Scott, lawmakers move to assist island, fleeing residents
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Rick Scott and lawmakers on Tuesday moved to help Puerto Ricans recover from Hurricane Maria, both islanders and those expected to come to Florida to escape the storm’s aftermath.
Scott put Florida National Guard members and Fish and Wildlife Commission officials on standby to send to Puerto Rico if it makes a formal request for help. He also asked universities and state colleges to offer in-state tuition to students fleeing the island of 3.5 million people about 1,200 miles from Florida.
“The heartbreak that our friends in Puerto Rico are enduring following this devastating storm is unimaginable, and our prayers are with every family who calls this beautiful island their home,” Scott said in a statement.
Some Democratic lawmakers
sent a letter to Scott asking him to activate the National Guard. Sen. Victor Torres, D-Orlando, appreciated Scott’s response but thinks more urgency is needed.
“I wouldn’t wait, I would say, ‘Send me all the help you can,’ ” Torres said. “You can’t keep on stalling because as the days go on, the disaster gets bigger.”
A bipartisan group of 20 lawmakers has spurred to action, as well, setting up a task force called “FL2PR” to help the island. The group is headed by two GOP legislators of Puerto Rican descent — Rep. Rene Plasencia of Orlando and Rep. Bob Cortes of Altamonte Springs. It’s aimed at working with the private sector to provide supplies to Puerto Rico and also to help refugees fleeing to Florida.
Vast parts of the island remain without power or potable water, and communication remains difficult. It’s the lack of communication that’s heightened anxiety of family members in the mainland U.S., something Plasencia knows well.
He only found out his wife’s 91-year-old grandfather was OK because he lives in Bayamon, the same city Cortes’ family is from.
“We’re hoping to get him out, but we still haven’t been able to talk to him,” Plasencia said Tuesday.
Yet frustration remains over how quickly the federal government is responding to the crisis.
“The recurring theme is that help is coming very slowly and in some places not at all,” Plasencia said.
In addition to the immediate needs of Puerto Ricans still on the island, lawmakers will likely have to deal with the cost of Puerto Ricans seeking refuge in Florida because they have family or friends here.
“We can make sure that we’re prepared so that our school districts, our housing, our shelters, whatever it is that we need to provide are not caught off guard,” Plasencia said. “They might be coming with nothing ... so we might need to provide them with clothing, with bed linens, with anything you can imagine, to live and survive in a new place.”
An exodus could mean lawmakers might have to find more money for schools, housing and health-care programs in what was already a tight budget year. The tab for recovery from Hurricane Irma still has to be accounted for.
Lawmakers say they know it won’t be easy to absorb the direct impact of hurricanes Irma and Maria. National Guard members are still helping to clear debris in the Keys caused by Irma.
“We’ve got to get our people situated here in Florida, and then we’ve got to keep on helping everybody else,” said Rep. John Cortes, DKissimmee.