Major Florida phosphate facilities were spared a direct hit from Hurricane Ian, which plowed into the state further south than initially expected, devastating the Fort Myers area and moving through major orange groves as it made its way across the state. President Joe Biden said early indications suggest that there could be a significant death toll. “We’re hearing early reports of what may be substantial loss of life,” Biden said on Thursday.
Some 2.6 million homes and businesses were left without power while rivers overflowed and two bridges collapsed, according to Bloomberg. About 11% of the state’s cell phone networks were out of service.
Rivers across central Florida set flooding records, according to the National Weather Service. Throughout the US Southeast, at least 31 river and tide gauges were recording flooding.
Governor Ron DeSantis said years of rebuilding were ahead from a storm that changed the very character of the state.
Ian came ashore Wednesday afternoon with winds of 150 miles (249 kilometers) per hour, tied for the fifth strongest hurricane to hit the mainland US, Jeff Masters and Bob Henson, meteorologists at Yale Climate Connections said. It pushed a 12-foot wall of water into Naples, Fort Myers, and other cities, swamping cars, toppling buildings, and knocking out power.
Ian weakened as it crossed the state, but was a hurricane again as of Friday morning, threatening to carve a new path of destruction through South Carolina when it roars ashore north of Charleston later in the day.
While little change in strength is expected before it reaches the coast, Ian should see a “rapid” weakening after landfall, according to the National Hurricane Center. Power outages are expected to reach far inland as Ian’s winds shake trees and power lines throughout the region.
The expected damage in South Carolina, and the flooding rains inland, will be severe but won’t rival the devastation across Florida, where it may take weeks or months to assess the true cost. “This is going to be among the most devastating hurricanes we have seen in the US,” said Mike Doll, meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc. “Is it as bad as Katrina? Probably not, but the coastline in southwest Florida is going to be forever altered from this.”
Prior to Ian hitting land, The Mosaic Co. had readied its phosphate facilities for the storm, saying all of its Florida locations were secured with some fully evacuated while minimal staff remained at other sites.
“As we move into recovery mode from Hurricane Ian, our early assessments indicate that there were no environmental releases at our operations,” said a Mosaic spokesman late day Thursday. “We will continue inspections over the coming days to confirm our initial understanding. Our top priority remains the safety of our employees and communities.”
“Our White Springs, Fla. facility was not damaged in the hurricane and remains operational,” said a Nutrien Ltd. spokesperson late Thursday. “Our Aurora, N.C., and Augusta, Ga., facilities continue to operate at this time. We have storm preparedness plans in place and we will continue to monitor conditions while taking all actions necessary to maintain the safety of our people and integrity of operations.”
There was fear that the storm would cause phosphogypsum stacks to leak. As noted above, Mosaic saw no environmental releases, and said before the storm hit that it had made many improvements throughout years of Florida storms to help prevent any potential problems.
While Ian produced over 6 inches of rain and strong winds at the leak-prone Piney Point phosphogypsum site in Tampa, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection said there was no identified damage to the compartment systems or any other water management concerns.
Industry players were closely watching Ian for any impact on the phosphate market. If the Mosaic facilities are offline for 1-2 weeks, that could mean a loss of 250,000-350,000 mt of finished phosphates, or a $240-$330 million drop in revenue, according to Green Markets Director of Research Alexis Maxwell.
Ammonia cargoes for Mosaic from Yara International ASA and CF Industries Holding Inc., as well as from Mosaic’s own production in Louisiana, may also slow. In 2017, Mosaic lost up to 400,000 mt of finished phosphate products following Hurricane Irma.
Other fertilizer companies were also reported to have taken precautions. Sylvite Florida shut down two warehouse locations in Lakeland and Bartow, Fla., at noon on Sept. 27 in preparation for Ian, a company source told Green Markets. Both were slated to reopen again on Friday, Sept. 30, provided power was available. “I imagine every fertilizer blender in Florida is doing the same,” the source said.
Sylvite’s Lakeland facility has 4,000 tons of dry bulk storage and 1,000 tons of finished goods storage, while the Bartow facility has more than 60,000 tons of dry bulk storage.
Griffin Fertilizer Co., a full-service customer blender of dry and liquid fertilizers, closed its office and facility in Frostproof, in southern Polk County, on Sept. 28-29 in advance of Ian’s landfall.
Efforts to reach Diamond R Fertilizer, which operates seven full-service warehouse facilities and two fertilizer blending locations in Florida, were unsuccessful at midweek.
There was also no confirmation on the status of operations at Florikan, a controlled release fertilizer producer based in Sarasota. Efforts to reach Florikan and its parent company, Profile Products in Buffalo Grove, Ill., were unsuccessful at midweek.
CSX reported on Sept. 27 that it was implementing emergency preparations as Ian approached and taking precautions to “ensure employee safety and protect rail assets in advance of the storm.” CSX said no rail terminals had been closed, but customer shipments were likely to be delayed as the storm passed.
CSX also confirmed that operations had been suspended at several intermodal, TDSI auto handling terminals, and TRANSFLO transloading terminals, including Central Florida ILC, Tampa, Palm Center, Sanford (Orlando), and Jacksonville. The company said additional terminal closures could be necessary as the stormed tracked northeast across Florida.
Port Tampa Bay reported on Sept. 28 that it had initiated its Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan after the US Coast Guard placed the port under Hurricane Condition Zulu, indicating gale force winds. As a result, the port’s waterways were closed and all waterfront facilities and dock areas secured to remove debris and hazardous materials.
Ports in Florida that were still shut were expected to reopen on Saturday, according to DeSantis in a Thursday evening press conference.
Ian is expected to be a massive blow to the citrus industry of Florida, which supplies nearly all of the orange juice to the country. Orange juice surged to the highest since 2017 as Florida starts to assess citrus crop damage.
“It will take another day or two to fully understand the damage the storm caused, but damage is expected to be very big,” Jack Scoville, Vice President of Chicago brokerage Price Futures Group, said in a note. Orange juice inventories in Florida are 41% below year-earlier levels, he said.
Upwards of 90% of Florida’s groves, heavy with ripe fruit, were in Ian’s path. Florida, the US’s largest producer of orange juice, had been grappling with citrus greening that damages fruit and eventually kills trees. Futures prices were soaring before Ian.
After the then-record 2005 hurricane season, many citrus producers in Florida could not fully restore operations, Rabobank analyst Andres Padilla said. “Intense damage to the crops could permanently remove some of the producers from the market,” he added.