TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Gov. Rick Scott started his Wednesday at the state’s Emergency Operations Center. He had already declared an emergency ahead of the potentially devastating impacts of the hurricane.
“It’s never too early to evacuate,” Scott said.
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After not experiencing any hurricanes during his entire first term in office, Scott is facing his second one in the past month. Hurricane Hermine rolled through Tallahassee at the beginning of September, causing extensive damage and knocking out power to thousands of people.
When asked if he learned anything from the experience that could be applied to Hurricane Matthew, Scott said, “Don’t just rely on the co-ops for the co-ops, the municipals for the municipals and the big four for the big four utilities. I want them all to work together, because we need power back quickly.”
People might not know what to do if they sustain property damage, said Dr. Lorilee Medders, an insurance expert from Florida State University’s Catastrophic Storm Risk Management Center.
“People who have documentation ready, they have their policy ready, they have information that has their property’s inventory -- they can get a quicker on-the-ground response (and) an actual payment of claims,” Medders said.
The storm has the potential to force a dip into the state’s catastrophe fund to help stabilize the insurance market. The positive news is that a lack of hurricanes has left the fund in good shape.