Hurricane History & Florida MMTC Closures

Last verified: May 2026

Hurricane Andrew (August 24, 1992)

Hurricane Andrew made Category 5 landfall in southern Miami-Dade (Homestead) on the morning of August 24, 1992. Andrew remains the historical baseline for “what southern Miami-Dade infrastructure failure looks like” — tens of thousands of homes destroyed, 65 deaths, $27.3 billion in damage (1992 dollars; equivalent to ~$60 billion in 2026 dollars).

The Florida medical-cannabis program did not yet exist in 1992 (Amendment 2 passed in 2016, with a more limited Charlotte’s Web program enacted in 2014). Andrew is therefore not part of the MMTC-disruption record, but the storm’s southern Miami-Dade impact informs every subsequent hurricane plan in the region. The Homestead area — where The Flowery’s 100,000+ sq ft cultivation now sits — bore the worst of Andrew’s impact. Homestead.

Hurricane Irma (September 10, 2017)

Hurricane Irma made Category 4 landfall at the Florida Keys on September 10, 2017, then tracked up the west coast of Florida. Most of Florida’s MMTCs suspended operations for several days during and after Irma’s passage. Statewide cultivation and processing facility impact was significant; supply normalization took weeks.

Irma was the first major test of the Florida medical-cannabis program (which had received its first MMTC license to Trulieve in 2015). The program was still relatively small — patient counts in 2017 were under 100,000 statewide, compared to 925,000+ today — but the operational lessons from Irma shaped current MMTC severe-weather protocols.

Hurricane Ian (September 28, 2022)

Hurricane Ian made Category 4 landfall near Fort Myers on September 28, 2022. Miami-Dade sustained significant rainfall but limited wind damage. Trulieve established an Employee Relief Fund, distributing over $30,000 to Ian-affected employees.

Ian was a major west-coast Florida event but a relatively limited Miami-Dade event. The MMTC supply impact for Miami-Dade patients was modest — some inventory shifted from west-coast stores to east-coast stores during the recovery period, but Miami-Dade dispensary operations were not materially disrupted.

Hurricane Helene (September 26, 2024)

Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend on September 26, 2024. Miami-Dade was outside the major impact zone but tropical-storm conditions affected delivery. North-Florida MMTC operations were heavily disrupted; the corresponding Trulieve, Curaleaf, and MÜV cultivation facilities in north-central Florida saw operational impacts that affected statewide supply.

Hurricane Milton (October 9, 2024)

Hurricane Milton made Category 3 landfall near Siesta Key on October 9, 2024. Even though the storm tracked west of Miami-Dade, the operational impact on cultivation and processing facilities affected supply statewide for weeks.

Milton-specific MMTC impact:

• Cresco Labs (Sunnyside) closed nine Florida dispensaries
• Ayr Wellness shut 56 of its 66 Florida stores in preparation
• Trulieve preemptively advised patients to “stock up with one week’s worth of products in anticipation of prolonged closures”
• MÜV closed all west-coast dispensaries
• Curaleaf directed patients to individual store pages for updated hours

⚠️ Even though the storm tracked west of Miami-Dade, the operational impact on cultivation and processing facilities affected supply statewide for weeks. Miami-Dade patients who had not built buffers ahead of the storm experienced 1–2 weeks of inventory pressure as MMTCs prioritized re-stocking the most-impacted west-coast stores.

The Successive-Storm Stress Test (Helene + Milton, 2024)

The 2024 hurricane season — Helene and Milton in successive weeks — was a stress test for the Florida MMTC supply chain. The combination revealed:

• Cultivation-facility damage compounds — back-to-back storms can damage facilities still recovering from the prior storm.
• Operator severe-weather pages varied in update frequency — some operators (Trulieve, MÜV) provided real-time SMS alerts; others (some smaller operators) relied on store-page updates.
• Cross-county delivery waivers worked when issued by OMMU — Miami-Dade operators were able to serve some west-coast displaced patients.
• Patient stockpiling outpaced supply at certain large operators in the 24-hour pre-storm window, causing temporary out-of-stocks even at unaffected stores.

The 2025 Season

The 2025 hurricane season passed with relatively limited Miami-Dade impact. No named storm made direct landfall in Miami-Dade or affected Miami-Dade MMTC operations materially.

The 2026 Season

The 2026 Atlantic hurricane season opens June 1 and runs through November 30. ⚠️ Cannabis patients should treat hurricane preparedness as a recurring annual planning task, not a once-and-done.

NOAA seasonal outlooks and local Miami-Dade guidance from the Office of Emergency Management provide updated risk assessments. Patients should review the patient-continuity checklist here ahead of June 1 each year.

Trulieve’s Hurricane Guidance — Public Statement

Trulieve’s standing public guidance ahead of named storms recommends a one-week buffer of medication. Many patient advocates and the OMMU have implicitly endorsed a longer two-week buffer in light of the Helene-Milton 2024 lessons.

The Climate-Trend Question

The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season was notably active and produced two of the most destructive storms in the Florida record (Helene and Milton in successive weeks). NOAA and academic-climate-science consensus is that warming sea-surface temperatures contribute to more intense Atlantic hurricane formation. The forward-looking risk framework for Miami-Dade patients should assume more frequent and more intense storm impacts over the medium term.

Companion Page — Patient Continuity Checklist

For the actionable patient-continuity checklist, see our patient continuity page.