Hurricane Milton is heading toward the west coast of Florida with tremendous force, bringing with it expectations of widespread damage and deaths throughout the area.
The storm is so daunting that it has forced MAGA loyalist Florida Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna to evacuate her home in Pinellas County with her one-year-old son in tow, fearing for her life.
“I’m most likely going to send my son to see his family out of state because when we get back home, I don’t think we’ll have a house left,” Luna told DailyMail.com by phone. Call as you prepare your family and your district for disaster.
She represents Clearwater and much of the Pinellas Peninsula near Tampa Bay, an area expected to take the brunt of the storm.
And the factor that made her leave fearing for her son’s life: the 15-foot waves that are expected to hit her lower area. An insurmountable horror, explains Luna.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., spoke to DailyMail.com by phone and explained that she made the decision to evacuate her home in Pinellas County, near Clearwater, Fla., after learning at a briefing that waves that hit near his house could be 15 feet high. She fled for her son’s life.
“We know that in Clearwater, a lot of the viral images that you saw of Helene, that was my district, and there was 10 feet of water,” he said.
“Now we expect 15, and then it will increase more, because the winds are estimated to make landfall at 135 miles per hour.”
The Republican has attended countless briefings on Milton and told DailyMail.com that Gov. Ron DeSantis is leading an effective team to respond to the storm, but there is a lot people can do when faced with the forces of nature. .
“So when I get calls and I hear that the storm surge is going to be what it is, potentially we’re going to lose our bridges, the water is going to be affected and it’s going to be shut off, the power is going to be out for up to a week, if not longer… “I realize that if it were me, it’s one thing, but I have a one-year-old son and I couldn’t be in those situations,” he said.
Representative Luna and her son in a publication on her Instagram
She and her husband live with their son near where Hurricane Milton is expected to hit.
Florida Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, above, vowed to fly back to Washington, D.C. while battling an infection three weeks after giving birth to vote.
Luna gave birth on August 26, 2023 and is now just over a year old.
Massive mounds of debris from Hurricane Helene in Clearwater Beach, Florida. Milton is expected to bring more waves, destruction and debris. Piles like these are likely to be washed away in the coming days.
“And if this comes ashore as a strong Category 3 or 4, chances are no one will be able to get in or out of Pinellas County.”
“They will essentially become two separate islands because of the flooding.”
The storm, which has fluctuated between Category 4 and 5 in recent days, is already causing terrible weather in the area.
The current Category 4 tropical storm will make landfall in Tampa around Wednesday night, but its outer rings will leave a trail of destruction across much of the state through Tuesday.
And as for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) response to Hurricane Helene, it left Luna and her district angry.
“I’m angry and I think most of my constituents are angry,” she told DailyMail.com of FEMA’s Helene’s response.
U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) holds her son as the House of Representatives meets to elect a new Speaker of the House at the U.S. Capitol building on October 17, 2023 in Washington, DC. D.C.
Sunrise view of Hurricane Milton, currently a catastrophic Category 4 hurricane with 155 mph winds, continues to batter the Gulf of Mexico heading toward Florida, shown on the GOES-East satellite at 10:00 GMT on October 8, 2024 .
“I’m getting multiple responses from people saying FEMA is adamantly denying their claims.”
‘The fact is, I understand that FEMA was created to help people, but it seems that, like FEMA was exploited, and as a result of that, the funds that were supposed to go to the people, for example, anyone affected by Helene everywhere from Florida to Georgia to North Carolina. Now he has run out of money.
“My own constituents are being denied claims,” he stated emphatically. “They offer them $750 and then we find out that a billion dollars went to illegals.”
Last week, Republicans were furious when they realized that part of FEMA’s 2024 budget was specifically allocated to non-U.S. citizens.
He came after the National Security Section. Alejandro Mayorkas recently admitted that FEMA does not have the funds to weather the hurricane season.
Workers place plywood over business windows ahead of Hurricane Helene
Two men carry sandbags to prevent flooding before the storm
Meanwhile, the White House and FEMA have responded, saying the agency has enough money for now, but they need Congress to approve more funding soon.
They also argue that money for non-Americans cannot be reallocated to Americans.
“What FEMA did was wrong, and in fact I just sent a letter to the director of FEMA to ask what exactly happened to those funds that went into the hands of illegals,” Luna said.
He also said that this moment goes beyond politics and that the focus should be on getting aid to affected areas immediately.
The Republican even suggested that the White House deploy troops to Florida to help immediately afterward, since in his eyes FEMA’s response to Helene was too slow.
‘Do not wait a week, because every day that they are on the ground these people do not receive help. People are dying.’
U.S. Coast Guard personnel from Team Gulf Strike conduct urban search and rescue following Hurricane Helene, September 28, 2024 in Keaton Beach, Florida.
Keaton Beach took the brunt of the massive Category 4 storm that destroyed approximately 90% of homes and properties.
Arnie Bellini examines the damage caused by Hurricane Helene on a street in Clearwater Beach, Florida, on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. Bellini advanced $500,000 of his own money to help speed debris cleanup ahead of the possible arrival of Hurricane Milton.
“Right now, I don’t want to hear anything about Democratic Republicans. I just want people to do their damn jobs.”
“Get us the funding, get us the support and cut the bureaucracy so we can do our job and save lives.”
More than six million U.S. residents are under a hurricane warning due to Milton.
President Joe Biden has also warned that it could be the worst storm to hit the United States in 100 years.
It is expected to make landfall in Tampa Bay on Wednesday night.