National political reporter Neil W. McCabe reported live from the beach in Destin, Florida on Thursday’s episode of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show where he discussed the destruction Hurricane Milton left in the state just hours after the storm officially retreated out into the Atlantic Ocean.
McCabe, who lives in Tampa, evacuated from the area last Monday night where he traveled approximately eight hours on backroads to get to Destin, which was untouched by the storm.
While reporting live from Destin on Thursday morning, McCabe said the statewide recovery from both Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton is “going to be difficult,” however, noted the immense “resilience” of Floridians in wake of natural disasters.
“There’s some people who, emotionally, and their families and their businesses will never get over this, but I think that Florida will be back in business by the Tuesday after Columbus Day. You’re going to see the lights on, you’re going to see the trucks rolling again, you’re going to see the businesses dusting themselves off and setting up,” McCabe explained.
“There’s resilience here. There’s a rhythm here. People have been through the hurricanes before. It’s part of their nature,” McCabe added.
McCabe said the areas of Sarasota, Clearwater, Redington Beach, and St. Pete were among those “absolutely decimated” between both hurricanes, saying, “It’s just absolutely terrible for these people.”
“Milton’s going to leave a bruise,” McCabe said.
Amid the destruction and devastation brought by the back-to-back hurricanes, McCabe said the state was well pre-positioned to handle the emergencies under Governor Ron DeSantis, who McCabe said is running the state’s emergency response as if he were still a Navy officer.
“DeSantis was a Navy officer for 15 years. He got out of the Navy reserve as a lieutenant commander, and if he didn’t go into politics, he would have been an admiral, no doubt, like he had a stellar Naval career. You see that Navy officer come out when DeSantis is running an emergency response,” McCabe said.
“There isn’t a state in the country that wouldn’t want DeSantis to be running their state in an emergency. That’s why everything’s pre-positioned. Everything is spinning like a top, humming like a sewing machine. The Florida National Guard is tight. They are, to use an Army term, they are strapped. This is what they do. Nobody understands these hurricanes like the people down here in Florida,” McCabe added.
Watch McCabe’s full report from Florida:
– – –
Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
