DeSantis says crane developer should've used more 'common sense' and removed equipment before hurricane

Emily L. Mahoney and Romy Ellenbogen, Tampa Bay Times on Oct 11, 2024

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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Standing in front of the crumbled wreckage of a downtown high-rise smashed by a fallen crane, Gov. Ron DeSantis said the developer responsible should have used more “common sense” to take down heavy equipment before Hurricane Milton arrived.

He made the remarks following a news conference in which state officials provided updates about Milton recovery. A reporter asked whether there should be more government regulation of cranes during extreme weather.

“I mean, do we have to regulate everything?” DeSantis said, adding that he thought taking cranes down during storms was “standard practice.”

“Do you really have to really, like, crack down from the state to do it? I would hope not, and I think most of the time in Florida that is handled very appropriately but I think it takes a little bit of common sense,” he said.

The office building that was severely damaged by the crane houses multiple businesses, including the Tampa Bay Times. The crane fell from the Residences at 400 Central, the 46-story skyscraper being constructed across from the Times’ office. The Red Apple Group is the developer of the project. A spokesperson for the development group did not immediately respond to a voicemail seeking comment.

John Catsimatidis, the CEO of Red Apple Group, previously said the company was “working with city officials and others to assess the situation.” Catsimatidis is a New York businessman and prominent political donor who is a friend of former President Donald Trump’s. He has also written checks to DeSantis in the past.

The city of St. Petersburg said no injuries were reported at the site, and no one from the Times was working inside at the time. On Tuesday, ahead of Milton making landfall, St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch warned residents who lived in buildings next to three downtown construction sites with cranes to relocate because of concern over the cranes toppling down.

A city official said the cranes at 400 Central were rated to withstand up to 110 mph winds, and that one of the crane’s arms, about 100 feet long, snapped off in a wind gust.

State emergency management director Kevin Guthrie also criticized the developer, saying the company had plenty of notice that the storm was coming it’s “not the function of government” to “hold everybody’s hand” — though he did imply local government should have been able to intervene.

“You have a local building official to say, ‘Hey, all permitted work has got to be secure,’” Guthrie said.

Also at the news conference, officials provided updates about power restoration now that Milton has passed. As of Friday morning, about 2.4 million Floridians had no electricity, DeSantis said.

Duke Energy Florida President Melissa Seixas said its outage numbers will “quickly decrease.” On Friday, the company will provide an exact estimate of when restoration should be fully completed. But the restoration largely requires fixing downed lines, she said. That can be done faster than completely rebuilding destroyed portions of the grid, which was necessary on some barrier islands after Helene.

“This is not weeks, this is days,” Seixas said.

DeSantis on Friday also addressed another dramatic scene of local destruction: the shredded roof of Tropicana Field.

When the force of Milton’s winds peeled back the fabric covering, it revealed hundreds, if not thousands, of cots laid out in rows on the baseball field — sparking confusion about whether disaster response would be impacted.

State officials did not fully clear up the mystery Friday.

Florida’s Division of Emergency Management said Tuesday that they had set up a 10,000-person base camp inside Tropicana Field to support debris-cleaning operations and post-landfall emergency responders.

On Friday, DeSantis said Guthrie told him “days before the storm” that Tropicana could only withstand winds of 115 mph and that depending on the forecast, they may have to redeploy.

When those wind speeds looked likely, Guthrie said all of the state’s resources were removed from the Trop about 12 hours before tropical storm force winds set into St. Petersburg.

As for the remaining cots?

Guthrie said he didn’t know “whose cots they were.” He said the state had 20,000 cots, and all 20,000 went to state emergency supplemental shelters. Duke Energy said before the storm it had chosen to stage its workers at a different location because St. Petersburg was predicted to take heavy damage.

Major General John D. Haas, who leads the Florida National Guard, told a Times reporter following the news conference that they weren’t theirs, either.

“We had planned to go there, but we didn’t go there,” he said.

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