Duval Times

STEINHATCHEE, Fla. – Today, Senator Rick Scott surveyed hurricane damage and received a briefing from local law enforcement and emergency management officials on Hurricane Debby recovery efforts following its landfall near Steinhatchee yesterday. This week, Senator Scott has traveled to impacted areas to meet with local leaders and ensure Florida’s families and communities are getting every resource needed to respond to and recover from the storm. Yesterday, Senator Scott visited Lee County, and he visited Manatee County this morning.

Senator Rick Scott stated, “I want to thank the emergency management officials, Taylor County Sheriff Wayne Padgett and first responders for working around the clock to ensure Florida families here have what they need to stay safe and recover from Hurricane Debby. When this storm made landfall here in Steinhatchee, it brought intense rainfall, damaging winds and life-threatening storm surge to communities across Taylor County, and it’s going to be an all-hands-on-deck effort to get neighborhoods back on their feet. I am here to emphasize to the folks of Taylor County that we are working at the federal level to ensure you all have the resources you need. Last week, I met with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell in Washington to discuss hurricane preparedness and will be working closely with her and the FEMA Region 4 team to ensure Florida has a reliable federal partner as work begins to respond to and recover from Hurricane Debby. As I always say, you can rebuild your home, but you can’t rebuild your life. I urge families to continue following the directions of local authorities and stay safe. If there is one thing I know, it is that Floridians are resilient and we will get through this together.”

Over the weekend before Hurricane Debby made landfall, Senator Scott and Senator Marco Rubio sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging his immediate approval of the State of Florida’s request for a pre-landfall emergency declaration. The request was quickly approved following their outreach.

Senator Scott encourages all Floridians to visit his website for helpful hurricane preparedness resources and make a disaster readiness plan today. See updates from the National Hurricane Center at nhc.noaa.gov or @NHC_Atlantic on Twitter, and from the Florida Division of Emergency Management at floridadisaster.org or @FLSERT on Twitter.