A.G. Gancarski
Another year, and another potential hurricane (Dorian) is tracking toward Florida’s East Coast.
For the first time since 2010, a new Governor will be marshaling storm response and recovery.
And it is as yet unknown whether he will don a Navy ball cap.
Whereas then-Gov. Rick Scott aggressively branded around hurricane response, a move that arguably won him his Senate seat in 2018, current Gov. Ron DeSantis will offer his own approach.
DeSantis urged preparation, of course, in remarks Wednesday in Jacksonville.
“There’s still a lot of uncertainty with this thing,” the first-term Republican said. “Have a plan.”
DeSantis noted that the expectations have changed even in recent days, with the expected breakup of the storm over Hispaniola not happening.
“Now it’s moved,” DeSantis said, with the “potential hurricane event from Southern Florida all the way up to Virginia.”
DeSantis noted his emergency team has been monitoring the storm all week, with meetings with SERT and local officials.
“Anyone on the East Coast needs to be prepared,” DeSantis said. “As we get closer, whether people issue orders or whatever, that’s something that could happen.”
“We’re going to be very active,” the Governor added, including an activated Emergency Operations Center should it be needed.
DeSantis noted that Jared Moskowitz, the appointed director of the Division of Emergency Management, has “contracts ready to go” should there be need.
“We’re going to be in a position to maybe pre-position assets,” DeSantis added, “if need be, that have not been done before.”
That pre-positioning combined with “more quickly administer[ing] whatever type of relief” should make a difference, DeSantis said.
He noted that hurricanes have struck Florida for three straight years, ensuring the people in the EOC are “battle-tested.”
“They’ve been through this before,” the Governor said.
Earlier this year, his team ran a simulation exercise: a Cat 5 hurricane walloping Tampa Bay.
This looks like an East Coast landfall (though as storms have taught us in recent years, things change), and this is no simulation.
