TALLAHASSEE—Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday defended deploying state resources to North Carolina after Hurricane Helene, prompted by fears that Florida workers who were out-of-state on a Governor-ordained mission will not be able to help Floridians clean up the Helene damage before the dangerous Hurricane Milton arrives.
Gov. DeSantis said his Operation Blue Ridge, which sent various state crews to North Carolina to help those in need before being recalled earlier this week, saved lives and has no relation to Florida's current effort to evacuate debris before Hurricane Milton, which is now a Category 4 storm, hits the Florida gulf coast less than two weeks after Helene rocked the same area.
"I know it's kind of like a political thing for some: they want to act like we shouldn't have been helping," DeSantis told reporters Monday morning in Tallahassee, before explaining that debris cleanup is a local issue unrelated to the state. "We did the right thing: we saved lives...Any insinuation that somehow rescuing people and saving lives in North Carolina last week had any impact on what we're doing here now is 100% false."
After Helene hit the Big Bend and submerged parts of the Tampa-St. Pete area as a Category 4 storm on Sep. 26, it left a trail of debris from homes, businesses, and vehicles in its tear through the Southeastern United States. This caused a slew of debris contractors to begin the excavation process, though many left for the more damaged state of North Carolina.
According to Politico, those that left while still under contract with the state could be banned from future work—a situation that could spell out disaster as Milton nears the already battered Pinellas County. As of Monday morning, Milton had maximum sustained winds of 155 mph, which is 15 mph faster than Helene's peak winds.
There have been rumblings of disapproval over DeSantis' decision to send state resources to North Carolina instead of shoring up damage in his home state, with some Floridians taking to social media to swipe at Operation Blue Ridge.
"So, let me get this straight," one X user wrote. "Because Ron sent our hurricane resources to North Carolina, the clean up from Helene in Tampa Bay won’t be finished by the time Milton arrives? Maybe Ron should have sent resources to Tampa Bay instead of North Carolina."
On Sunday, Florida took over debris cleanup by forcing some landfills to remain open 24/7, and as of Monday morning, Florida has over 300 vehicles, public and private, helping with debris cleanup. The state has done almost 500 truckloads—9,000 cubic yards—of cleanup in just the Barrier Islands and Pinellas County alone, and deployed over 200 state assets like dump trucks to continue the assistance. Overall, the Florida Department of Transportation has cleared 180,000 cubic yards of debris and has 2,000 workers responding to Helene clean-up efforts.
However, Weather Channel reporter Jim Cantore told Florida Politics this may be too little too late.
"That is an absolute worst case scenario for the Tampa area … and we may still see that even without the 12 to 18 inches of rain,” he warned.
At the Tallahassee press briefing, the Emergency Operations Center shows what flooding of up to ten feet looks like.
Milton is expected to make landfall sometime between Wednesday evening and Thursday morning in the Tampa Bay to Sarasota area as a Category 4 hurricane, and is forecast to exit the state's east coast still at hurricane strength, DeSantis said. If it hits on Thursday, it will be two weeks exactly since Helene made landfall and killed 25 Floridians; 14 of whom lived in the Tampa Bay area.
North Carolina meanwhile, had over 100 deaths.
51 Florida counties are under a declared state of emergency. Seven of those counties are under some sort of evacuation order, and at 10:30 a.m., tolls were suspended in West Florida, Central Florida, and Alligator Alley to help people with those evacuations.
