Just as Hurricane Isaias swept past Florida causing only minimal damage, the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council released Phoenix Project 2.0, a look at how a Category 5 hurricane would impact small business in Tampa Bay — and what can be done now to avoid those impacts.
TBRPC estimates that as many as 40% of the small businesses operating in the region would go out of business in the worst-case scenario following a major storm. Besides damage to stores, offices, factories and computer systems, power outages could last for days and highways and bridges could close for months.
“Our goal is to help small businesses realize what could happen in a worst-case scenario and take steps now to mitigate that damage,” said Sarah Vitale, senior planner who directed the production.
Developed with funding from the U.S. Economic Development Agency, Project Phoenix 2.0 was originally planned as a four-hour tabletop exercise for small business owners and emergency management staff from local governments. After the public health pandemic halted large events from taking place, the project materials were repackaged to provide valuable preparedness resources to the community this hurricane season.
The Project Phoenix 2.0 online training resources (www,tbrpc.org/phoenix) include critical information in a compelling format to organizations like local governments, chambers of commerce and trade groups. Organizations can use these training materials to examine important issues facing small businesses before and after a major storm and host their own educational events, either virtually or in-person once it is safe to do so The training materials include a series of videos, a hurricane situation manual, a pre-recorded “Train the Trainer” webinar and other tools that can be easily customized for local groups or trade organizations.
“We walk business owners through what they can do now to make a difference — developing continuity plans, evaluating insurance needs and developing responses to human resource issues, as well as protecting their business properties,” Vitale said.
Image courtesy of NOAA
A Project Phoenix 2.0 training exercise draws participants in by opening with tensely worded television clips that track Hurricane Phoenix as it escalates into a Category 5 hurricane and makes a beeline for the Tampa Bay area.
The series of videos and complementary training modules walk business owners and managers through how to recover from the immediate impacts of a storm and move through long-term recovery operations.
Throughout the exercise, interviews with business owners who survived Hurricane Michael when it hit Mexico Beach in Florida’s Panhandle in 2018 provide lessons-learned and words of advice.
“We were ready for a hurricane, but we weren’t ready for this,” says one charter boat captain. “You need to be willing to adapt,” adds another business owner. “The rules are different than they were before.”
Along with planning for a major hurricane, the exercise includes a series of modules on how to effectively recover from the storm.
- Module 1 – One Day Later: Immediate impacts and damage assessments
- Module 2 – One Week Later: Short-term recovery operations
- Module 3 – One to Six Months Later: Long-term recovery operations
- Module 4 – One Year Later: Long-term recovery operations
“Small businesses are the mainstay of Tampa Bay’s economy,” Vitale said. “If they can’t survive a hurricane, there would be a long-lasting and widespread impact on the entire region. Planning now can make a significant difference if a major hurricane strikes.”
ICYMI:
Project Phoenix 2.0: The Recovery is a follow-through on the ground-breaking Project Phoenix originally released by the TBRPC in 2010 highlighting what would happen to the region during and after a major hurricane. Even a decade later, people shiver when they remember the visuals of an imaginary storm devastating the region.
The 2010 video is still online, along with other hurricane preparedness information that every resident should be aware of:
- Project Phoenix 2.0 online training materials, including the new video series
- TBRPC’s Disaster Planning Guide, which is updated annually for each county in the region
- Evacuate or Stay, an easy-to-follow decision tree for residents who aren’t sure if they should hunker down at home, make arrangements to stay with family or friends, or find a nearby public shelter.
- Surge and Wind viewer, which allows residents to search for their address and see predicted wind speeds and storm surge for their home or business.
Read more about Project Phoenix at the Tampa Bay Times.