Gov. Ron DeSantis discussed Hurricane Helene recovery with residents of Hudson in Pasco County on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (Screenshot/Florida Channel)
Even as post-Helene cleanup continues in Florida, the DeSantis administration is sending state “air assets” and satellite earth stations to areas of North Carolina where the storm caused catastrophic damage that isolated communities.
“You had major, major devastation. Fortunately, our rescue operations were conducted … and we don’t have the demand for that right now,” DeSantis said during a news conference mid-Sunday morning in Hudson, in Pasco County.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation reports that I-40 and I-26 are impassable in multiple locations and that all roads in Western North Carolina should be considered closed. (Photo: NCDOT)
He noted that lots of Floridians spend their summers in the North Carolina and Tennessee mountains, where flooding has ripped out major highways and bridges.
“You go there over the summer, half the people there are from Florida,” the governor said. If any remain there and need evacuation,” he offered to send state assets to help.
Florida state government performed similar missions during recent chaos in Haiti and following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
“We stand by to do more, as we have resources that are not being used for our recovery efforts here in Florida,” DeSantis said.
The assistance will include Starlink ground stations to aid in communication to communities cut off by torrential flooding. DeSantis didn’t give precise numbers of the air and satellite equipment he’s sending.
The governor spent much of Saturday reviewing storm damage in communities in Florida’s Big Bend, where Helene barreled on shore Thursday night, wiping buildings from their foundations. On Sunday, he toured damaged Pasco County homes damaged by storm surge.
He noted that area suffered little wind damage but entire neighborhoods had been flooded.
At least seven deaths have been reported in Florida and 64 nationally.
State response
Ahead of the storm, DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 61 of Florida’s 67 counties, allowing advance deployment of state resources to the threatened areas.
On Saturday, President Joe Biden declared a national emergency in Florida’s Charlotte, Citrus, Dixie, Franklin, Hernando, Hillsborough, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lee, Levy, Madison, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Sarasota, Taylor, and Wakulla counties.
Federal and state assistance available includes temporary housing and home-repair grants and low-cost loans to individuals and business owners. Volunteers are available to help homeowners muck out their homes.
Additional details of the state’s response are available here.
DeSantis noted that the National Hurricane Center has identified a low-pressure system in the Caribbean that could organize into a tropical depression by midweek. The agency expects the system to move toward the northwest and said that “interests in the northwestern Caribbean Sea and along the U.S. Gulf Coast should monitor its progress.”
DeSantis noted that projections for its movement remain mixed. “Know it’s out there. Understand that this is something that could potentially have some level of impacts” in Florida, he said.
“The thing is, here, if there’s even moderate impacts, when you’re already going through this, that’s going to exacerbate” cleanup in Florida, he added — making removal of debris all the more important.