Staff Reports
On Tuesday on Newsmax, Florida Representative Byron Donalds, whose district includes Lee County, the place impacted hardest by Hurricane Ian last week, rejected criticism of Gov. Ron DeSantis' actions as just politics that doesn't reflect what happened.
The Republican from Florida stated on Newsmax's "Wake Up America" that he will be prepared to speak with President Joe Biden when he visited his district on Wednesday and that political differences should not be a factor in the conversation since it is inappropriate.
Donalds stated that at this time all hands on deck are necessary. Everything you know about Republicans and Democrats can go out the door. In this part of southwest Florida, the focus is on recuperation. I will be there when the president arrives tomorrow, and I will [relate] to him any questions that he has for me. In addition, I will argue for the people living in southwest Florida regarding what they are going to require so that we can get back on track.
In addition, Governor DeSantis issued instructions that mirrored the rapidly evolving circumstances, and, according to Donalds, the collaboration between the state and the White House has been "tremendous."
Keep in mind that most people in the country believed this storm was headed towards to the Big Bend area, maybe Hundred miles north of Tampa, which is where the track was as recently as last Sunday, before the storm.
However, the storm swiftly shifted and it appeared as though it might hit Tampa. By the time Tuesday rolled around, however, it appeared as though Hurricane Ian might make a direct hit in the Sarasota region, according to Donalds.
Throughout the course of Tuesday, that track continued to move down, down, and down at a very rapid pace, he said. I was at NOAA headquarters in Washington, D.C., when the hurricane hit southwest Florida on Wednesday.
They told me this storm had jogged to the right, indicating it was traveling east faster and would impact my congressional district.
However, according to Donalds, the criticism that DeSantis did not issue evacuation orders in a timely manner makes no sense at all.
Every computer model showed it moving toward Tampa Bay and making landfall there on Wednesday, so that's why, according to Donalds, the area was ordered to evacuate on Monday. All these folks want to do is rewrite history, she said.
DeSantis directed the largest and swiftest hurricane and catastrophe response I've seen, he said.
In addition, Senator Rick Scott (R-Florida), who served as the state's governor in the past, along with other state officials have been doing this thing magnificently for years, according to Donalds, who added that the mobilization happened even more quickly this time. This is not to imply that one of the men performed a greater job than the other. I'm trying to emphasize that the folks who live in southwest Florida have received every resource and everything that they could have possibly required, and that the cooperation between the governor's office and the White House has indeed been extraordinary.
The preceding is a summary of an article that originally appeared on NEWSMAX.
