Preparing energy infrastructure for hurricanes and severe weather events

When cities go dark: How storms and hurricanes challenge our energy infrastructure 

Hurricanes are the seasonal nightmare of many communities, leaving trails of chaos wherever they make landfall. They sweep in with howling winds, torrential rain, and storm surges that, taken together, bring incredible challenges for city planners, homeowners, businesses and engineers alike. And while hurricanes come and go in a matter of hours or days, their impact on energy infrastructure—our power lines, gas pipelines, and even renewable energy sources—can take months, if not years, to fully unravel. 

Let’s take a deep dive into the wild world of how storms turn our reliable electricity grids into cautionary tales, leaving communities scrambling to put the pieces back together. 

What are the most affected structures in storm? 

According to a publication by the Joint Research Centre for the European Commission’s science and knowledge service, the parts of the energy infrastructure that suffer the most are usually transmission and distribution lines as well as power lines. Unfortunately, once they get destroyed, things might go dark very quickly. Those structures are usually out in the open and easily destroyed by the high wind speeds and flying debris.  

For cities like Miami, Houston, or New Orleans, losing power during a hurricane isn’t just inconvenient; it’s dangerous. Traffic lights go out, disrupting evacuation routes; hospitals and emergency services switch to backup generators (that may run out of fuel); and residents lose access to cooling or heating, depending on the season. Some places are lucky—utility companies and local governments might have hardened infrastructure with stronger poles and buried lines. But for many cities, the story is a familiar one: darkened streets and a race against time to restore power before things go from bad to worse.   

Substations in a hurricane  

Now let’s talk about the substations—those boxy, fenced-off spaces that often go unnoticed until they’re underwater. Substations are where high-voltage electricity gets converted to lower voltages that we can safely use in our homes and businesses. But because they’re typically located near population centers, substations in coastal urban areas often fall prey to storm surges. Just one flooded substation can mean a blackout for an entire neighbourhood, leaving thousands of people in the dark. 

Hurricane Sandy taught New York City just how vulnerable these substations are. The storm surge not only flooded parts of Manhattan but also overran electrical substations, causing extensive outages across the city. Since then, cities like New York have invested in flood walls and waterproofing for their substations. But when a storm like Hurricane Ian hits Florida with both intensity and an unpredictable path, even the best-prepared cities face challenges. 

Renewable Energy: Not Always a Sunny Solution 

The rise of renewable energy has given cities a cleaner, greener option. Solar panels and wind turbines are increasingly dotting urban landscapes and rural settings alike. But in a storm, these modern marvels can have issues of their own. 

Solar panels are generally built to withstand wind speeds up to a certain limit, but hurricanes like Irma and Maria tested—and broke—that limit in many areas. In Puerto Rico, for instance, the renewable energy sector took a huge hit during Hurricane Maria, with many solar farms damaged or entirely destroyed. Wind turbines can be equally vulnerable. Turbines, with their towering structures and massive spinning blades, are generally built to "lock down" and withstand hurricane-force winds, but these measures can fail under extreme conditions, especially if the storm doesn’t follow the expected path. And while these structures are often quickly repaired, they highlight a critical issue: the power grid is only as strong as its weakest link and renewable or not and these often smaller, freestanding structures face more damages as large traditional power plants. 

The challenge of designing resilience in power grids 

Some cities and communities are learning from the past and investing in microgrids—localized energy grids that can operate independently from the main grid during outages. These systems, often powered by solar panels with battery backups, can keep critical facilities like hospitals and fire stations running when the broader grid is down. In a way, microgrids are a “storm insurance” policy, providing resilience that centralised grids often lack. Not only are these helpful for every city community, but especially poorer areas, where public services are hard to excess and repairs can take months, these systems can bring power and life quality back to the people a lot quicker. 

After Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico made a big push toward microgrids and energy storage solutions. The island invested in community-based microgrid with solar panels and battery setups, which provide localised power and reduce dependence on the island's centralised grid. Battery storage has seen advancements that make it a viable backup for renewable sources. But while microgrids are promising, they're still largely experimental and costly for widespread implementation. So, while renewable energy technologies offer promise, high costs and deployment challenges still limit their ability to fully replace traditional infrastructure across the island. 

