Leftover debris from Hurricane Helene is just one of the challenges facing officials in Florida as they prepare for the onslaught of Hurricane Milton, Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., told Newsmax on Tuesday.
Milton is on track to make landfall Wednesday on Florida's west coast as a potential Category 3 storm. As of Tuesday evening, Milton had reformed into a Category 5 as it spun in the Gulf of Mexico.
Steube said on "The Record With Greta Van Susteren," that most of his district, FL-17, is under evacuation orders. He said, "The biggest concern: we still have people recovering from Hurricane Helene, and there's debris everywhere. We've tried to resource as much of the debris trucks as we can and try to get that stuff off before Hurricane Milton gets here."
He added, "A lot of that stuff is going to turn into projectiles and be floating in the Gulf and get carried back out, so that is the major concern. I still have residents that are recuperating from Hurricane Helene that are trying to get their lives back on track, and we're going to get hit by this."
Steube said Milton seems to be on track to hit Sarasota, which would be "devastating" for his county and district.
"Hurricane Helene, we had 5 to 7 foot storm surge. This is looking at 15 feet of storm surge. That's into the second floor of residences that are two stories," Steube said. "So anybody that are in those evacuation zones, you have to get out. From Tampa down to Fort Myers.
"You have to get out if you're in an evacuation zone. You become a challenge for first responders to try to get to you during a storm if you're stuck in a flooding house. So I encourage every single person, if you are in an evacuation zone, you need to get out now."
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