Damage assessments, cleanup begin after Hurricane Isaias thrashes Florida Panhandle

Por Kylie Williams — POLITICO – TOP Stories

TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state is working to take stock of damage and help communities recover from Hurricane Isaias, after the Category 2 storm made landfall Friday night and brought widespread power outages and damage to the Florida Panhandle.

Isaias brought more than five feet of storm surge and wind gusts of up to 116 mph in some areas of northwest Florida. Although the hurricane left destruction in its wake, DeSantis said during a Saturday morning press briefing at the state Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee that the damage likely wasn’t as severe as storms Florida has weathered in years past.

“All in all, we had a significant storm,” he said. “There’s obviously damage. There’s obviously debris. But in terms of some of the other storms we’ve had, where we’ve had to really mobilize massive search and rescue and bring people out of very perilous situations — fortunately, that has not been something that’s been requested of us.”

Isaias intensified to a Category 3 storm as it closed in on Florida, but weakened to a high Category 2 before making landfall near Destin with sustained 105 mph winds. As of 7 a.m. Saturday, more than 448,000 accounts were still without power statewide. The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office reported that one person had been killed by a downed tree, but DeSantis said the state had yet to confirm the report. All state-owned bridges have also been reopened, he added.

Isaias, now a post-tropical cyclone, moved through Alabama Saturday morning and is predicted to spread heavy rainfall through the Tennessee Valley and Southern Appalachia, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Jared Perdue, the newly appointed head of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, said the agency had fulfilled requests for generators and water and is focused on clearing roadways. This was Perdue’s first hurricane as FDEM chief after DeSantis appointed him to replace Kevin Guthrie, who left the agency in August.

“Our message to Floridians this morning is simple: Help is on the way,” Perdue said.

Although the brunt of Isaias has passed the Panhandle, the storm dumped sheets of rain on already saturated areas. More rain is expected through the weekend east of where Isaias hit, DeSantis said, meaning some areas could see rising floodwaters in the coming days. In case of rapid water rise, the state will keep search and rescue teams mobilized, the governor added.

DeSantis confirmed that President Donald Trump had signed the state’s pre-landfall emergency declaration, and said he’d had a call with FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton. The state is assessing whether Isaias caused damage that would reach the required threshold, the governor said.

“I think we anticipate it may be, but let’s just put it this way: This is not a Hurricane Michael or a Hurricane Ian, where you didn’t have to worry about reaching that,” he said. “That’s a good thing. So we’ll see as we get the damage assessment, if it’s in the threshold, then we will then obviously request that.”

Now that the sun has risen on the Panhandle, DeSantis said the state plans to get a better sense of how badly Isaias hit the region.

Fonte: POLITICO – TOP Stories