The obstacle course of adaption and recovery after storms

Once the storm clears, restoring power isn’t as simple as flipping a switch. Utility companies, local governments, and even the National Guard step into clear debris, assess damage, and rebuild. During Hurricane Ida, linemen from around the country were deployed to restore power to Louisiana, but the process took weeks. Why? It’s not just the damage—it’s the logistics. The aftermath of a storm creates a chaotic, obstacle-filled environment, from blocked roads to flooded areas that can’t be accessed until the waters recede.  

Apart from putting together the pieces of the infrastructure people will also need to put their livelihoods back together. A disaster like this can bring entire business ecosystems to a standstill, sending shockwaves through local and national economies. The most immediate financial hit from a hurricane is the halt in business operations. For sectors like retail, hospitality, and entertainment, days or weeks of closure due to evacuations, damaged infrastructure, and power outages mean direct losses in revenue. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), only about 40% of small businesses manage to reopen after major disasters. 

Hurricanes can also throw supply chains into disarray, disrupting the transport of goods and raw materials. Coastal areas, especially ports, are particularly vulnerable as storms can damage port infrastructure, delaying shipments for weeks or even months. This has ripple effects across industries. For example, during Hurricane Harvey in 2017, Houston’s energy sector was disrupted, impacting gasoline prices nationwide. When one link in the supply chain fails, businesses down the line suffer delays and higher costs, affecting both profitability and market stability. 

Sadly, there is no real solution that would eradicate every bit of physical and financial damage, power outages and the need for repairs. Hurricanes and the ever-growing danger of more extreme weather caused by climate change will always be detrimental to a tightly packed urban center. Therefore, growing and adapting our energy infrastructure for more hurricane preparedness will be of utmost importance. Researchers suggest that the most damaging U.S. hurricanes are three times more frequent than 100 years ago, and that the proportion of major hurricanes (Category 3 or above) in the Atlantic Ocean has doubled since 1980. It’s not only the hurricane areas of the U.S. that are suffering, extreme weather is getting common all around the globe.  

So, how can communities protect themselves? Some key strategies for preparing energy infrastructure for severe weather might look like this. 

Early Warning & Preemptive Actions:

Advanced weather systems allow grid operators to predict storm paths, giving them time to prepare. Preemptively shutting down at-risk substations reduces the risk of catastrophic damage when high water levels hit. 

Reinforced Power Lines and Flood Protection for Substations:

Durable, hurricane-resistant poles made from steel or concrete and burying key power lines in vulnerable areas provide robust protection against high winds. Substations can be elevated and updated with flood walls and better drainage systems. 

Smart Grid Technology:

Smart grids: automated systems detect and isolate faults, allowing faster, targeted responses when outages occur, while real-time monitoring highlights grid vulnerabilities before storms strike. Investing in AI solutions and other technological innovations will help to respond and predict dangers faster with every storm.  

Microgrids & Renewable Backup:

Microgrids and local energy storage enable essential services like hospitals to stay powered independently of the main grid during storms. 

Rapid Response & Mutual Aid:

With emergency response plans in place, utilities pre-position resources, activate mutual aid agreements with nearby regions, and quickly deploy temporary structures, such as transmission towers, to speed up recovery. 

Improved Access to Remote Sites:

Strengthening access roads to critical, remote infrastructure helps ensure crews can reach and repair damaged sites quickly. 

These measures might not be the only ones out there but are vital to protect energy infrastructure and also allow for a quicker recovery of said systems. In the end, storms and hurricanes are the ultimate test for our cities’ energy infrastructure resilience. While we can’t avoid every power outage or line break, we can outsmart them. Every fortified pole, elevated substation, and well-prepared response team puts us a step ahead, making our power grid a little tougher, a little smarter, and a lot more resilient. But maybe the most difficult part about adapting to more and more severe storms will be, as usual, people and governments’ ability to proactively change and upgrade their infrastructures for what is yet to come. 

Storms test the resilience of our energy systems, and while we can’t prevent every outage, we can strengthen our infrastructure. With proactive upgrades and disaster-ready planning, our cities can become better prepared to face the growing challenges of severe weather.