Ron DeSantis has led Florida through many hurricanes.
He understands handling natural disasters as well as anyone in the country.
And Ron DeSantis revealed one terrifying reality about FEMA that Democrats do not dare speak.
FEMA and the Biden-Harris administration fail in their response to hurricane
Hurricane Helene slammed into Florida bringing torrential rain and winds up to 140 miles per hour.
The storm carved a path of destruction through the southeastern United States to Virginia.
Helene became the deadliest storm to hit the country since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 with more than 230 people killed and hundreds missing.
Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee suffered the worst damage from Helene after record rainfall created Biblical flooding.
The rugged terrain of the Appalachian Mountains cut off towns leaving residents stranded after flooding wiped out roads.
Suffering residents in those regions were abandoned by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
A combination of charities, private citizens, and states led the search and rescue operations along with disaster relief in the region.
Florida learned an important lesson about FEMA
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis discussed how his state managed Hurricane Helene during an appearance on Fox News.
“We obviously got the initial impacts of the storm,” DeSantis said. “It was a category four storm, but we prepared for it. We had tens of thousands of utility workers ready to go. We were able to facilitate 2.4 million power restorations in record time after a major hurricane.”
He said that state and local authorities conducted thousands of rescue missions after the storm.
With rescue operations in Florida wrapped, he was able to help elsewhere.
“But you saw in Western North Carolina, you saw people that were very desperate,” DeSantis stated. “So, I authorized air assets, National Guard, State Guard, Highway Patrol to go into Western North Carolina.”
DeSantis noted that Western North Carolina is a popular summer destination for Florida residents.
“But you have a situation where the first people that they come in contact with is some state guard unit from Florida and not any of the federal assets,” DeSantis explained. “So the reality is, I don’t think the federal assets were marshaled very quickly at all.”
The Florida Governor learned that he could not count on the federal government in disaster.
“But the lesson that I think people should take from this is one we learned in Florida long ago,” DeSantis said. “We don’t rely on FEMA to do any of that type of activity. We rely on FEMA to basically be a bank account.”
“There’s federal programs in place,” DeSantis continued. “We get our people qualified for individual assistance, reimbursement for some of the debris. But we take the matters into our own hands for the preparation and the rescue and response.”
North Carolina confirms how unreliable the federal government is in rescue situations.
“It is a really, really dire situation up there in the mountains, and the people that have been up there before and I’ve been up there a number of times since I’ve been Governor, and it’s beautiful,” DeSantis. “But it is rugged and if roads start blowing out or failing, you can’t reach some of these communities unless you’re putting in air assets — which we have been willing to do.”
Florida stepped up when the Biden-Harris administration would not to help with rescue operations in North Carolina.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this story.
