Hurricane Updates

Hurricane Milton

Clearwater Marine Aquarium is now preparing for the impacts of Hurricane Milton. Our team is actively moving equipment and animal habitats to higher ground. We have formed a ride-out team that will remain at CMA to ensure the safety of our animals during the storm. The National Hurricane Center is closely monitoring Hurricane Milton, and a southern path for the storm’s eye will reduce our risks of severe storm surge and flooding.

We are still actively fundraising for CMA’s hurricane recovery efforts after Hurricane Helene. Having been closed for over 12 days, we depend significantly on ticket sales to maintain our facility and to ensure our animals are fed and cared for.

Due to these impacts in our area, we remain closed until further notice. We need your support to help us reopen quickly and recover from this storm.

Hurricane Helene Recovery

Clearwater Marine Aquarium (CMA) was severely impacted by Hurricane Helene on Sept. 26 as it hit our waterfront facility with high storm surge and strengthened to become a category 4 storm causing widespread damage across Clearwater Beach, Tampa Bay, Florida and the Southeast U.S.

During Hurricane Helene, CMA was flooded with over 4 feet of water, lost power for an extended period, and vital equipment was damaged by the salt water, including some of our life support systems (LSS). Freezers, lab equipment, laundry machines, air compressors, and other essential tools were also lost or damaged. Elevators were flooded and many lower areas sustained water damage. Our facilities team is working diligently to make repairs and get everything operational as quickly as possible. CMA staff volunteers have been assessing damage, cleaning, drying equipment, transporting animal food and supplies, and continuing to provide daily animal care.

In an abundance of caution for the two manatee patients, Yeti and Zamboni were safely transported from CMA back to ZooTampa at Lowry Park, Saturday morning. Once CMA’s systems are fully operational, we will coordinate with the Manatee Rescue & Rehabilitation Partnership and FWC to determine when manatees will return to CMA.

Sea turtles in rehabilitation were also temporarily being transferred to The Coastal Stewards at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton.

We greatly appreciate the support of our partners across Florida and our hearts go out to all those affected throughout Tampa Bay and other areas impacted by Hurricane Helene.

All other resident animals are safe, and some animals have been moved within the facility to ensure they are secure while we address impacts to their habitats.

Meanwhile, extensive damage and cleanup efforts in Clearwater Beach have kept the Clearwater Memorial Causeway closed for several days, limiting access for our teams to get to CMA.

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Our dedicated team of staff and volunteers has been working hard every day after the storm to clean up, repair and restore Clearwater Marine Aquarium so that we can continue to operate and prepare to reopen.

Program and Event Updates:

The new Aqua Lanterns exhibit experience is still scheduled to open on October 16, but we will share more updates after Hurricane Milton.

All other events scheduled later in October will continue as planned, including our Halloween Spookquarium Brunch on Oct. 27. Our Visitor Center, Dolphin Tale Theater and Jacobson Ballroom, located on the fourth level, are rated to withstand category 5 hurricanes and were largely unaffected by the storm surge impacts from Hurricane Helene. We were able to host events after Hurricane Helene and hope to be able to continue hosting more events at our venue soon. Please contacts events@cmaquarium.org for any inquiries to plan an event.

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We are so grateful for the love and support we’ve received following Hurricane Helene. Many of you have contributed to our fundraiser and donated items to help rebuild our facility and to continue to care for our animals. We couldn’t do this without your support!

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An ocean of thanks to:

• The Florida Aquarium for providing chillers, medical supplies, and a care package for our staff!
• Aquarium of the Pacific for donating two Aqualogic chillers.
• McRoberts Sales Co. for donating over $13K in frozen fish to help feed our animals.
• Texas State Aquarium for a $10k donation.
• Protect Wild Dolphins Alliance and Protect Marine Wildlife specialty license plate for a $25k donation.
• Dolphin Quest for a $2,500 donation.
• KultureCity for a $2,500 donation.
• Safepoint Foundation for a $2,500 donation.
• Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation (FWC) and the Coastal Stewards at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center for coordination relocating rehabilitating sea turtles
• USFWS, FWC, Manatee Rescue & Rehabilitation Partnership, and ZooTampa at Lowry Park for coordination relocating rehabilitating manatees.
• Disney for providing a care package for our team.
• Bill Jacksons and Mac Sports for donating free SCUBA tank refills while our compressor is down.
• Home Depot of Palm Harbor for supplying laundry machines.
• Home Depot of Largo for supplying laundry machines.
• K2 Scientific/Thermo Fisher Scientific organization for donating an ultra-low freezer.
• Main Street Pharmacy for donating ultra-low freezer.
• Product Development Partners, LLC for donating an ultra-low freezer.
• Supporters for sending us more than 100 other needed wish list items and supplies.
• Over 1,200 individual supporters for helping us raise more than $100k so far.

Many other partners, local businesses and individuals have contributed in many different ways, providing funds, equipment and support to help us continue our animal care and recovery efforts.

THANK YOU!

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All manatee activities authorized by USFWS and conducted under USFWS Permit No. MA66524C. All marine turtle footage taken in Florida was obtained with the approval of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) under conditions not harmful to marine turtles. Footage was acquired while conducting authorized conservation activities pursuant to FWC MTP-23/24-172.