State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

Two City Leaders Reflect on Hurricane Response and Recovery

Route Fifty: When Hurricane Irma roared into Florida last month Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn says his city was braced for the worst.

It had been nearly a century since Tampa had taken a major hit from a hurricane. But Buckhorn now believed the city’s luck had run out. He expected the storm surge from Irma would inundate parts of Tampa and that properties, including his own home, would be damaged or destroyed.

Storm surge flooding, in his estimate, more so than powerful winds or heavy rain, posed the gravest risks to Tampa, a city of about 377,000 residents, located on a bay that shares its name. “That’s the killer,” Buckhorn said of the flooding.

In the end, the storm took a path that spared Tampa from the worst of its wrath.

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