Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

Tampa International adds ‘AquaFence’ to protect against storm surge

tampabay.com · 5h · first reportShare

When hurricanes pummeled Tampa Bay in 2024, Tampa International Airport never lost power. The airport was lucky, airport construction director Dan Seeley said. But staff saw water approach the airport’s west runway higher than ever before, he added. “That kind of opened our eyes to say, ‘We need to take a hard look at all of our infrastructure to make sure that we’re ready for the next storm,” Seeley said. That convinced airport officials to invest in a barrier, called an AquaFence, around electrical vaults that power the airport’s lights, signs and other communication on airfields. Construction on the $1.9 million project started in July and the cost was included in the airport’s budget. And on Thursday, officials revealed the custom engineered 9-foot barrier that helps keep the roughly $50 million vaults operational in case of a storm. Without the power supply, airplanes can’t take off when it’s dark and the airport can’t start up recovery efforts as quickly. Seeley said if the elect