SARASOTA, Fla. (WFLA) — Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke with News Channel 8’s Nicole Rogers on Thursday while in Sarasota and discussed the state’s recovery efforts from back-to-back hurricanes.
“No matter what, we’ll bounce back,” he said. “I was doing interviews with people saying ‘oh well, there’s a hurricane, maybe people won’t want to live in Florida.’ People are always going to want to live here. They say that every time. There’s a reason people want to live here because it’s a great quality of life, you can’t beat it. Look, we have tropical weather, but it’s something we’ll get through.”
DeSantis also addressed concerns from some people about the insurance market.
“I don’t know what this one is going to do or not, but I know we had a major hurricane with Idalia and since then in ’23, you’ve had a lot of companies come into the state,” he said. “USAA is announcing they’re going to expand coverage in Florida responsibly so I think that will be stable.”
PHOTOS: First look at Siesta Key after Hurricane Milton When asked about the damage to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, DeSantis said the ballpark was being used as a staging site, but they knew it was only rated for 110 to 115 mph winds.
“That roof is not even a hard roof, it’s kind of like a fabric almost, so it wasn’t surprising to me that it didn’t last in that,” DeSantis said. “If it was a hard roof, I would’ve expected it to be able to make it through.
The governor said he hasn’t yet made it to Tropicana Field, but said there was a contingency plan and everyone who was inside was relocated ahead of time.
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