OCALA, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis gave residents of Florida another update Tuesday afternoon on the state's preparedness efforts ahead ofHurricane Milton's landfall.
"This is not just an event about the West Coast of Florida," DeSantis said.
At a news conference in Ocala, DeSantis spoke on the large number of personnel ready to help after Milton churns through the state.
Hundreds of search and rescue personnel are ready to assist after the storm, including 34 search and rescue aircraft. There are 26 teams currently embedded in potential impact sites along Florida's West Coast ready to begin rescue operations.
DeSantis said that there are currently 5,000 National Guard members on duty, with 8,000 available by the time Milton hits Florida.
"This is probably the largest National Guard mobilization in advance of a storm in Florida history,” DeSantis said.
Almost 200 Florida State Guard soldiers are also on duty, in addition to other teams such as including 10 maritime crews, four drone teams and two amphibious rescue crews.
In efforts to restore power outages as quickly as possible, DeSantis said there have been over 40,000 power restoration linemen deployed and being brought to Florida from as far as California.
"We've gotten a lot of support from other states, and we thank them for that," DeSantis said.
The Governor reiterated his statements fromTuesday morning's conference about gas availability, reassuring Floridians to not worry about gas shortages. He said there are 1.2 million gallons of gas currently en route to the state, in addition to the 110,000 gallons of gas in Florida on standby.
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