DeSantis’ FDOT Repairs Nicole-Damaged Road in Just 7.5 Hours, Now Open to Traffic
VILANO BEACH (FLV) – After Hurricane Nicole trekked through Florida, first making landfall on the East Coast, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced under his direction, the Florida Department of Transportation repaired State Road A1A in just 7.5 hours.
“SR A1A in St. Johns County had substantial damage from Hurricane Nicole. Under my direction, @MyFDOT completed emergency road repairs in Vilano Beach in 7.5 hrs. With 80 trucks and 1,400 cubic yards of material, the roadway is now reopened to traffic,” DeSantis said.
The storm approached Florida just as Nov. 8’s election drew near. It made landfall early Thursday morning.
“Hurricane-damaged road repaired in 7.5 HOURS! It would take months to years in a Democrat-run state. Grateful for Florida’s leadership,” Christina Pushaw, the Rapid Response Director for the DeSantis campaign, said.
On Thursday, Nov. 10, in the afternoon, one of FDOT’s Twitter accounts send out a video of crews already making repairs before the storm had fully passed through.
The morning after the governor’s electoral landslide, DeSantis updated Floridians on the status of the storm and the state’s preparations. Around 17,000 linemen were staged to immediately bring recovery, a similar sense of urgency seen for Hurricane Ian preparations, which was a much stronger storm.
Ian struck Southwest Florida as a borderline Category 5 storm, wreaking havoc across the coast and other parts of the state. The Pine Island Bridge and Sanibel Causeway were two major bridges swiftly repaired well ahead of schedule. The governor’s habit of getting communities back on track after a disaster continued with Nicole.
“And I declared a state of emergency on Monday for 34 counties so that they had ample time to prepare for the storm. This morning as an abundance of caution, we’ve expanded out to all counties just simply because we’re not sure the extent of the impacts in Northwest Florida.”
600 national guardsmen were activated and 7 urban search and rescue teams were on standby for recovery efforts. 250 Florida Department of Transportation crews were also prepared to clear roadways and inspect bridges for damage.
