A.G. Gancarski
Operation Blue Ridge is over, and Gov. Ron DeSantis is rebutting criticisms of of Florida deploying finite state resources to North Carolina and Tennessee in the wake of Hurricane Helene impacts.
DeSantis said Florida did the “right thing” and “saved lives” amid a “humanitarian disaster” in North Carolina and Tennessee last month.
And the critics? He said they are driving a cudgel for political purposes.
“Some people see how it quite frankly did not make the federal government look well to have Florida out there rescuing people before they had boots on the ground. And so I know it’s kind of like a political thing for some. They want to try to act like we shouldn’t have been helping,” DeSantis said Monday at the state Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee.
DeSantis also asserted that it was probably logistically easier to send Florida search and rescue out of state rather than deal with the burdensome paperwork of temporarily relieving them of duty.
“They would have been deactivated after Helene when the recovery efforts, search and rescue efforts were done anyways. So in some respects, it’s easier just bring them back like we did than to have to remobilize, because there is a period of time if you remobilize, somebody who’s not on active orders just takes a little longer,” DeSantis said.
He added that “any insinuation that somehow rescuing people and saving lives in North Carolina last week has any impact on what we’re doing here now is 100% false.”
The Governor previously said Florida’s response to storm damage in the Blue Ridge Mountains to “bring people back to safety” was “just like we did when Oct. 7 happened and Floridians were caught up in the Israel-Hamas war, just like we did when Haiti started going even more haywire than normal.”
On Monday, he declared the “mission” accomplished.
“We have helped Floridians who were still there, but we helped a lot of North Carolinians who needed help, and in some respects had been abandoned. So that was a successful mission. That was something that really made a difference.”
10 comments
Harry Almerico
October 7, 2024 at 11:43 am
And now we have another hurricane coming…
The Blue Wave is coming!
October 7, 2024 at 12:37 pm
Told y’all. Operation Blue Ridge was a bad move. Mobilized all our state resources out and leaves us vulnerable to a historical hurricane called Milton. Now Tampa will be desecrated and limited resources will be available thanks to Ronnie and his political chip moving. Let operation Blue Wave begin! Time to drain the swamp and impeach Deathsantis. He’s bad for Florida
Bobblehead Kammy
October 7, 2024 at 12:51 pm
So easy to be a Monday Morning QB. Now just imagine for a minute if your boy Gillum were Governor.
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Michael K
October 7, 2024 at 11:43 am
All part of a partisan disinformation effort to stoke more division – even in the middle of a crisis.
There was a time, not long ago, when Americans came together when disaster struck. Now, people like Trump and DeSantis simply see vulnerable people as nothing more than cheap political pawns for their personal ambition.
My east coast family remind me, that when Hurricane Sandy struck, Congressman DeSantis voted AGAINST federal aid.
Bobblehead Kammy
October 7, 2024 at 1:02 pm
You know there was also a time when there was no FEMA for national disasters. Imagine that. Now this administration takes funds from it to give to illegals. These people haven’t paid a penny in Federal tax. Simply the most inept administration in a lifetime and you want to hand the reigns over to giggling Kammy. Oh I hear she is going on The View. Hopefully Behar and Whoopi keep their clothes on
Skeptic
October 7, 2024 at 1:16 pm
Bobblehead seems an apt name. Thanks for parroting the party line which you know to be untrue about the illegals taking the FEMA money. Of course, Ronnie D in true MAGA fashion can’t admit he lost the primary and thinks he has federal responsibilities for Helene. Advice to rising politicians — STAY IN YOUR LANE! If you miss this lesson, you will become a falling politician, like Ronnie D will prove (yet again) to be on Thursday.
Bill
October 7, 2024 at 1:48 pm
Fun is fun but now you’re just being an effing idiot spreading this crap. You’re a moron like your boy’s Trump & Vance.
ScienceBLVR
October 7, 2024 at 11:53 am
Hey Dubya, where have we heard this before?
“On Monday, he declared the “mission” accomplished.”
Wasn’t true then either..
Vote yes for women’s rights
October 7, 2024 at 12:30 pm
Not accomplished ya bafoon, aborted just like the petition we will approve next month! Vote yes for women’s rights!