As Milton nears, DeSantis demands landfills open 24/7 to remove Helene debris still on streets

Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday his state did not “have time for bureaucracy and red tape” ahead of the coming hurricane, ordering state officers to break into a landfill not complying with his executive order mandating around-the-clock debris removal from the previous storm that hit just a little more than a week ago. 

“We need as much of this debris picked up as possible. This creates a safety hazard, and it also will increase the damage that Milton could do with flying debris,” DeSantis said at a Monday press conference from the state’s emergency response center. 

Hurricane Milton is rapidly strengthening in the Gulf of Mexico and is expected remain a major storm when it makes landfall somewhere along Florida’s west coast – creating dangerous storm surges and delivering high winds. 

Evacuations are already underway in major Florida population centers including St. Petersburg and Tampa.

The National Hurricane Center upgrade the storm Monday morning to a Category 4.  

“We have deployed major assets to help but yet, last night in Pinellas County, there were 300 vehicles, some of them were state vehicles, but also a lot of private pickup trucks and vehicles who were bringing debris," DeSantis also said at the press conference. 

"Yet, the one of the gates was locked. There was no one manning it, and so we had this massive line of cars waiting to drop off debris, which is which is a good thing. And so Florida Highway Patrol basically took matters into their own hands, fastened some rope to a couple pickup trucks to the gate, and busted the gate open. And then those trucks were able to go in and unload the debris.” 

We don't have time for bureaucracy and red tape. We have to get the job done.”

In the wake of Hurricane Helene, which made landfall on Florida's Big Bend coast Sept. 27, and carved a path of destruction throughout the southeast, local debris haulers and landfill sites were left overwhelmed. 

“We’ve never seen anything like this,” one GFL Environmental transfer station operations manager in Pinellas County told the Tampa Bay Times. 

The county' emergency management office could not be reached Monday morning for comment due to emergency disaster preparations. 

Because of the backup and as Milton bears down on the state, DeSantis ordered all debris collection sites to remain open 24/7 in order for haulers and residents to drop off as much debris as possible before high winds and storm surge arrive. 

Since the landfill site in Pinellas County, which suffered devastation along the coastlines from Hurricane Helene, remained closed yesterday night despite the governor’s order, Florida Highway Patrol busted open the gate to facilitate access, text messages and a video obtained by Florida’s Voice show.