‘Complete Obliteration’: DeSantis Says Hurricane Helene Damage Worse Than Idalia

More than 50 storm-related deaths have been confirmed among Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia.

Officer Nate Martir, a law enforcement officer from the Florida Fish Wildlife and Conservation Commission, holds an American flag that was lying on the ground amid debris, while patrolling from a high water capable swamp buggy, in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Cedar Key, Fla., Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. AP Photo/Gerald Herbert

TAMPA—Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Hurricane Helene’s “monumental storm surge” caused far greater damage than last year’s Idalia.

“Clearly you saw storm surge in excess of 15 feet,” DeSantis said to reporters in Taylor County’s Dekle Beach on the morning of Sept. 28.