12/29/2022 0 Comments Evac north america![]() ![]() That is due, in part, to the pressure being applied by news organizations seeking answers - a reminder of the critical role journalists are playing in the disaster recovery effort. ![]() More about the county’s response will surely make its way to the public in the days and weeks ahead. ![]() Appearing on CNN, a spokesperson for the city of Fort Myers, the county’s commercial hub, noted that the municipality had asked residents to start voluntarily evacuating Friday, but called the evacuation “sort of last minute.” So they were following the weather track.” (CNN and other news organizations did, in fact, have crews in Lee County when the storm hit.)īut while elected leaders including DeSantis are defending the decision, a sign that there was disagreement over it was also evident Monday. The line of questioning led to a somewhat combative answer from the governor, who retorted, “Well, did you - where was your industry stationed when the storm hit? Were you guys in Lee County? No, you were in Tampa. Speaking to reporters Sunday, CNN correspondent Nadia Romero asked DeSantis if he “stood behind” Lee County’s decision not to issue an evacuation order until Tuesday. Ron DeSantis has also been met with questions on the matter. Pendergrass, like other officials, defended the county’s response, saying there was “well enough notice.”įlorida Gov. “Did the order to evacuate in Lee County go out too late?” CNN’s Kate Bolduan asked Pendergrass, her first in a cascade of frank questions. Since The Times story published, both local and national news organizations have grilled officials, in some cases asking point blank whether the decision could have cost lives in an area where more than half of all hurricane-related deaths have now occurred.Īmong those facing tough questioning Monday were: Florida Division of Emergency Management director Kevin Guthrie Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno and Lee County Board of Commissioners chair Cecil Pendergrass. The questions were prompted by a report in The New York Times that detailed the county officials’ internal deliberations and stated plainly that the county’s failure to issue an evacuation order until Tuesday - less than 24 hours before Ian made landfall and a day after neighboring counties had already done so - was an “apparent violation” of its own emergency planning strategy. Mounting questions about the late decision to evacuate Lee County, a stretch of Southwest Florida containing Fort Myers and Sanibel Island that has been left permanently disfigured by Ian’s menacing winds and hellish storm surge, have played a pronounced role in news coverage. In the wake of Hurricane Ian’s catastrophic landfall that has left at least 100 people dead in Florida, the press is holding local and state officials to account, confronting elected leaders with pointed questions about whether they delayed issuing evacuation orders in areas where the storm roared ashore. Journalists are pressing elected leaders in Florida on whether Lee County’s evacuation order came too late. ![]()
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