, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands) and IV (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky,
Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee) Coordination Centers, and the Florida
State Emergency Operations Center.

14
 Figure 5: FEMA regions

Electricity Sector

As of 2:30 PM EDT, Florida has 1,779,744 customer outages (18% of total state customers),
concentrated in Miami-Dade (~750k), Palm Beach (~250k), and Broward (~530k) counties. FPL
now has 17,000 personnel from over 30 states on standby to aid restoration efforts and 22
staging sites.

ESF #12 responders at the Regional Response Coordination Center (RRCC) in Region IV
(Atlanta, GA) facilitate the movement of restoration crews from Canada to Florida.

The NRC is considering sending inspectors to plants in other areas that the track of the storm
indicate they be needed and continues to remain in contact with DOE.

At 12:01 AM Keys Energy Services control center crews attempted to re-energize the tieline,
the Keys’ main electric transmission line, but it did not hold. The tieline will likely stay out for
duration of storm.

Oil and Natural Gas Sector

The new conditions for ports are:

• Sector Miami:
o Port of Miami: closed;
o Port Everglades: closed;
o Port of Palm Beach: closed;
• Sector Key West:
o All ports: closed;
• Sector St. Petersburg:
o Port Manatee: closed;
o Port of Tampa: closed;
• Sector Jacksonville:

15
 o Port Canaveral: closed;
o Port of Jacksonville: closed;
• Sector Mobile:
o Port of Pensacola: open with restrictions;
o Port of Panama City: closed;

11th of September 2017

Electricity Sector

As the storm continues to cause damage to electric systems further inland, damage
assessments and restoration efforts have begun by utilities, including Tampa Electric, Florida
Power & Light, and Duke Energy Florida. While there is flooding in certain regions of Florida,
the full impacts of the storm are not known at this time. A nationwide mutual assistance
process is underway, one of the largest in US history, involving 49 states and Canada.

• 2:30 PM EDT: Florida has 6,117,024 customer outages (59% of total state customers).
• 4:00 AM EDT: Turkey Point Nuclear Plant staff exited their declaration of an unusual
event as winds and rains have diminished at the site. NRC has three inspectors at the
site, but is assessing steps to return to normal inspection staffing between September
12 and September 13.
• Turkey Point Unit 4 remains under a “hot shutdown” at normal operating pressure
and temperature following a manual trip of the reactor around 7:00 PM EDT,
September 10. NRC reported that the shutdown was uncomplicated and the plant is
in a safe condition.
• Operators at St. Lucie Nuclear Plant are reducing power on Unit 1 due to salt buildup
on insulators in the switchyard that supplies offsite power and the plant staff is
working to resolve the situation. Unit 2 remains at 100% power instead.
NRC has 2 inspectors remain at the site.
• 11:00 AM EDT: FPL crews were in the field working to restore power on Miami Beach
and are conducting damage assessment throughout their service area.
FPL has mobilized the largest restoration workforce ever assembled in the U.S., with
18,000 personnel from over 30 states, and has stood up 22 staging sites in order to
expedite restoration.
• TECO Energy has requested 6,000 personnel through mutual aid assistance to assist in
restoration efforts and damage; restoration assessment is underway.
• 12:30 PM EDT: Duke Energy Florida had crews departing Winter Garden Operations
Center in Northwest Orlando to conduct restoration efforts and has 8,000 personnel
staged in Georgia to assist in response and restoration efforts.

16
Oil and Natural Gas Sector

Petroleum pipelines and terminals in the path of Irma are implementing hurricane
preparedness procedures and many have shut down in advance of the storm.

The condition of the ports remains the same:

• Sector Miami:
o Port of Miami: closed;
o Port Everglades: closed;
o Port of Palm Beach: closed;
• Sector Key West:
o All ports: closed;
• Sector St. Petersburg:
o Port Manatee: closed;
o Port of Tampa: closed;
• Sector Jacksonville:
o Port Canaveral: closed;
o Port of Jacksonville: closed;
• Sector Mobile:
o Port of Pensacola: open with restrictions;
o Port of Panama City: closed;

Regarding the gas distribution utilities, Florida City Gas and TECO Peoples Gas have crews
mobilizing in preparation to the storm and FPL keeps one line running and cycles on and off
the other as needed. Florida PUC experiences no service interruption.

