Live Interview: Governor DeSantis Addresses Florida's State of Emergency and Hurricane Preparations

What is your biggest concern right now Governor Dan santis thank you for joining us so with Debbie expecting to make landfall in the state sometime tomorrow morning what is your biggest concern right now well Jen PE uh Floridians we're just urging them to execute their plan uh the storm is near we're already seeing impacts in in Southwest Florida uh the eyewall is going to end up entering our state somewhere in the Big Ben region uh later today early tomorrow uh it has picked up it has picked up some speed it's picked up some intensity we had about 11 months ago hurricane idalia this this storm is a very similar track to what hurricane idalia was now hurricane idalia was a stronger storm in terms of the wind but it did not leave even close to amount of water as this storm Debbie is going to leave so we anticipate it'll be potentially 90 M an hour category 1 may even be a weak category to uh and Floridians know that and they typically prepare for that uh the amount of water though that this is going to drop as it enters our state uh and goes to the Northeast is going to be significant North Central Florida already uh has been saturated this summer uh so we are preparing uh for flooding uh throughout that region and so I would tell Floridians uh yes execute your plan now uh hunker down listen to your local emergency management uh officials uh but just understand that even as the storm passes uh because of these riverst systems uh you know you're going to see flood uh uh potential not just immediately but for days afterwards that is indeed the Power outages nature of water here it does nothing happens too quickly right um you know you mentioned the fact that we are going to have some strong winds what about power outages we know they're inevitable what's being done to make sure that we can get the power back on after the storm well first we just tell Floridians when you have a storm uh that gets to this strength there's going to be power outages so just prepare for that uh make sure that you can handle uh what you need to handle now we have pre-staged uh I think about 17,000 linemen we're working with all the utility companies uh we're working with folks out of state so that as soon as it's safe to do so Crews can get in uh and work to get the power back on we're also for the first time in our state's history uh using some of these flood pre uh prevention de devices to protect sub U ility substations uh this is things that have been used to protect hospitals in the past it's been effective uh we're now deploying those on those substations I think what we found with storms like Ian the substations that were raised uh they ended up not having impact some of the ones that were lower Ling uh they had problems with the flood so our Hope on that is to be able to mitigate the damage that the water is doing I was just got off the phone with the mayor of Tallahassee we don't know how far west this is going to go uh we're here in Tallahassee now at the emergency Operation Center you go outside there's trees everywhere here so when you have storms uh that creates debris and that creates power Interruption so getting that back on is a priority and we have the resources ready to go to do it yeah Tornadoes and you know um speaking of Tallahasse and the tree canopy the city's known for that uh you suffered some previous storms of course hurricanes like idalia but also the tornadoes that we had earlier this spring and earlier today we spoke to Residents who still have damag to their homes from that take a listen to what their concerns are on May 10th we were hit with a tornado so uh and none of the work has begun to repair our house so we are under tarps right now and we're getting ready for this one I'm just wondering if uh our tarps will hold up for uh for what's coming next right and of course wind and the chance of a couple tornadoes still possible Governor what do you have to say to Rick and to others that may be in the same situation well well first uh if you look at those tornadoes and and we went as soon as they passed we were on the scene looking at the damage you know you could be driving down the street and it seemed like nothing was wrong at all and then you go a block or two One Direction and you see really significant damage so obviously those homes that were in that situation uh are going to be more vulnerable this time but what I would say is the winds that we'll face from this uh if it does come over Tallahassee are not going to be as strong as those tornado winds uh but it's going to be much more widespread throughout the city you're not going to have an instance where two blocks suffer serious damage and then two blocks the other way suffer no damage I mean there's going to be trees there's going to be debris that could potentially be all throughout the city now our Florida Department of Transportation uh has cut and toss Crews ready as soon as the storm passes you know they will work to clear the roadways and they also work to pave the way for util workers to be able to go in and access the power lines as needed so we understand that that's an issue No Matter What in in Florida anywhere storm would hit but particularly in this part of Florida which is so heavily wooded yes yes for sure you mentioned this Dangers earlier that Floridians often uh prepare for the category plus one um and we know that when it comes to describing a hurricane it's not just about the category we could see a lot of different effects and risks from the storm what are the challenges with communicating the dangers of this particular storm we've been very um clear uh about the dangers of flood water so this is not something you want to be walking in this is certainly not something you want to be driving in most of the fatalities from flooding occur because people are trying to drive their car in the flood waters and you you don't even have to have that the road flooded that much uh for that car to spin out of control so there is going to be flooding uh they could potenti po be widespread flooding so please take precautions and do not go in you could have your street flooded uh and you're going in there could be debris there could be down power lines it does create a a hazardous environment that's a little bit different than idalia which was mostly a a category three type almost category 4 type wind event which created a lot of debris created storm surge it created damage but it did not have the inundation uh with the rain that this storm is going to have so this is going to be different than what we saw 11 months ago uh and we always say as much as you don't want to have a big wind event a lot of the things that we build in Florida since Hurricane Andrew can withstand really significant winds that water though when that gets really high that becomes a major major Hazard so so there's going to be a lot of water it does prevent a h a hazard so people need to uh take adequate precaution and please do not try to drive in flooded streets yeah thank you for that advice Florida Governor Ronda santis appreciate your time today thanks for joining us here and we'll be certainly watching this storm as it continues to ramp up heading towards the coast tonight