OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Fox News host and former press secretary for former President Donald Trump, Kayleigh McEnany had a heartfelt plea for those who follow her.
After Hurricane Helene devastated much of the South, including Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and more, the Fox News host took to X, formerly Twitter, to ask for prayers for two counties in particular.
“Please send prayers for the people of Taylor county and Dixie county in Florida. They have been decimated by 3 hurricanes in 13 months – hard to imagine,” she said in a post that included a clip of her interview with Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
During the interview the Florida governor detailed the extensive damage to his state from the devastating storm.
“We had 6-7 feet throughout the Tampa Bay area that exceeded records in a lot of those places. And of course, that creates a whole host of problems. So we’re down here. We started in Tallahassee at the emergency operations center. We’re going to be touring some of the sites here, particularly in Pinellas County. But I think it’s — it’s important to point out that as soon as this storm hit, you started to have people that were calling because they were in distress,” he said.
“And between local first responders, combination of local and state and then state teams, there were thousands of missions that were completed. The state was responsible for hundreds of rescues. I know places like Hillsborough and Pinellas, the sheriff’s departments, fire departments, they were out there doing that. So you did have some people that that stayed, that got some surge in those evacuation zones. But all the rescue attempts were successful,” the governor said to the host.
“Second thing is, is we’re now down. So we’ve had about 1.3 million power restoration since the storm hit and we’re down to about a million without power. So those numbers are going to continue to go down. Because we had the crew station, they’re going in, they’re doing work. As soon as it was safe to do, they’ve been working. So there’s a lot going on. But we also had this storm hitting a place that has seen two hurricanes in the last 13 months, in that Big Bend part of Florida, and I’m going to be there later today. But the initial reports we’ve been getting from those communities in the Big Bend was that the damage for Helene exceeded the damage of Idalia and Debby combined. So please keep those folks in your thoughts and prayers,” he said.
Please send prayers for the people of Taylor county and Dixie county in Florida. They have been decimated by 3 hurricanes in 13 months – hard to imagine.
My interview with @GovRonDeSantis on the impact of Hurricane Helene. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/BxLjiHeloR
— Kayleigh McEnany (@kayleighmcenany) September 27, 2024
The host recalled that she interviewed him around one year ago after massive storms hit the same area.
“And you just mentioned this, this is Taylor County. You have neighboring Dixie County, and the individuals there, I just, I cannot believe I was in Perry County a year ago. Talked to the residents, they’ve rebuilt and now they are facing all of that again. What are you hearing? How are the residents at this very moment?” McEnany asked.
“Well, it’s a very difficult time. I mean, I think that when you deal with these storms, and they did do Idalia, which was a major hurricane. Then we had Debby, which was Category One storm, but basically was on almost the same route,” DeSantis responded.
“So it didn’t do as much damage as Idalia in and of itself. But when you compound it from what had happened. Then you have Helene, which was stronger than Idalia, and has done more damage than both combined. You know, that is something that’s going to be very difficult. So we’re going to be having assets to be able to help with this,” the governor noted further.
“But the reality is, when you see buildings that have been blown to smithereens, that had been in the process of being rebuilt or maybe survived the other two storms and now they’re destroyed, you know, that’s more than just the dollars and cents. I mean, that really is a gut punch. It’s demoralizing,” the former 2024 presidential contender noted further.
“And so, I think that there’s a — it’s going to be some trying times in that Big Bend part of the state of Florida,” he said.
