ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Two days away from the start of hurricane season, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s top emergency manager joked Friday that they didn’t want to encounter each other again until the storm season ends in late November. Forecasts suggest that’s unlikely.
While the upcoming season, which starts Sunday, isn’t expected to be as topsy-turvy as last season, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says there’s a 60% chance it will be above normal, a 30% chance near normal and just a 10% chance it will be quieter than average. Relentless storms, including Debby, Helene and Milton, which landed in Florida last year, made for the third-costliest hurricane season on record last year.
“You just have to prepare and plan that we are going to have impacts,” DeSantis said at a news conference in front of shelves of generators at a Home Depot store in Jupiter, Florida. “If you plan and it doesn’t happen, you’re never going to have regrets. If you don’t plan and it happens, you’re going to immediately be saying, ‘Why didn’t I do this?’”
Ahead of any hurricanes headed toward the peninsula, Floridians should be prepared to have seven days of food, water and supplies for their households, including pets. If they need to evacuate, they don’t have to travel hundreds of miles when traveling just a few miles inland to a hotel or shelter works, officials said.
Floridians living on the coast should be familiar with their evacuation zone so they know which areas emergency officials are referring to if an evacuation is issued, said DeSantis and Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
The NOAA forecast calls for 13 to 19 named storms with six to 10 becoming hurricanes and three to five reaching major status with winds of more than 110 mph (177 kph). A normal season has 14 named storms, seven of which strengthen to hurricanes and three power up further to major hurricanes.
Normally, at the start of hurricane season, Floridians would be able to buy storm supplies under a state program that doesn’t tax items like generators, batteries, flashlights, tarps and coolers. However, that is on hold since the Florida Legislature hasn’t passed a budget, DeSantis said.
Despite enjoying a GOP supermajority in both chambers, legislative leaders failed to pass the one bill Florida law requires, the state budget, ahead of the scheduled end of the regular session at the beginning of May. Lawmakers are expected to return to Tallahassee in June to hammer out a spending deal ahead of the July 1 start of the next fiscal year.
“So we don’t have any tax holiday in place in the state of Florida,” said DeSantis, taking a jab at lawmakers who openly defied the Republican governor during this past legislative session in contrast to previous years of deference.
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