Governor Ron DeSantis Updates Us on Hurricane Ian Recovery

BUCK: We have with us the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis. Governor DeSantis, we know you are super busy. Thank you for calling in.

GOV. DESANTIS: Yeah, no, thanks for having me. We just toured — got a brief and toured — some damage over in the Daytona area. A lot of people see the images from Fort Myers area, and rightfully so. They were very devastating. But this dumped so much rain across Florida that we’ve seen floods really all across the center part of the state, and so it’s a big event, but people are really rallying and doing a good job (crosstalk).

BUCK: You know, our Fort Myers affiliate is back on air today for the first time. So we’re really thinking about our friends and family and community down there. Governor, tell us, how are the relief efforts going? What progress has been made and what is your focus?

GOV. DESANTIS: So, initially when the storm hits, it’s life rescue. So, we had done over 2,500 rescue missions and that’s involving state agencies, local agencies as well as the Coast Guard. And it’s been really, really fantastic to see how quick and how successful that has been. We also had 42,000 linemen staged in Florida for power restoration. So, we’re now 99% of the state-plus has power restored. Most of them had it restored within a couple of days. There are a couple hotspots in Lee County that had significant damage. So, there’s been a surge of about 2,500 additional linemen into Lee County to be able to do that.

Lee County also had break in their water mains, and so we brought a firm down that has people from MIT so they’ve repaired that. So, you now have water flowing everywhere and they’re working on the water pressure. So, all in all, in terms of the rescue, then the power and the water, to be here basically a week after the storm — and having done that many rescues and have the power and water situation where it is — that is not normal. I mean, most of these storms and people that have grown up in Florida…

I can remember you can not even be in the eye of the storm and be two weeks without power. So, I think that that was really good planning. Now, the issue is, “Okay, who has been displaced and then what infrastructure is in immediate need?” So, we had an island called Pine Island that got severed from the mainland because the bridge got ripped up. We did, at the state, we just took control of it and we did an emergency repair. So, you now have people going back on to Pine Island. It took us basically three days to do that, and I think a lot of times I’d take people three months with the bureaucracy.

So, we’re cutting through that. We’re now working on the Sanibel Causeway. For those of your listeners that have ever been there, they’ve been over that causeway. It was severed in three different places, and so we think we’re going to restore it this month. It’s a little bit more in-depth in terms of what needs to be done. But bottom line is we need to restore flow of traffic over to Sanibel, which got hit very hard. In the meantime, we are — by both barge and helicopter — dropping in linemen, National Guard, you name it, to help clear debris and help get the power grid back up and running there. So there’s a lot that’s going on. We do have people, of course, displaced whose homes are either severely damaged or totally destroyed, and we’re working to help get them in good spots across the board.

CLAY: We’re talking to Florida governor Ron DeSantis. Governor, I know that sports has always been a big part of normalcy, and you’ve been great using the state of Florida, whether it’s the NFL, college football, high school. You have an event tonight that I know OutKick is going to have some people covering. You’ve got a high school game that’s taking place in Naples; southwest Florida, obviously very hard hit. What does it mean to be able to get kids back, being able to engage in extracurricular activities, go to school? What is that event tonight going to mean?

GOV. DESANTIS: Well, I think it’s going to be huge, and it’s Naples versus Barron Collier, 4-and-1 versus 4-0. So they’re both very good programs. And I was actually, it struck me — and you know, Clay, I’ve always believed, you know, get sports back; it helps, which is the community and everything. And also, the athletes want to play. But I was talking to a mom at one of the shelters a couple of days after the storm, and she’s just like, “We’ve got to stand for the kids. The kids need to be in school. They need to be doing their stuff.” Now, Lee County, some of that’s going to be a little bit more in depth because they did have some schools totally wiped out.

But for Naples and Collier to be back this Friday night, I think that’s going to be a huge boost for the community, and I think what we’ve seen is the folks that have had to deal with this have shown really incredible resiliency. I don’t hear any, “Oh, woe is me.” What they’re saying to me — the people that that lost everything — they just can’t thank everybody enough for being there to help them out. So, I think the spirit has been exemplary, and I think tonight’s game is going to be great because here we are. Massive storm. Collier County, of course, got major historic storm surge. It did do damage there. They’re ameliorating it. Obviously, there was a lot of rescues and people were brought to safety. But here we are, Friday Night Lights, and I think the community’s really rallying.

CLAY: We know you’ve got a ton going on, but you’ve been raising a lot of money for… Buck and I are going to come down to southwest Florida and help when things get stabilized there for all of our listeners. For people out there listening nationwide to us right now, what can they do to help all of you recover in Florida?

GOV. DESANTIS: So, my wife, our first lady, she launched FloridaDisasterFund.org. So, if you go to FloridaDisasterFund.org, you can contribute online. She’s now raised over $39 million, and I think we’re going to continue with a full head of steam, and basically what that will do — Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, they’ve all waived the processing fee; so, if you give, 100% of what you give is going to this fund with nothing taken out — it’s going to allow us to partner with private charities and other organizations to really help fill needs that the government just can’t.

I mean, FEMA does certain programs. Fine. The state of Florida does certain programs. Fine. And maybe that’ll be all you need. But in a situation like this, there’s going to be additional needs, and so this allows that to get on the target where it’s most needed. And I just want to thank everybody who has contributed. Thank you. That we raised more than we thought we would at this point. We want to keep the momentum going and ultimately get those dollars where they’re the most beneficial to the people that have the most unique needs.

BUCK: Clay and I will make contributions today, Governor, and Floridians all across your state, they’re listening, grateful for the efforts of the first responders and everybody involved here that you’ve been coordinating to get Florida back on its feet. Governor DeSantis, thank you so much for your time.

GOV. DESANTIS: Thank you.