DeSantis: Ian’s impact will be felt ‘throughout the state’

TALLAHASSEE — With the threat of a potentially dangerous hurricane approaching Florida whose path is still uncertain, Gov. Ron DeSantis urged Floridians Sunday to be prepared for the worst and pay attention to any shifts in the storm’s path.

“We are continuing to monitor Tropical Storm Ian,” DeSantis told reporters gathered at the state Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee. “[It] will become a hurricane very soon, within the next 24 hours, and a major hurricane very soon.”

“It’s important to point out to folks that the path of this is still uncertain,” DeSantis said. “... Even if you’re not necessarily right in the eye of the path of the storm, there’s going to be pretty broad impacts throughout the state. You’re going to have wind. You’re going to have water. There could be flooding on the east coast of Florida as a result of this. It’s a big storm.”

Residents, especially closer to the landfall, should anticipate power outages, fuel disruptions and possible evacuations in low-lying “vulnerable” areas of the state, he said.

DeSantis’s state of emergency activated the Florida National Guard, waived weight limits for trucks and authorized emergency refills of prescriptions for up to 30 days. He said 2,500 guardsmen have been activated and more can be called up as needed.

Regardless of the projected track, the state is preparing for “dangerous storm surge,” Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said. The division is holding twice daily calls with all 67 county emergency management officials and state agencies to coordinate action. The division has already received 122 requests for aid from county partners that are either en route or being readied for distribution.

That includes loading 360 trailers Sunday with more than 2 million meals and 1 million gallons of water to be ready to send to impacted areas, he said.

Meanwhile, President Biden on Saturday night approved an emergency declaration that makes the Federal Emergency Management Agency responsible for coordinating all disaster relief efforts with state and local emergency managers.

“We appreciate it,” DeSantis said. “We’re thankful. I spoke with the FEMA Administrator [Deanne] Criswell .. and they stand by ready to help, so we appreciate that quick action.”

Earlier this year, DeSantis criticized Biden for “stiffing Floridians” whose homes were damaged following tornado strikes in Charlotte and Lee counties. The Federal Emergency Management Administration rejected the request for emergency aid, saying the damage from the storms wasn’t severe enough to warrant federal assistance.

FEMA has already responded to a request for urban search and rescue units to be on standby and medical transport units that are already being moved into the Orlando area, Guthrie said.

Guthrie told CNN Sunday morning they needed two to three days advance notice for possible evacuation planning.

“When you put all that traffic on the roadway that then starts to back up the regional evacuation times,” Guthrie said. “That’s why we need 48-72 hours of the evacuation order to actually get everything cleared out of the region that needs to be cleared out,” Guthrie said.

That is especially true for big urban areas like Pinellas County. Pinellas has 153 nursing homes and facilities that will require special attention moving residents if necessary, he said.

Decisions to evacuate would be a “bottom-up” decision, working with local emergency managers, DeSantis said. “They know if we feel strongly they are not doing something that we think [they should do], then obviously Kevin will work with them to get on the same page.”

The goal is to try to avoid the congestion that occurred during Hurricane Irma in 2017, when the state over-evacuated 2 million people.

“When you put people on the road, that’s not cost-free.” DeSantis said. “There’s traffic. There’s fatalities on the road.”

Guthrie urged residents to find out if they are in an evacuation zone or not, and if their house can sustain hurricane winds to decide whether they can safely shelter in place.

If a home is not in an evacuation zone and is built to withstand hurricane force winds, he said, “you may choose to shelter in place. You need to be prepared for sheltering in place. You may lose power for multiple days. Make sure you have enough food and water that you can prepare while you’re sheltering in place.”