Fingers Crossed For Industry People And Companies In Tampa, As Monster Hurricane Approaches
October 8, 2024 by Dave Haynes
There are numerous digital signage people and companies based in the Tampa, Florida area, which will within the next 48 hours get slammed by Hurricane Milton.
The storm developed out of pretty much nothing off the Mexican coast and is now heading east to Florida’s west coast, with the “spaghetti” tracking models all pretty much having it come in to Tampa Bay and bring with it a surge of water as much as 15 feet above normal. So like a slow-motion tsunami. Much more typically, hurricanes hitting the US (and sometimes all the way up in my area, Nova Scotia) have their origins off the west coast of Africa and spin up as they head west across the Atlantic.
I mention this because companies based in the Tampa-St. Pete-Sarasota area have operations and people to worry about.
Spectrio, which now owns Sixteen:Nine, has its main office in Tampa. While its workforce is widely dispersed around the country, it has people and warehouse operations in Tampa. The company has this note on its site right now: Due to Hurricane Milton, our warehouse operations will be closed Tuesday, October 8th and Wednesday, October 9th. We are working hard to minimize any impact on orders and are fulfilling orders through our distribution partners whenever possible. Some orders may experience slight delays. We appreciate your understanding as we prioritize the safety of our team.
Pro AV integration giant AVI-SPL is also based in Tampa, and Linkedin suggests more than 300 staffers live in the Tampa area.
Scary times. People who live in Florida tend to know how to deal with the crazy winds, and have things like better-braced roofs and storm shutters. But it is the storm surge that has people really worried – particularly if the hurricane pushes rising water into Tampa Bay, piling up and overflowing like a bathtub with the faucet left on.
Here’s hoping everyone gets through this OK.
Stratacache/RDM has offices in Sarasota and St.Pete. We are buttoned up and some folks are evacuating while others are hunkering down. Software availability will remain intact, while some shipments and day-to-day activities will be delayed. We join with our colleagues, partners and competitors in the area and ask for your patience this week, as we always prioritize safety and families, and even more so in this nerve-wracking time.