JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A hurricane “a whisker shy” of a Category 5 storm is set to hit the state’s west coast as early as Wednesday night, Gov. Ron DeSantis warned residents, urging people in targeted areas to evacuate and promising a rapid emergency cleanup and rescue response that won’t rely on the federal government.
“While there is hope it will weaken more before landfall, there is high confidence that this hurricane is going to pack a major, major punch and do an awful lot of damage,” Mr. DeSantis said Wednesday morning at a briefing in Tallahassee.
The governor said he’s in regular contact with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and has spoken to President Biden about the storm, now churning toward the state with maximum sustained winds of 155 mph.
But the state is running the emergency preparedness and is ready to respond with its own resources, Mr. DeSantis said, and will not be counting on the embattled federal disaster agency that’s under heavy criticism over its response to Hurricane Helene.
Mr. DeSantis said the public should ignore online rumors that FEMA would block people from reentering their homes after the storm. He said only in extraordinary circumstances will residents be kept from their homes and that FEMA won’t be involved in those decisions.
“FEMA is not leading this show. We are leading this show in the state of Florida,” Mr. DeSantis said. “I can tell you, in Florida we are leading this train. We’re marshaling all available resources, federal, state, and we’re supporting local and that’s the way it’s going to be, so you can have confidence in that.”
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On Monday, Mr. DeSantis fired back at criticism by Vice President Kamala Harris after he didn’t take a call from her about the looming storm. She called him selfish and accused him of political gamesmanship for refusing to speak to her.
“I don’t have time for political games. I’ve got people whose lives are on the line,” Mr. DeSantis said. “I’ve got people whose homes and their possessions are on the line, and we are focused 100% on that mission. I’m not worried about playing her political games. And so she is being selfish by trying to blunder into this, when we’re working just fine.”
Ms. Harris and Mr. Biden were to be briefed Wednesday by FEMA on storm preparations.
Mr. DeSantis has called up thousands of state workers, including 5,000 National Guardsmen, to respond to Hurricane Milton and summoned 50,000 linemen from states as far away as California to restore power outages that are expected to be widespread.
“We are bracing and are prepared to receive a major hit. We’re facing this with the seriousness it deserves, but also with the determination that we will get through this,” Mr. DeSantis said.
Meanwhile, he warned looters, “Don’t even think about it. We are going to come down hard on you and you are going to regret you tried to do that.”
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It’s the second hurricane to hit the state in two weeks. Florida is still coping with cleanup from Hurricane Helene, which made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 storm on Sept. 26 and devastated multiple coastal communities before causing catastrophic flooding in several other states.
Milton now threatens to bring life-threatening storm surges and wind to heavily populated counties along the west coast of the state, plus tornadoes and high winds far inland. The latest storm models predict the storm will also cut through the center of the state.
Mandatory evacuation orders were in place for parts of 11 counties along Florida’s west coast, from Collier County in Southwest Florida to Levy County farther north.
Mr. DeSantis said among the massive resources marshaled ahead of the storm, Starlink has been deployed across the state, providing internet services to communities cut off after the storm.
More than 80 shelters are open along the Gulf Coast. The governor encouraged people in evacuation zones who have not left yet to head to nearby shelters instead of getting on the highway as the weather rapidly deteriorates.
“You still have time to ensure your safety,” Mr. DeSantis said. “You are going to be able to get back, you are going to be able to resume your life. If you make that decision now. I think you’ll be glad you did.”
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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