Florida hospitals are reopening after hurricanes as plans proved largely effective

Hospitals across Florida are coming back online after evacuating patients, closing facilities and canceling surgeries in the lead-up to Hurricane Milton.

The Category 3 hurricane made landfall near Sarasota, Florida on Wednesday evening and was expected to be one of the most powerful in Florida’s history. At least 10 storm-related deaths have been reported and the death toll is expected to rise.

But even amid widespread destruction from storm surges, tornadoes, hurricane force winds and torrential rains, officials said the worst-case scenario was averted because the storm weakened as it arrived.

“Preparing for Hurricane Milton was an incredible team effort and a true test of our resources,” John Couris, president and CEO of Tampa General Hospital, said in a statement. Tampa General is the region’s only high-level trauma center. It remained open during the storm.

“But it ensured we could continue to provide our patients with exceptional care in a high-quality, safe and uninterrupted environment before, during and after the storm,” Couris said.

Milton exploded into a Category 5 hurricane early this week with a path expected to sweep across the Florida peninsula, from Tampa Bay in the west to the beaches of Volusia County in the east.

Milton arrived less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene became the worst storm to hit Tampa Bay in a century. With predictions that Milton could be the “storm of the century,” Floridians here heeded and prepared with a sense of urgency that was unusual among the state’s weather-ravaged residents. Millions of Florida residents evacuated ahead of storm, flights on highways I-75 and I-4.

Healthcare institutions in the path of the storm have also urgently prepared. Florida officials said 212 healthcare facilities were evacuated before the storm hit, including 10 hospitals, two emergency rooms, 115 assisted living facilities and 50 nursing homes.

The Tampa general set up his “aquafence,” an impenetrable barrier surrounding the main campus on the Davis Islands near Tampa Bay, and weathered the storm. The hospital also stockpiled food, water, bedding and other supplies for five days.

Nevertheless, satellite branches of the hospital system remained closed after the storm. An emergency room at Tampa General Hospital in Tampa and another in Brandon are expected to reopen Thursday evening. Normal system operation is expected to resume on Friday.

AdventHealth, another chain that operates hospitals in the Tampa Bay area, said all of its facilities are experience-only “minor water intrusion”and that all but one facility in northern Pinellas County remained open. That facility, in Tarpon Springs, was evacuated before the storm.

HCA Healthcare, a for-profit company that owns dozens of hospitals across Florida, said it has evacuated more than 400 patients from evacuation zones to branches across the state.

Another 235 patients were evacuated from an HCA site in Largo, Florida, after a nearby lake flooded the facility’s basement, affecting power in part of the hospital. Other HCA locations around Tampa Bay – in Pasadena, Largo, Englewood and Tampa – all remain closed. HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital in Port Charlotte reopened Thursday.

In Sarasota, near where the hurricane made landfall, two hospitals remained open during the storm, caring for more than 1,000 patients, but urgent care centers and outpatient clinics across the region remain under investigation.

More than 3 million people lost electricity in the storm’s aftermath, and officials urged residents to stay in their homes as many roads remain blocked by debris and flooding. The storm dumped 18 inches of rain on St. Petersburg.