NOW is NOT the time to play politics over Florida!
The people of Florida deserve better! This is America! For the administration, et al, to pre-blame DeSantis for what is happening, is both childish and outright stupid…
I have a number of friends down in various parts of Florida, including Tampa/St. Pete, Orlando, and up around Jacksonville/St. Augustine. Some have evacuated (not stupid, and listened to the state folks), leaving houses as well prepared as they could to survive the damages.
Others, further up state are riding it out, but all have prepared as well as they can (most have adequate storage, generators, window/door covers, etc. And you know it’s going to be bad when the Waffle Houses close… 12-19 inches of rain are predicted in some spots, including Orlando, and Florida has been wet for the last week, so there isn’t any place for all that rain to go.
The president called Mayor Jane Castor (D) of Tampa, Mayor Ken Welch (D) of St. Petersburg, and Mayor Frank Hibbard (I) of Clearwater BEFORE he ever called Gov DeSantis! Interesting set of ‘priorities’ isn’t it???
From FEMA Director Criswell presser-
Q Okay. And just a curiosity: I know we’ve asked before; you spoke to several mayors down there. One of the mayors said that one of the primary concerns was complacency. I’m curious — the President spoke to big leaders. First question to you is about complacency. The second is, you’ve spoken to the governor of the state; why hasn’t the President yet? Or is there a scheduled call for the two men to speak, obviously, as they’re the preeminent leaders of the country and of that state?
ADMINISTRATOR CRISWELL: I do have concerns about complacency. We’re talking about impacts in a part of Florida that hasn’t seen a major direct impact in nearly 100 years. There’s also parts of Florida where there’s a lot of new residents that have never experienced this type of threat.
So my message to them is still: Take this very seriously. Listen to your local officials. And those Floridians that have been through this before, help your neighbors that may have not had to go through this. Heeding the advice of your local officials is the most important.
And as far as the conversation, the President directed me to contact the governor early on, before we even did the declaration; I did that. My regional administrator is with the governor right now, making sure that we’re understanding what the needs are. And our focus is on the current life safety needs that need to be met.
Full transcript HERE from C-SPAN.
And the hysterical coverage by the MSM, with the usual idjits standing out in ‘100mph’ winds, to show how ‘bad’ the weather is. Really? Any idiot can look at the camera video, listen to the wind whistling, and tell that the wind is blowing like hell, and see the storm surge is covering houses!
I’m just waiting for one of the weather idjits to get decapitated on air by a sign, piece of tin, or whatever… sigh
On the plus side, over 30,000 linemen, along with trucks, power poles, lines, etc. are staged and waiting for the winds to drop below 35mph to go in and start rebuilding the infrastructure.
So, say a prayer for them, and those further north as this storm will ‘probably’ curl back and hit Georgia, South Carolina, and maybe North Carolina before it goes away.