Governor Ron DeSantis received a briefing at the State Emergency Operations Center and is traveling to North Port and Arcadia to survey the areas impacted by Hurricane Ian

Today, Governor Ron DeSantis received a briefing at the State Emergency Operations Center and is traveling to North Port and Arcadia to survey the areas impacted by Hurricane Ian, distribute hot food, meet with survivors, and issue updates. Governor DeSantis also highlighted relief efforts that directly aid Floridians, including the start of the fuel tax holiday, and promoted debris removal in communities where it is safe to do so.

Governor Ron DeSantis received a briefing at the State Emergency Operations Center and is traveling to North Port and Arcadia to survey the areas impacted by Hurricane Ian
Hurricane Ian, September 2022 in Florida
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Today, Governor Ron DeSantis received a briefing at the State Emergency Operations Center and is traveling to North Port and Arcadia to survey the areas impacted by Hurricane Ian, distribute hot food, meet with survivors, and issue updates.

Governor DeSantis also highlighted relief efforts that directly aid Floridians, including the start of the fuel tax holiday, and promoted debris removal in communities where it is safe to do so. There are currently 42,000 linemen responding to the more than 840,000 reported power outages. They have already restored power to more than 1.8 million accounts across the state.

First Lady Casey DeSantis announced that the Florida Disaster Fund has raised over $21 million in the first 48 hours of activation. To read more info, click here. The Florida Disaster Fund is the State of Florida’s official private fund established to provide financial assistance to our communities as they respond to and recover from times of emergency or disaster. In partnership with public, private, and other non-governmental organizations, the Florida Disaster Fund supports response and recovery activities. To contribute, please visit www.FloridaDisasterFund.org or text DISASTER to 20222.

Safe and found persons can be reported safe at http://safe.fl.gov.

State response efforts include:

Search and Rescue

  • As of 7 a.m. today, more than 1,600 rescues have been made.
  • There are more than 1,000 team members performing search and rescue.
  • Florida National Guard members are conducting Liaison missions in 14 counties to support and coordinate emergency response missions and requests in those counties.
  • Florida National Guard engineering resources were deployed to assist with route clearance in Pinellas and Lee Counties.
  • The Missouri Task Force 1 Disaster Situational Assessment and Reconnaissance (DSAR) Team is deploying to Florida through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact to support urban search and rescue efforts and incident assessment.
  • A Florida Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Team deployed to Central Florida to support state USAR Task Forces and incident assessment.
  • The National Guard and the Coast Guard are landing helicopters on barrier islands to perform search and rescue.
    • Yesterday, 1,000 National Guard were sent to the barrier islands to help expedite efforts.
  • Following Governor DeSantis’ authorization, over 5,200 Florida Guardsmen have been activated to State Active Duty for Hurricane Ian response operations. The Florida National Guard are supporting a total of 152 active missions.
  • Several POD sites became operational as of 10/1, distributing food, water, and ice to local populations:
    • 406 pallets of water distributed
    • 347 pallets of food distributed
    • 62 pallets of ice distributed

Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM)

  • FDEM is identifying locations and resource needs for Points of Distribution (POD) in Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Hardee, Highlands, Lee, and Sarasota counties. More than 829,000 MREs and 3.8 million bottles of water have been distributed so far. PODs open today include:

Sarasota County

  • Hyundai of Venice
    • 200 Jacaranda Blvd.
    • Venice, FL 34292
  • Englewood Center Plaza 
    • 200 S. Indiana Ave.
    • Englewood, FL 34223
  • Twin Lakes Park
    • 6700 Clark Road
    • Sarasota, FL 34241
  • Venice Community Center
    • 326 S. Nokomis Ave.
    • Venice, FL 34258
  • San Pedro Catholic Church
    • 14380 Tamiami Trail
    • North Port, FL
  • Sarasota County Croquet Club
    • 1400 Lucaya Ave
    • Venice, FL 34285

Hardee County

  • Burgin Farms
    • 611 S. 6th Ave
    • Wachula, FL 33873

DeSoto County

  • DeSoto County Department of Emergency Management
    • 2200 Northeast Roan Street
    • Arcadia, FL 34266
  • Nocatee Elementary School 
    • 4846 SW Shores
    • Arcadia, FL 34266
  • Save A Lot
    • 1325 E. Oak Street
    • Arcadia, FL 34266
  • Highlands County
  • Save A Lot
    • 70 Plaza Ave.
    • Lake Placid, FL 33852
  • South Florida State College
    • 600 W College Drive
    • Avon Park, FL 33825
  • Florida Department of Health in Highlands County
    • 7205 S. George Blvd.
    • Sebring, FL 33875

Lee County

  • Old Bonita Springs Library 
    • 26876 Pine Ave.
    • Bonita Springs, FL 34135
  • Kelly Road Soccer Complex
    • 10750 Kelly Road
    • Fort Myers, FL 33908
  • Cape Coral Sports Complex
    • 1410 Sports Blvd.
    • Cape Coral, FL 33991
  • Cape Coral Leonard Street
    • 4820 Leonard Street
    • Cape Coral, FL 33904
  • Estero High School Ballfield Park
    • 9100 Williams Road
    • Estero, FL 33928
  • North Fort Myers Rec Center
    • 2000 N. Recreation Park Way
    • North Fort Myers, FL 33903
  • Fleamasters Fleamarket
    • 4135 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd
    • Fort Myers, FL 33916
  • Veterans Park Rec Center 
    • 55 Homestead Road S.
    • Leigh Acres, FL 33938

Charlotte County

  • Muscle Car City 
    • 10175 Tamiami Trail
    • Punta Gorda, FL 33950
  • Charlotte Sports Prak 
    • 2300 El Jobean Rd
    • Port Charlotte, FL 33948
  • Ann Dever Memorial Regional Park
    • 6791 San Casa Dr.
    • Englewood, FL 34224

Collier County

  • Collier County Emergency Management
    • 8075 Lely Cultural Parkway
    • Naples, FL 34113
  • Sugden Regional Park
    • 4284 Avalon Dr.
    • Naples, FL 34112
  • Everglades City Administrative Office
    • 102 Copeland Ave.
    • Everglades City, FL 34139
  • Barron Collier High School
    • 5600 Cougar Drive
    • Naples, FL 34109
  • FDEM is working with feeding partners to open kitchens for impacted and displaced residents. On Saturday, October 1, more than 69,700 hot meals were served on-scene at food banks in Alachua, Brevard, Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Flagler, Hardee, Hillsborough, Lee, Manatee, Miami-Dade, Orange, Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota, Seminole and Union counties.
  • Through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), more than 1,800 personnel from 26 states have deployed to Florida to assist in response and recovery efforts.
  • FDEM has activated the State Assistance Information Line (SAIL) to provide an additional resource for Floridians to receive up-to-date information regarding Hurricane Ian. Residents and visitors can call this toll-free hotline at 1-800-342-3557.
  • FDEM Recovery staff are conducting rapid damage assessments in Charlotte, Flagler, Glades, Hendry, Highlands, Putnam and Osceola counties to expedite available federal assistance for disaster recovery.