Florida Peeps Okay?

[alk1174]

The flooding in the mountains is a completely different animal than the coast. It rises on the coast but in the mountains it just wipes things away. I know that’s oversimplifying it and it sucks for anyone involved. I feel lucky to only have brush to clean up.

 

[DirtRoads]

Drone footage of the flooding in Erwin TN. Pretty devastating, they will not completely recover anytime soon.

Roc Doc should these rocket surgeons have drawn on experience and evacuated? Or were they categorically fawked by a once in 5 lifetime circumstance?

 

[Mr.Ratbastard]

The flooding in the mountains is a completely different animal than the coast. It rises on the coast but in the mountains it just wipes things away. I know that’s oversimplifying it and it sucks for anyone involved. I feel lucky to only have brush to clean up.

The surge wipes things away here also.

 

[Dethmachinefab]

 

[roundhouse]

I hear it's really bad in your cousins area, neighborhoods completely gone and many dead. Hope he's OK. No way to get to some places and no communication.

Floods in mountain terrain are unbelievably destructive.

Ueah

I dunno if his place is in a low lying area or not

Finally heard from the family in highlands

They are fine
No power but no major damage to their homes

 

[ANGELO]

He was almost gone along with his car

 

[ANGELO]

Looks like we have a minimum of a tropical storm hitting us direct next week.

 

[RedX]

Looks like we have a minimum of a tropical storm hitting us direct next week.

While I hope it misses you guys entirely....can you please, PLEASE, keep it out of our mountains this time. I don't think WNC (and ETN, etc.) need any more pummeling right now.

 

[ANGELO]

 

[ANGELO]

 

[det107]

Guv'nor DeSantis declared a state of emergency ahead of Milton-

 

[ANGELO]

Not really liking the looks of this storm.

I tried googling it but couldn't really find a answer. Has a hurricane ever came from Mexico before?

 

[Elwenil]

BOHICA

 

[bigun]

Pinellas County, Florida Dump: 'We're Not Accepting Storm Debris.' Ron DeSantis: 'Yes, You Are.'

redstate.com

Pinellas County, Florida Dump: 'We're Not Accepting Storm Debris.' Ron DeSantis: 'Yes, You Are.'​

By Ward Clark | 1:47 PM on October 06, 2024
The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of RedState.com.

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Pinellas County, Florida, is on a peninsula on Florida's west coast, across Tampa Bay from the city of Tampa. Hurricane Helene hit Pinellas County pretty hard, and many residents and state workers were left with a lot of storm debris to clean up. There was just one problem: the Pinellas County landfill announced it wouldn't be open to accepting storm debris.

As people in Pinellas County line the streets with piles of debris, where will it all go?
“It put everything to a screeching halt,” Farmhand Hauling & Property Maintenance Owner TJ Rutherford said.
“It will take weeks, if not months to clear the debris,” Barbra Hernandez, the Director of Communications for Pinellas County said Friday morning.
Pinellas County’s main dump is now not accepting storm debris.

Governor Ron DeSantis said, "Oh, yeah?" And now, the Pinellas County landfill is back open to storm debris.

The executive order said 24/7... State assets had a lot of debris to drop off, and it was locked. There was no one manning it. So they opened it. And that's totally appropriate. We need 24/7. ... We're supplementing [local debris removal efforts] in ways that have never been done."

There are a few details about how or when the Pinellas County landfill was opened; in the press conference on the progress of the recovery, Governor DeSantis responded to a question about the landfill being "cut open":

GOVERNOR DESANTIS: Yes, that's accurate, the executive order said 24/7, I know Kevin was in contact with the county folks, there was a bunch of state assets with a bunch of debris to drop off, and it (the landfill) was locked, and there was no one there manning it, so, they basically opened it. So, they opened it, and they did the debris, and that's totally appropriate, to be able to do that. We need 24/7, right? I mean this is something I think the local folks have worked hard on the debris, I think that it's a lot of debris, right? And so they've worked hard on it, and we've got to redouble the efforts there, And we're supplementing those efforts in ways that have never been done in the history of the state of Florida, so those debris missions have to be around the clock, you are going to save, I mean, you could potentially save lives, because this debris can fly and hit people, but certainly you are going to get less damage if you can get that debris off. So yes, there was nobody manning that site, so basically our folks in the state just opened it.

This, folks, is what leadership looks like. The landfill would appear to be essential for the removal of debris that is clogging sidewalks and even roads; the recovery from this storm has to start with clearing that debris, the debris has to go somewhere, and the county landfill is the logical place for it.


The Pinellas County Public Works Director, Kelly Levi, gave two reasons for closing the landfill to storm debris:

“Our landfill has a limited lifespan,” she (Levi) said. “So if we were to accept all of this debris, we might not have any space left after this storm.”

And the second: regulations surrounding federal dollars.

Levy said to get FEMA reimbursements, the county has to document where all of this debris is coming from, ensuring that it actually came from an unincorporated area of Pinellas County.

That second requirement, it seems likely, could be waived by the Biden administration by the stroke of an executive pen, but I think we all know how likely that is. In the first place, Florida is a deep-red state, and seems an unlikely candidate for such consideration by the partisan Biden White House; in the second place, it's not at all clear that Joe Biden even knows a hurricane has taken place.