Gov. DeSantis says Florida won’t stop people from rebuilding in storm devastated areas

The storm is over, and as Gov. Ron DeSantis sees it, beachfront areas and others damaged by the one-two punch of Hurricanes Helene and Milton will build back better.

“People had their property. They have a right to do with what they want to do with it. And it is tough when you have two back-to-back storms. No question,” DeSantis said in St. Petersburg.

“The reality is people work their whole lives and work hard to be able to live in environments that are really, really nice. And they have a right to make those decisions with their property as they see fit. It is not the role of government to forbid them or to force them to dispose or utilize their property in a way that they do not think is best for them.”

While the Governor acknowledged the “very tough” impacts of three storms in 13 months on North Florida, where storms hit the Big Bend both last year and this one, he recognizes that “demand to live in a beautiful part of the world” will drive action, as it has before.

“When we had Hurricane Ian. People were like, ‘oh man,’ and that was probably the most significant storm that we’ve had. I mean, Michael was stronger, but Ian was so big. I think the total damage was probably more on that. And a lot of people were saying ‘Oh, you know, are people going to want to live in Southwest Florida?'” DeSantis recalled.

“Within two weeks you had, like, people buying up homes. I mean, people wanted to get down there.”

To sum up: Some Floridians may miss the idea of barrier islands as buffers from storms. But at least for the present, the state government won’t stand in the way of private capital investments in even the most fragile areas.