Mike Waltz talks Hurricane Ian

Congressman Mike Walsh is with us, a Republican from the state of Florida. Congressman, I think of this as a test for Governor DeSantis as an executive running the show. He's the executive in charge right before the election. It's kind of a test, isn't it? Well, it is, but I have no doubt that Ron DeSantis will pass this test. He's shown leadership through a global pandemic, through Hurricane Dorian that came just after he took in office, and he'll show it here as well. The sad but true thing is that our state officials, including the great Florida National Guard, have to go through this on a pretty regular basis, and they know this drill. But, Stu, I just can't emphasize, this could be, if the models hold, the nightmare scenario that Florida has been dreading for a century. If this storm rolls up Tampa Bay, the low-lying areas around Tampa Bay and St. Petersburg, which could get turned into an island of a quarter million people, could be devastated. So, two things to watch. One, we have a lot of new people that have moved into Florida, a thousand a day that haven't been through this before. You've got to listen to your local officials. And then, number two, we have a lot of Floridians who have been around a long time that have had a lot of close calls and may be kind of shrugging their shoulders. We have to take it seriously, Stu. When those bridges, when the wind reaches a certain level on those bridges, the first responders are not allowed to come get you. You will be on your own. You have to evacuate now if you're being told to do so. Congressman, am I right in saying that the big danger, especially in Tampa, is the storm surge? I'm hearing that it's possible that water levels could rise like nine feet. I mean, that is the problem, isn't it? No, that's exactly the problem, and especially if the storm slows down, that's even worse, because it will literally push water up Tampa Bay as it moves from south to north and flood all of those areas, many of which, because they haven't had a serious storm in the last hundred years, have been heavily developed as we've had such population growth in Florida, particularly in the last couple of decades. Congressman, we usually talk to you about politics, but today, the storm is a bigger issue and a greater threat to Florida. Thanks for being with us this morning, sir. We appreciate it. All right. Thanks, Stu.