Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) over the weekend defended the timing of evacuation orders ahead of Hurricane Ian in Lee County, which came under scrutiny after the region saw some of the most significant damage and number of deaths from the storm.
Criticism has grown over Lee County, which includes Fort Myers and Sanibel Island, waiting to issue an evacuation order until Tuesday, about one day before the Category 4 hurricane made landfall on the edge of the county.
“They were following the data,” DeSantis said at a press conference on Saturday.
“And you remember, people were looking initially at the Panhandle on Sunday, then Monday came and people were thinking maybe north of Tampa Bay, when we went to bed Monday night people were saying this is a direct hit on Tampa Bay, worst case scenario for the state,” he continued. “As that track started to shift south and the computer models, the next morning they called for the evacuation, they opened their shelters and they responded very quickly to the data.”
Lee County’s comprehensive emergency management plan indicates officials should issue evacuation orders for areas closest to water when there is a 10 percent or greater chance of a storm surge surpassing six feet.
Hurricane Ian’s projected path did shift south in the days leading up to the storm, but the National Hurricane Center’s forecast as early as Sunday night suggested Lee County could see a peak storm surge of as much as seven feet.
The county did not issue an evacuation order until Tuesday, which came after nearby counties like Hillsborough issued orders the day prior.
“I said Sunday, even if it goes to North Florida it’s a big storm,” DeSantis said. “You could see impacts in Naples and some of those areas, but that’s a different type of impact than what we ended up seeing. And so I think that they worked very quickly to provide people shelter, provide people the opportunity to do that.”
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DeSantis defends timing of Ian evacuations in hard-hit Lee County https://t.co/QNdvcq53pY pic.twitter.com/SBhKtzI8J2
— The Hill (@thehill) October 3, 2022
I know Xtina is still relatively new to Florida so we’ll excuse her for not grasping the ‘cone of uncertainty’ concept. https://t.co/7678LUcjao
— Peter Schorsch (@PeterSchorschFL) October 1, 2022
"Stop. Stop. Stop. This has been dealt with."
On Monday, @GovRonDeSantis got agitated by a reporter's question about the Lee County. pic.twitter.com/HfATJNE6Tr
— The Hill (@thehill) October 4, 2022
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