TPA remained open to serve passengers during Hurricane Debby

Despite torrential rains and periods of gusty conditions, TPA was able to remain open and continue flight operations this past weekend after Tropical Storm Debby skirted the Tampa Bay area before making landfall as a Cat. 1 hurricane in the Big Bend area of Florida’s Panhandle.

When winds reach certain thresholds, TPA must shut down the SkyConnect train and shuttle cars which transport passengers to the Airside terminals. The FAA will also evacuate the Air Traffic Control Tower when conditions become unsafe.

Fortunately, in the case of Debby, the storm’s sustained winds never reached those levels and the airfield was able to remain open with the exception of several brief pauses in operation while the strongest of rain bands moved over the Airport.

TPA received the roughest weather on Sunday as the storm moved just off shore to the west of the Airport. The tropical system created a cascade of flight delays and cancellations, especially for incoming flights from other airports. A ground stop ordered by the FAA caused, on average, 4.5 hour delays for incoming flights from other U.S. airports. Flights departing TPA were less impacted. Both of TPA’s inbound London flights operated by British Airways and Virgin Atlantic were forced to divert to Orlando Sunday evening before eventually landing back in Tampa after one of the roughest lines of weather passed over the airfield.

Monday morning, TPA’s Airfield Operations team was out at sunrise to inspect the Airport for any damage. While pooling water was found around the outskirts of the airfield, there was no flooding in the Aircraft Operations Area and all critical airfield lightning was operating normally.

A huge thank you to the entire TPA Police, Traffic, Maintenance and Operations teams for helping to prepare the Airport ahead of the storm and for keeping TPA up and running during this challenging weekend for aviation across the Southeast.