A.G. Gancarski
The Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore reports bad news emerging from his conversation with the head of Division of Emergency Management (DEM).
During a hit shortly after 8 a.m. Monday, the veteran journalist, known as the gold standard in storm coverage, revealed that DEM Director Kevin Guthrie admitted Florida won’t finalize a key task with monumental implications for places hit by Helene ahead of the current storm’s approach.
Florida “commandeered” debris cleanup on Sunday as Hurricane Milton closes in, but apparently it was too little, too late.
“He just said, ‘Jim, I’m not going to sugarcoat it. There’s no way that we’re getting all this debris picked up.’ And there isn’t,” Cantore said from Tampa, before explaining the implications of the state’s failure to accomplish this key task with “all this debris floating around” with 12 to 18 inches of rain that can’t drain into the Gulf of Mexico.
“That is an absolute worst case scenario for the Tampa area … and we may still see that even without the 12 to 18 inches of rain,” the weatherman warned.
On Sunday, the Governor wouldn’t say how much could be removed before Hurricane Milton’s effects become too pronounced for haulers to be in streets picking up limbs and household effects that Helene’s storm surge may have flooded out.
“Hopefully, we can clear it all. I mean, I guess it just depends on, you know, where it’s easy if it’s on a major road,” the Governor said. “Some of the stuff in the private communities can be a little trickier, but, bottom line is, there’s assets available.”
One comment
Tom Jenkins
October 7, 2024 at 9:02 am
Who wrote that headline? If the writer ever had to manage a clean up response to a hurricane he/she would not describe the clean up efforts from Helaine a failure. Perhaps there was insufficient time between hurricanes to complete a clean up.