Summary:
This report provides information about the ongoing situation of Hurricane Ian, which reached Category 3 over Cuba, showing a predicted landfall near the Tampa Bay area, Florida.
Currently, the Hurricane forecast predicts Ian as a significant Category 4, very close to the Tampa area, raising the prospects of catastrophic storm surge, with winds gusting well over 140 mph. More than 10 inches of predicted rainfall is expected in a densely populated area, comprised of high-value properties in a low-lying part of the Florida coastline.
Skytek is actively monitoring the marine traffic density over the area, in particular around the Straits of Florida (the portion of sea between Cuba and Florida) and is recording a significant decrease over the past hours, as naturally expected. The vessels still in the area (see Figure 1) are expected to be steaming away from the hurricane path within the next hours.
Skytek detected 23 commercial vessels with an estimated value of $ 1Bil and 2 windfarms located in the Appalachian State and Flagler County.
Using its REACT platform, Skytek provides an overview of the exposure, in the form of a list of assets currently in the cone of the Hurricane as well as a graphical view on the map (Figure 1).
Type of assets | No. |
Commercial vessels | 23 |
Yachts | 123 |
Hotels | 280 |
Windfarm | 2 |
PORTS AND OFFSHORE EXPOSURE
The Port of Tampa, with a handling capacity of 33 million tons of cargo a year, is spread over 5,000 acres and operates an average of ~2,700 vessels per year.
Figure 2 below provides an overview of the main port areas of interest and terminals.
YACHT AND PLEASURE BOAT EXPOSURE
Tampa Bay is home to several marinas with many yachts and pleasure boats. Skytek’s REACT system captures 123 yachts with active AIS trackers suggesting high-value yachts in this area. In addition, using satellite Earth Observation imagery acquired this week, Skytek’s satellite club system identified numerous small vessels in the area, suggesting significant yacht exposure.
The top 10 marinas in the area are listed below and plotted in the maps in Figures 3, 4 & 5:
- Bayboro Harbour
- Petersburg Municipal Marina
- Marker 1 marina
- Marjorie Park Marina
- Twin Dolphin Marina
- Riviera dunes marina
- Safe Harbour Regatta
- Lands’ End Marina
- Safety Harbour City Marina
- Bahia Mar West Marina
Using very high-resolution Earth Observation images, Skytek is able to provide in-depth and up-to-date information about the status of the assets within these marinas, as well as the condition of the infrastructure around them. An example is provided in Figure 6 below, for the “Safe Harbour Regatta” marina in Memphis, Florida.
PROPERTY EXPOSURE
Current forecasts predict that Hurricane Ian will make landfall in West-central Florida as the main area of impact, as early as Wednesday night, causing winds as high as 140 mph, and potentially reaching Category 4 level.
The figure below provides a visual representation of the 78 hotels that are potentially affected by the Hurricane’s landfall, which are most 4 and 5-star hotels on the coast as well as large 3-star hotels.
