Project Phoenix

Project Phoenix

IONTB

May 7, 2017The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council, along with their partners from government, business, and social services communities, is developing a plan to identify and address the multitude of issues that would arise should a catastrophic event occur in the Tampa Bay area. For this plan, the Tampa Bay area is defined as the following counties: 

Citrus 

Hardee 

Hernando 

Hillsborough 

Manatee 

Pasco 

Pinellas 

Polk 

Sumter 

Hurricane Phoenix is a fictitious storm created to simulate the effects of a worst‐case scenario. With input from Tampa Bay area emergency management agencies and the local office of the National Weather Service (NWS), a simulated storm was developed with a track and intensity that would devastate the entire Tampa Bay region. The NWS generated National Hurricane Center advisories, local hurricane statements, and data files that simulate the hurricane’s location and intensity from its formation in the Caribbean Sea, through landfall in Pinellas County, to the hurricane’s exit from the east coast of Florida into the Atlantic Ocean. The maps and information presented in this packet are based upon the data files developed for this simulated storm. The simulated parameters of Hurricane Phoenix were input into HAZUS‐MH, the risk assessment tool that uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) standard methodology to measure the effects of real and simulated hazard events like hurricane winds and flooding. As one might expect, a storm of the size and strength of Hurricane Phoenix would create almost unthinkable damage to the area’s homes, businesses, infrastructure, overall economy, and social systems that are currently in place. The goal of this planning process is to develop strategies that will help the Tampa Bay region to recover and rebuild after such a devastating catastrophe. 

The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council would like to acknowledge the following individuals and organizations for their time, effort, and video products that support the making of the catastrophic plan scenario video. Thank You. 

• Dr. Neil Frank - Former Director, National Hurricane Center
• Steve Jerve - Chief Meteorologist, WFLA-TV
• Dr. Steve Lyons - Tropical Weather Expert, The Weather Channel
• Daniel Noah - Warning Coordination Meteorologist, National Weather Service - Ruskin (Tampa Bay Area)
• Tammie Souza - Chief Meteorologist, WTSP-TV
• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
• Florida Division of Emergency Management
• Hillsborough County Hazard Mitigation Division
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
• National Geographic Channel
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
• Pinellas County Communications
• Pinellas PCC-TV
• Pinellas County Emergency Management
• Sarasota County Emergency Management
• United States Coast Guard
• The Weather Channel
• WFLA-TV, Tampa
• WTSP-TV, Tampa 

This video was produced by URS Creative Services - Tampa 

• Brad Courtney - Video Production Manager Creative input provided by the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council Betti Johnson - Principal Planner and Project Lead
• Brady Smith - Senior Planner 

Copyright 2010 - Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council