Florida's Power Industry Picks up Pieces After Ian, a Weather Impact Update

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Hurricane Ian made landfall in South Carolina this afternoon, while Florida was picking up the pieces in the aftermath of the storm.

Click on the image at right for a Disaster Impact Tracker map showing the forecasted path of Hurricane Ian.

As with most major hurricanes the biggest challenge for the power industry was the massive amount of damage to the power grid infrastructure after Hurricane Ian pounded Florida earlier this week. At the height of the crisis, more than 2.8 million power customers were without power, but as of Friday afternoon that number had dropped to about 1.8 million customers.

As far as plant damage is concerned, assessments were ongoing. Industrial Info has confirmed Tampa Electric's (Tampa, Florida) Polk County Generating Station was operating, as was the case with Gainesville Regional Utilities' John R. Kelley Generating Station and Orlando Utilities Commission's (Orlando, Florida) Curtis Stanton Energy Center.

Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) (Charlotte, North Carolina) reported blocks 1 and 2 of the Hines Power Station tripped off due to high winds, and inspections were ongoing to determine plant damage. Duke Energy will delay its scheduled fall outage at the facility. The company's Citrus County Power Station had no damage and was planning to move forward with scheduled maintenance activity as planned.

Duke Energy also reports its Intercession City Power plant experienced some wind damage but no flood damage. The plant is operating but it is experiencing staffing issues due to employees experiencing damage to their homes. The company's Anclote Power Station has no damage and is operating normally.

Duke's Tiger Bay Cogen plan was forced offline but incurred no damage to the units. However, the units are unable to operate due to damaged transmission lines. This is the situation at the Osprey Energy Center as well; there was no significant damage but it was unable to operate due to damaged transmission infrastructure.

Meanwhile, there were more than 180,000 customers without power in South Carolina as Ian made landfall there.

In the Chemical Processing Industry, The Mosaic Company's (NYSE:MOS) was in the process of restarting its Riverview, Florida, fertilizer plant. The plant shut down operations in the wake of Ian and expects to return over the upcoming weekend. Mosaic also was in the process of restarting its Bartow, Florida, and Mulberry (New Wales) fertilizer plants.

Of the 58 Florida Pharmaceutical & Biotech Industry facilities that closed and were offline, a majority of the facilities in the cone of the storm were still being evaluated for damage. However, 17 facilities in Brevard, Alachua, Marion, Volusia and Lake counties were back online. More information on the status of the remainder of the facilities will be available early next week.

As of Friday, Industrial Info was tracking 47 Metals & Minerals plants and mines that were offline due to Hurricane Ian. Industrial Info's staff are still trying to make contact with many sites that may still be down, including all of Nucor Corporation's (NYSE:NUE) (Charlotte, North Carolina) Trademark Metals Recycling locations that were in the path of the storm.

A few plants have resumed operations with skeleton crews currently onsite assessing damage. Alro Steel Corporation's (Jackson, Michigan) Orlando site remains closed, but its Boca Raton and Tampa sites were in the process of resuming operations.

Many of The Mosaic Company mines were still shuttered in Florida, but may be back online later today or by Monday at the latest. On Wednesday, Mosaic announced that all of its Florida locations had been secured, with some fully evacuated. Hurricane Ian forced the fertilizer company to halt operations across Polk County. While the exact level of damage is unknown at this point, the company has begun some assessments.

Mosaic announced earlier this week that there were no chemical leaks at its Florida operations, but more inspections and assessments were needed over the next few days. On Thursday, the company announced on its website that "Hurricane Ian has passed through Florida, and we are assessing impacts from the storm. Many of our employees have lost power and received varying levels of damage. We are working to check in with every employee and believe all remain in safe locations...The safety of our people is our top priority. We are assessing impacts to our facilities as it is safe to do so. Early assessments indicate our phosphogypsum stack and process water systems worked well to contain rainfall from Hurricane Ian. We will continue inspections over the coming days..."

South Carolina's ports were monitoring the situation closely.

Railways in the region were making preparations for the storm. In Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX) (Jacksonville, Florida) had positioned crews and supplies in key locations and was monitoring the storm's progress. Crews will assess damage and begin repairs as soon as it is safe. All intermodal terminals and rail yards in the affected areas were closed and traffic has been rerouted or paused.

Norfolk Southern Corporation (Atlanta, Georgia) was monitoring the progress of the storm and all railway systems operating in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. This situation is fluid and will change as the day progresses and the storm continues to move inland.

In South Carolina, Mercedes-Benz (Stuttgart, Germany) idled its auto plant Friday while Volvo (Gothenrburg, Sweden) halted operations on Thursday, according to Reuters. The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) (Arlington, Virginia) also temporarily shuttered its South Carolina operations in advance of the hurricane.

Pharmaceutical & Biotech Industry facilities in the Charleston, South Carolina, area were offline in preparation for the storm.

Ian originally made landfall in southwest Florida as a Category 4 Hurricane earlier this week. It weakened to a tropical storm as it crossed Florida on Thursday, but regained hurricane force after entering the Atlantic.

A hurricane warning was issued from the Savannah River, South Carolina, to Cape Fear, North Carolina.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said maximum sustained winds remained near 85 miles per hour with higher gusts. After making landfall in South Carolina, Ian was expected to weaken and rapidly transition into a post-tropical cyclone overnight. Ian should dissipate over western North Carolina or Virginia late Saturday.

Visit Industrial Info's Disaster Impact Tracker often for updates on this and other active storms globally that could impact industrial assets. Click here for more information.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).