Sen. Rick Scott to Newsmax: Safety Is Priority With Hurricanes

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told Newsmax on Wednesday his main goal in dealing with hurricanes as governor of Florida from 2011 to 2019 — four hit the state in his final three years in office — was to keep everyone safe.

Scott appeared on "The Record With Greta Van Susteren" just hours before Hurricane Milton was expected to make landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast. As Florida’s governor in October 2017, Scott engineered one of the largest mass evacuations in U.S. history, according to the Florida Association of Counties, with an estimated 6.8 million people fleeing their homes in the wake of Hurricane Irma.

It’s possible the evacuations for Milton, a Category 3 storm set to hit near the heavily populated Tampa Bay area, could approach the numbers for Irma.

"Maybe if you're on the [state’s] east [coast] or in Orlando, you can still get out," Scott said. "But probably if you're on the west, you can't get out. There's no place to go now. So, you've got to hunker down and take care of yourself and take care of your family, take care of your friends.

"Our state is saturated with water right now. We've had unbelievable amounts of rain this year. That means there's going to be a lot of downed trees, which means there's going to be a lot of power lines down. We've got the wind picking up, so I hope everybody stays safe."

Scott said he traveled along the state’s Gulf Coast in the past week encouraging people to evacuate.

"I just tell people, be careful," Scott said. "Once this passes, and if you're alive — and I hope everybody is — watch for trees. Watch for power lines. Don't use a generator inside your house. You probably are going to be without water. You're probably going to be without power. A lot of people. So, it's going to be a tough, tough night for a lot of people."

Scott said hurricanes such as Milton, which reached Category 5 status in the Gulf of Mexico — with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph on Monday — are not an easy thing to contend with. As a Category 3 hurricane, Milton has reached sustained winds of 120 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.

"You can't fight Mother Nature," Scott said. "We're going to have as much as 13-feet of storm surge, it looks like in places. Well, 6 feet of storm surge kills you. So, all along the west coast of Florida, you've just got to be careful because if you're foolish enough to stay in a one story [building], it's over."

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