Florida Braces for Potentially Catastrophic Hurricane Milton as DeSantis Fights With Harris Over Preparation

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is in thick of it as he prepares his state for the impact of the massive Hurricane Milton.The Sunshine state is working under what he has said is a “24/7” operation to clear out debris left in the wake of Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago. With the new storm expected to make landfall in the Tampa Bay Region as early as Tuesday night, mandatory evacuation orders have already been issued for sections of Pasco, Pinellas, and Hillsborough counties. State resources sent to assist in the storm devastated regions of western North Carolina, including 8,000 national guard members, has returned to Florida to prepare.“This will definitely be all hands on deck,” Mr. DeSantis said on Monday.As the massive category 5 hurricane barrels towards the Gulf Coast of Florida, Governor DeSantis also appears to be picking his battles, exchanging a war of words with Vice President Kamala Harris who criticized him for not returning her calls.The sunshine state’s top official had some choice words for the Democratic presidential nominee after she called him “selfish” and “utterly irresponsible” for allegedly failing to return her calls about preparation for Hurricane Milton, according to The Daily Beast.“For Kamala Harris to try to say that my sole focus on the people of Florida is somehow selfish is delusional,” DeSantis said during an interview on Fox News’ Hannity. “She has no role in this. In fact, she’s been vice president now for three and a half years—I’ve dealt with a number of storms under this administration. She has never contributed anything to any of these efforts. What I think is selfish is her trying to blunder into this.”He dismissed Ms. Harris for trying to bolster her own campaign.“I don’t have time for political games,” he told Mr. Hannity.Mr. DeSantis’ terse response came after Ms. Harris made comments to reporters on Monday at Joint Base Andrews.“It’s just utterly irresponsible, and it is selfish, and it is about political gamesmanship instead of doing the job that you took an oath to do,” she said.At a press conference about the state preparations for the impending storm, Mr. DeSantis responded and said he had no awareness about Vice President Harris attempting to call.“I didn’t know that she had called,” Mr. DeSantis told reporters in attendance. “So, I’m not sure who they called, they didn’t call me. And their characterization of it was something that they did, it wasn’t anything that anybody in my office did in terms of saying it was political.”He added that he was willing to “hop on the phone very quickly” if more federal resources were needed.“We have gotten approvals for everything that we’ve asked for,” he said.Hurricane Milton, which continues to whip across the Gulf of Mexico, is hitting maximum speeds of 180 miles per hour as it looms toward the Tampa Bay region. It is anticipated to hit the state less than two weeks after Category 4 Hurricane Helene rocked Florida’s Big Bend region.

Florida Braces for Potentially Catastrophic Hurricane Milton as DeSantis Fights With Harris Over Preparation

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