17
Damages and restoration
Irma’s strong winds and heavy rain caused $50 billion in damage in the U.S. alone, in
particular, its impacts were severe in the Florida Keys, where many homes were destroyed or
left uninhabitable. However, because the hurricane hit Florida as a slightly weakened storm,
and in a less populated part of the state, Irma spared the state from an even more
catastrophic impact.
6.5 million people evacuated and there were 77,000 people in 450 shelters. Irma threatened
$2.5 billion in Florida's produce crops, the strongest winds experienced had a velocity of 142
mph in Naples and the biggest inches of rain where 15.9, in Fort Pierce.
Even if the majority of the homes hit by Irma were built to better withstand the storms, as
the state revamped building codes to make houses more resilient to hurricanes after
hurricane Andrew in 1992, there were still big damages. Luckily organizations like FEMA
(Federal Emergency Management Agency) had a quick response in helping the citizens, for
example with its “Operation Blue Roof” it provided a temporary blue plastic sheeting to
eligible homeowners in nine counties, to help reduce further damage to property until
permanent repairs could be made.
FEMA alone also funded more than $1.02 billion in grants to state and local governments and
certain non-profits to help the recovering from the hurricane, which were used for debris
removal and disposal, repairing works, response costs like police and fire department
overtime and shelters and administrative and management costs.
Public Assistance reimbursed eligible applicants for the cost of responding to a disaster and
repairing or replacing damaged or destroyed infrastructure. The federal government
authorized reimbursement for emergency response and debris removal for all 67 Florida
counties, and infrastructure reimbursement for 55 counties.
Among the non-profit organizations leading hurricane Irma recovery efforts in Florida we can
mention: Heart of Florida United Way, Volunteer Florida, All Faiths Food Bank, Bridge to Hope
and Early Learning Children’s Foundation, together with of course the American Red Cross.

The energy sector

According to the Florida Division of Emergency Management, Irma knocked out of power 6.7
million electricity customers in total (64% of all customer accounts in the state), but the
number of people affected by power outages is larger than that because more than one
person may be covered by a single electric bill.

18
 Figure 6: Percentage of people without power per county

Irma was the first major hurricane to hit Florida since Hurricane Wilma in 2005 and although
the percentage of Florida customers without power during Irma was significantly higher than
during Wilma, the rate of electric service restoration has been more rapid, as we can see from
the graph in figure 7. After less than 10 days, in fact, the customers without power were only
about 100,000 (1% of the state total).

Figure 7: Confrontation of power outages in Florida between hurricane Irma and hurricane Wilma

This is because, since 2005, Florida Power & Light and other utilities in the state have made
investments to improve their hurricane preparedness, upgrading electric infrastructure (for
example replacing wooden utility poles with concrete poles) and deploying smart grid

19
technologies, which provide timely and accurate information about outages and can help
utilities better target restoration efforts.
The U.S. Department of Energy states that nearly 60,000 power company employees from the
United States and Canada were involved in restoration efforts after Irma.
Hurricane Irma also affected Florida’s two nuclear power plants:
- Turkey point nuclear power plant: one reactor was shut down as a precaution before the
hurricane arrived and the other was later shut down because of a mechanical issue.
- St. Lucie nuclear power plant: remained operating, although at reduced levels.
All of Florida’s reactors had safely returned to full power by September 18.

Final considerations

Even if Florida’s preparedness and response to Irma have been very good, due to the
experience it had built with previous hurricanes and the improvements it had made in
forecasting, the building and electricity sector and organization, the country still has a weak
point which is its dependence from import in the fuel market and the majority of it being
made on marine supply.
A partial solution could be to make better research and exploratory drilling in the potential
reserves which the geologists supposed to be on Florida’s western coast in the Gulf of Mexico.
But more realistically these reserves wouldn’t fulfill Florida’s demand, so import by land
should be improved.
Regarding this topic, a project to build a 360-mile pipeline, named Palmetto Pipeline, was
proposed by Kinder Morgan. It would have allowed the company deliver petroleum products
from an interconnection with the Plantation Pipeline in Belton, South Carolina, to markets in
South Carolina, coastal Georgia, and as far south as Jacksonville Florida. However, the
legislatures in Georgia and South Carolina voted to not allow the company to use eminent
domain to build that pipeline.
Another project which was designed to enhance supply security to Florida and Georgia has
been proposed, but has never been realized, by Florida Fuel Connection (FFC), whose idea
was to build a rail in order to ship fuel from the Colonial Pipeline in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to
three new rail offloading terminals that the company would have built in South Florida and
southeast Georgia.

20
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