A.G. Gancarski
Category 4 Hurricane Helene tore up the Big Bend, barreling to land south of Perry in Taylor County, as Gov. Ron DeSantis predicted the “real deal” storm would earlier in the day it arrived.
As the Governor addressed media Thursday night upon landfall at Deckle Beach, DeSantis reassured listeners that help is on the way to a county that has been hit by three hurricanes in a little more than a year.
“We’re here, we’re going to face this storm in Tallahassee,” DeSantis said. “When it’s safe to kind of be liberated from here, we’ll be out and about coordinating response.”
A big part of that response will be restoring electricity to the more than one million Floridians without electricity as of late Sept. 26. The Governor promised linemen for power restoration would be in the field “probably as soon as there’s light out.”
“I think they’re going to get a lot done,” DeSantis added. “The priority is to get power restored as quickly as possible.”
Also among those responses are matters of life and death themselves.
“‘The state is ready to commence search and rescue,” DeSantis said, citing 3,500 National Guard members on hand, along with state troopers and the State Guard.
With flooding far south of the storm’s landfall, missions are expected to be undertaken out of necessity, given that some didn’t evacuate low-lying areas prone to routine flooding exacerbated by the historic storm surge.
One storm casualty has already been recorded away from the landfall in Ybor City: a motorist whose car was “hit when a sign fell on the highway.”
But as DeSantis told the media, he expects more people to become “fatalities” in the hurricane’s wake, given the dangers posed by a storm that is “this big and this strong.”
“There’s so many different things that can happen. This one was some car driving on the roadway and something falls on you. You know, we are going to have trees falling. We’re going to have potentially have people maybe against advice, go out on the roadways. We may have some more road and you may have had folks get caught up in storm surge. I mean, we don’t know, but I think it’s likely that one or some of those things will have happened by tomorrow,” DeSantis said.
While the state doesn’t “have any reports of any fatalities other than the one traffic fatality,” DeSantis expects “that will likely change as we get more and more reports through the wee hours of the night and into tomorrow morning.”
DeSantis urged people to “stay put” amid “hurricane-force winds that are going to extend across a couple of counties.”
‘Treat it almost as if a tornado,” he advised, noting that just because someone may be experiencing “a period of calm when you’re in the eye of the storm, the storm’s not done.”
Taylor County learned that lesson the hard way in an unlucky 13 months through Idalia, Debby, and now Helene.
13 comments
"E"
September 27, 2024 at 5:50 am
Thank Goodness Florida has Ron “The Ronald” Desantis and his Lovely wife Casey in charge of the preperation and response to this monster storm rather than some dithering Dook 4 Brains Democrat Govornor in charge.
Remember Ron will serve the next 2 POTUS terms right after Donald “The Donald” Trump.
Vote Accordingly,
“E” [FKA ELVIS FKA EARL]
ScienceBLVR
September 27, 2024 at 6:26 am
The Governor promised linemen for power restoration would be in the field “probably as soon as there’s light out.”
Wow, what a mensch this gov is.. taking credit for the utility workers efforts. Let’s see how he responds when folks start trying to get homes repaired and the insurance companies drag their feet..
Bobblehead Kammy
September 27, 2024 at 7:12 am
Just imagine if your boy Andrew Gillum were Governor. People would be looking for him this morning to comment and he would be passed out with his hooker boys in a hotel in MIA. That is your kind of leader, not mine. We are fortunate to have DeSantis.
"E"
September 27, 2024 at 7:26 am
Excellent commentary, Bobble,
Your snapshot is what the “Dook” Democrats want in office and the total compidence and goodness of Desantis is what the “Sage” Republicans offer.
The Sage “E”
Tom
September 27, 2024 at 7:16 am
I have a friend who’s a retired linesman and he volunteers for storm cleanup. They were staged in Tampa on Wednesday but last night, he said they’d been told to head towards Georgia so I guess the crews from Alabama that were down here (SFW) after Ian will be helping out around the Capital.
MH/Duuuval
September 27, 2024 at 10:14 am
I rented many years ago from a retired JEA crew chief who was proudest of his record for not losing a single crew member on the job.
All of Ron’s verbal heroics pale before the folks going up in a bucket to fix power lines after a natural disaster. And he should step aside and allow those who actually know the drill to give the public info.
Following the model of the lachrymose Trick Scott is a negative distraction like the old-time weather girls on TV.
"E"
September 27, 2024 at 7:20 am
Good Morn’Ting America,
Let us, one & all, marvel at the low mentality of the “DOOK 4 BRAINS LEFTYS” as they try to match wits with the Sage “E” (see the lame attempt above by the science guy).
America, please join me in the CHASTIZEMENT of all Dook 4 Brains Leftists and their lame and desperate attempts to influnce the upcoming election of The Sage Donald J. Trump by “TRYING” to match wits with The Truth, Justice, & The American Way of The Sage “E”.
Thank you America, and I look forward to spanking the next Dook in line trying to get the best of The Sage “E”.
Frankie M.
September 27, 2024 at 8:41 am
Ronnie’s just knocking on wood that the storm made landfall in a part of the state that is underinsured.
Bobblehead Kammy
September 27, 2024 at 9:00 am
Maybe all of us should knock on wood eh? Or were you hoping for something worse so you could blame DeSantis for an event generated by Mother Nature?
Billy Rotberg
September 27, 2024 at 9:38 am
Gillum and Christ both lost!
Get over it!
Billy Rotberg
September 27, 2024 at 9:39 am
Gillum and Christ lost!
Get over it!
MH/Duuuval
September 27, 2024 at 10:07 am
Gillum was entrapped by law enforcement but later found NOT guilty by a jury. This was a prime example of lawfare long before Trump shills coined the expression.
My Take
September 28, 2024 at 3:05 pm
DeScumbag takes credit for blue collar hard dangerous work.
Comments are closed.