TAMPA, Fla. — Hurricane Milton is already making history as one of the most intense hurricanes on record.
Even though the storm is set to weaken as it approaches Florida's coast, the state's emergency services chief warned that incoming storm surges are "not survivable" in some areas.
Tampa is bracing for Milton's impact, including the city's major hospital. Tampa General Hospital has recently been put under the microscope by thousands online after an account pointed out the hospital's peculiar placement.
"The Tampa Bay area's main hospital and only trauma center is built on an island at sea level," the poster said. "Florida's best and brightest found this tweet and are calling people morons for questioning whether this is a good place for a hospital."
We dug into the facts to VERIFY the claim.
The question:
Is Tampa's main hospital built on an island at sea level?
Our sources:
The answer:
Yes, Tampa General Hospital is technically on an island. But, it isn't defenseless against a hurricane.
What we found:
The first of several facilities, which would later become Tampa General Hospital, was built on land masses formerly known as Little Grassy Key and Big Grassy Key in 1905, according to the hospital's website.
The islands were created into the "Davis Islands" neighborhood in the 1920s by developer and Tampa native D.P. Davis, Tampa's government website said.
"The land was built up from mud dredged from the bottom of Tampa Bay and expanded," the city website said. "With a canal fully separating a portion of the island from the rest of it, Davis Islands is technically an archipelago, hence the plural form Islands in its name."
Tampa General Hospital officially opened in 1927 and took the place of the former Gordon Keller Hospital and the Gordon Keller School of Nursing.
Hospital officials are aware of the facility's peculiar placement and have taken precautions to protect it in the event of extreme weather.
"Tampa General Hospital has opened the incident command center and activated its hurricane preparedness plan in advance of Hurricane Milton," the hospital said in an emailed statement to 10 Tampa Bay. "Tampa General leadership and team members engage in emergency management training with government and community partners several times throughout the year to plan for and practice response to various emergencies, such as severe weather events."
The hospital's flood water-repelling technology, specifically, saved the building from record-breaking storm surge just weeks before Milton from Hurricane Helene. The multi-million-dollar "Aquafence" investment was deployed for the first time around the hospital in 2022 ahead of Hurricane Ian.
“It really takes our lowest point of entry up from about eight feet up to 15 feet. So it, you know, from a storm surge standpoint, it definitely protects the hospital from that,” Erinn Skiba, Assistant Director of Public Safety for Tampa General Hospital, previously told WTSP.
The hospital's own Central Energy Plant, a 16,000-square-foot on-site energy source, also provides backup power to the building if there's a disruption and is built to withstand the impact and flooding of a Cat 5 hurricane, according to hospital officials. A local well also supplies patients and staff with water in addition to the 5,000 gallons of drinking water moved on-site.
It’s not just Tampa's hospital that has to prepare for a hurricane. The state has rules in place that every hospital in Florida has to follow. Click here to see what the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration requires.
