(54d) Plant Shutdowns & Recovery Due to Hurricanes Versus Tropical Storms – Common Elements and Differences

During the summer and fall seasons, regions along the US coastline face the threat of being hit by Tropical storms and Hurricanes. While Hurricanes are known for their impacts, the sites are typically well prepared to brace such weather conditions, with adequate planning prior the event occurring, and recovery measures, should the area be hit by the Hurricanes.

Often, when forecasts indicate a Tropical storm as opposed to a Hurricane measures, there is a tendency to reduce the preparedness by a few notches as compared to the advent of a Hurricane. Should the storm pass by quickly or its intensity reduces further, the sites are not impacted by this lower level of preparedness. However, in the event of the forecast changing, or the storm gaining intensity or slowing down its progress, often sites will not have enough time to elevate the preparedness, e.g. the pattern of hurricane Harvey and its anomalous intensity, speed and path of progress.

Preparedness during those transition hours, posed further challenges, thereby hampering the recovery measures. At those times, while recovery measures are essentially, sites may often run into the situations of not having the right rescue equipment and other essential supplies. Hence, recovery may now pose additional threats to the people and the process.

This paper will discuss the some case studies of how much of the preparedness must be common be it hurricanes or tropical storms, and what challenges will be different. The author will share their view of what measures are independent of the storm intensity and what measures can be avoided during tropical storms, what becomes essential prior to the storms, and how can the risks to the people and process during the recovery measures be minimized. Key to remember is irrespective of the conditions and planning, the threat will always exist to human lives. Appropriate mitigation measures will weaken the impacts.