Hurricane researchers at Colorado State University (CSU) suggest that 2024 could be the most active season yet in the Atlantic Basin. Yet Gov. Ron DeSantis says the state is prepared for hurricane season, even if the experts "don't know that we prepare" whether a season is active or not.
During a news conference, the Governor lauded latter-day building practices and a prominent state utility as evidence that the state is unlikely to face a catastrophe like 1992's devastating Hurricane Andrew, no matter what balmy tropical waters may serve up.
"The newer construction can withstand strong hurricanes," DeSantis said in Davie. "We're going to continue to have them whether they're worse or not. I don't know if there's data for that, but I think some people assert that, but either way we're in a situation where, you know, this stuff has worked."
The Governor lauded Florida Power & Light (FPL) for making infrastructure improvements that have protected key equipment and truncated the lengthy restoration timelines of years gone by.
"FPL had done things with their substations where they raised some of the substations. So you had massive flooding in certain parts of the state and yet it didn't soak the substation, guess what that means? That's the difference in getting people hooked up again within 48 hours versus it taking two weeks or something like that," DeSantis said.
There certainly appears to be ample opportunity to test DeSantis' confident hypothesis.
CSU expects 23 named storms during the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, with 11 hurricanes developing and five projected to be at least a Category 3 at some point in their life cycle.
The Governor has offered interesting hurricane takes throughout his political career, including suggesting earlier this year that President George W. Bush took disproportionate blame for his handling of Hurricane Katrina in his second term, a fumble by the former President that soured much of the public on the remainder of his second term.
He also made light of minor hurricanes, saying that Floridians aren't even fazed until eyewall winds are over 110 miles per hour in a stop during his failed presidential campaign.
"But on the hurricanes it's kind of like, you know, if it's like a Category 1, people say, 'All right, you know, we'll have a picnic or something," he said in Iowa.
"Category 2, well, we're just go on our way," DeSantis continued. "Category 3: Well, you know, maybe they'll make a slight adjustment. Then only if it's above, then people really start to worry about it because you kind of live and you learn."
In 2022, as he ran for re-election, the Governor faced questions about his office's inability to figure out where the center of Hurricane Ian would make landfall. He claimed then that the "national regime media" wanted the storm to hit Tampa to exact maximum destruction.
In 2023, the Governor dealt with an insurance market that was as strained as any in Florida history, and that became an issue in the presidential campaign, with Donald Trump and Nikki Haley weaponizing it against DeSantis.
While campaigning that same year, he told a radio host in New England residents of his home state should "knock on wood" and hope the state didn't get hit by a storm.
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