Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., on Monday warned people in the path of Hurricane Dorian to listen to their local law enforcement officials and leave their homes if they are ordered to evacuate.
"It's real simple," the former governor told Fox News' "Fox & Friends." "You can rebuild your house. You cannot rebuild a life."
The massive Category 5 hurricane is stalled over the Bahamas, where it is wreaking massive damages and is for now forecast to travel parallel to Florida's shoreline. However, even if it does not hit land, there could be a storm surge of four to seven feet, said Scott.
"Imagine that, 7 feet [of water] coming into your house," he said. "You cannot survive this. I have watched that in these hurricanes. You should listen to the evacuation orders."
He said he is concerned people are watching the reports and thinking the storm will follow the exact path that is being shown, because "two-thirds of the time, according to the National Weather Service, it's either further east or further west."
He also urged people living in an evacuation zone to "get out now," because "you don't know what the traffic is going to be like. You don't know if you will have enough gas . . . if you decide that you are going to sit through this, no one can come and save you. They can't save you when 7 feet of water comes in, they cannot save you. When those bridges close, the bridges are closed."
Scott said he has been speaking with Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., who has a "great team around him" which has been through several hurricanes.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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