In ominous tones, a documentary narrator describes the devastation wrought on the Tampa Bay, Fla. area by “Phoenix,” a tropical storm that grew into a Category 5 hurricane.
More than 160 deaths with 30,000 missing people. Upwards of 300,000 people seeking shelter. As much as $200 billion in building damage.
“The devastation to the region is almost unimaginable,” the narrator intones.
Phoenix was imaginary, part of a 2009 government preparation exercise for a killer hurricane dubbed Project Phoenix—an exercise updated in 2020 focusing on small business recovery.
Though the storm and a 10-minute documentary were fictional, the warnings have taken on special significance this week as the nightmare envisioned by Project Phoenix approaches in the form of the very real Hurricane Ian….