Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) went out and cook breakfast this past Saturday morning for the state’s first responders that have been hard at work along the frontlines in assisting with the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.
Hurricane Ian crashed over the state this past Wednesday evening in the area of Southwest Florida as one of the strongest Cat 4 hurricanes to even come into contact with the state, with sustained wind speeds hitting the level of 155 miles per hour.
“@WaffleHouse is one of the first restaurants in Charlotte County to reopen and provide hot meals as we work together to serve Floridians after #HurricaneIan,” expressed DeSantis via social media. “Thank you for providing meals to the linemen working to restore power.”
DeSantis prepared and served food to the area’s first responders, volunteers, and emergency response staff at a Waffle House located in Punta Gorda.
WATCH:
In the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, Waffle House is open and serving food to first responders. @GovRonDeSantis was in Charlotte County today making breakfast for linemen. pic.twitter.com/iSAb7rJdak
— DeSantis War Room š (@DeSantisWarRoom) October 1, 2022
DeSantis put out updates regarding the hurricane recovery efforts of his administration in the wake of surveying quite a few devastating areas and meeting up with various officials throughout the impacted areas.
The office of the governor stated that there are roughly 42,000 linemen attempting to respond to the over 1.2 million power outages inflicted by the intense winds and waves coming from Hurricane Ian. The linemen have already been able to restore power to well over 1.4 million Floridians, highlighted the governor’s office.
As of early this past Saturday, well over 1,000 members of the various search and rescue teams were able to carry out over 1,100 rescues. Helicopters had been utilized for over 200 of the rescues and the National Guard of Florida has stepped in as well to manage the search and rescue operations with individual counties.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) has been given a massive boost in support from the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), grabbing an additional 1,800 personnel from well over two dozen other states that have shown up to help in the recovery efforts.
“FDEM is working with feeding partners to open kitchens for impacted and displaced residents,” explained DeSantis’ office. “More than 63,000 hot meals were served on-scene at food banks in Alachua, Brevard, Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Flagler, Hardee, Hillsborough, Lee, Manatee, Miami-Dade, Orange, Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota, Seminole and Union counties yesterday, Friday, September 30. More than 100,000 hot meals will be served today, October 1.”
“FDEM has six active fuel depots and is staging an additional four fuel depots today throughout Central and Southwest Florida to ensure first responders have the fuel they need to conduct search and rescue operations,” the announcement added. “More than 1.2 million gallons of fuels has been mobilized.”