Tampa General strengthens hurricane defenses with AquaFence upgrades

With hurricane season underway, Tampa General Hospital is reinforcing its defenses against flooding and storm surge on its Davis Islands campus.Tampa General flood defensesThe hospital’s AquaFence remains a major part of that strategy. The water-impermeable barrier was first deployed in 2019 and has been used to protect the hospital during several storms, including Hurricane Helene in 2024.During Helene, TGH says the AquaFence withstood an estimated nine feet of water.This year, the hospital added infrastructure designed to address a different threat: water getting behind the barrier through the campus’s underground drainage system.TGH installed 20 storm drains across its main campus, along with significant reinforcements around existing manholes.The hospital also installed 18 large check valves in its main storm drain lines. The valves function like one-way doors: rainwater can flow out of the campus toward the bay, but storm surge cannot travel backward through the pipes and into the