Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is pushing back questions about the delayed evacuation order for Lee County, a part of the Sunshine State hit particularly hard by Hurricane Ian.
In a CNN clip shared by his 2022 campaign’s Twitter account for Quick Reactions, a journalist asks the governor, “Why do you support Lee County’s decision to wait until the day before the storm to do this mandatory evacuation?”
“Well, have you – where was your line of business when the storm hit? Have you been to Lee County? No, you were in Tampa,” DeSantis said.
“They followed the weather trail and had to make decisions based on that.
Local and state officials have come under scrutiny after evacuation orders were issued to Lee County residents last week, just a day before the Category 4 hurricane made landfall, giving many Floridians little time to escape its path.
Sanibel Island, Fort Myers and Cape Coral are among the places where the devastation is most evident — the only bridge connecting Sanibel Island to the US mainland collapsed during the storm, meaning rescuers are forced , only to search desperately for survivors by sea and air.
DeSantis said Saturday that Lee County was originally not supposed to be in the path of the hurricane.
“You know, 72 hours, they weren’t even in the cone,” he said, referring to storm projections.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was confronted with the delayed evacuation order for Lee County, which was among the hardest-hit areas by Hurricane Ian
Today: CNN reporter interviews Gov. DeSantis in hopes of spreading misleading account of Lee County evacuation.
He’ll finish that soon.
🔥His response is professional, direct & empathetic… with ZERO tolerance for gaslighting.pic.twitter.com/Z8YVgcMXFl
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 #FloridaStrong (@DeSantisWarRoom) October 3, 2022
“Forty-eight hours they were on the periphery, so you have to make the decisions as best you can.”
The governor continued to defend local officials, suggesting they were prepared for a mass evacuation with the short window of opportunity – and insisting residents were not trapped.
“I’ll say, you know, they got the message across to people, they had shelters open, everyone had ample opportunity to at least get into shelter within the county,” DeSantis said.
“A lot of the residents didn’t want that — I think probably for different reasons, some people just don’t want to leave their homes, period, they’re islanders.”
He then blamed the media for focusing on other areas of the state, claiming, “I think part of that was there was so much attention being paid to Tampa that I think a lot of them probably thought they wouldn’t get the worst of it.’
Hurricane Ian has been blamed for more than 80 deaths in Florida alone and more than 100 nationally.
More than 80 people have died in Florida alone after the severe storm devastated the state
The hardest-hit areas in Lee County included Fort Myers (pictured), Sanibel Island and Cape Coral
Progressive Florida-based attorney Daniel Uhlfelder hit back at DeSantis’ comments in an interview with Raw Story, insisting that older Lee County residents needed more time to get out than they were given.
“There’s a lot of older folks that need extra time to get out there and just play games — I just can’t believe it,” Uhlfelder said, calling DeSantis’ defense “Trumpian.”
“He told CNN, ‘What should I do? drag people out of their house?” No! And to try and take it to the media, where they’ve been, I mean, it’s just irresponsible.
DeSantis’ predecessor in Tallahassee, GOP Sen. Rick Scott, told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday that more information was needed about Lee County’s hurricane planning.
When asked if Lee County’s delayed evacuation order was a mistake, Scott replied, “I think you have to look at it like this, every time there’s a loss of life, you have to tell yourself what you could do differently next time to make it happen.” never happened happened again?’
“I want to know because a problem I had as governor is trying to say what have I learned to make sure we don’t lose a life?” he continued.
“And that’s why I think everyone in each of these emergency centers has to say to themselves… OK, so what are we doing to make sure we don’t lose a life?”