Residents criticize state's Hurricane Isaias response at DeSantis news conference in Milton

Some residents criticized the state’s response to Hurricane Isaias at a news conference Gov. Ron DeSantis held in Milton on the morning of Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, and the governor responded, according to reports by the News Service of Florida and WEAR-TV.¹²

Isaias struck the Panhandle as a Category 2 hurricane on Oct. 9, the News Service reported.¹

What critics said

Hecklers the News Service did not identify told DeSantis, “You should be ashamed of yourself.” The News Service reported that residents at the event and on social media said the governor had overlooked damage in Milton, which has fewer than 12,000 residents, and that the hecklers also objected to Education Commissioner Henry Mack’s plan to get schools open again soon after the storm.¹ Neither outlet named the residents who spoke.¹²

WEAR reported that some members of the public asked about recovery and the local school district, and that the exchange grew tense.²

What the governor said

“Do we have anything else other than the pre-staged, uh, people?” DeSantis asked, according to WEAR.²

The News Service quoted DeSantis as saying, “I have to care about everybody. I can’t just focus on only you,” and “Milton is not the only place that got hit with this storm.” He described the state’s work as a regional response rather than one aimed at a single city or county.¹

On schools, WEAR reported that, earlier in the week, the Santa Rosa school district had attributed a Wednesday reopening date to direction from the governor’s office. At the news conference, DeSantis said he had not ordered a Wednesday reopening and told the crowd, “I’ve never spoken to your superintendent.”² Santa Rosa Superintendent Karen Barber said the school board had to make a decision on Tuesday and that “it is a complicated situation,” WEAR reported.² The News Service reported that Mack posted on X on Oct. 12 that all schools would reopen by Oct. 16, and that Escambia and Santa Rosa schools were not scheduled to resume normal operations until Monday, Oct. 19.¹

Other officials

State Rep. Michelle Salzman, R-Escambia County, asked residents for patience. “We’re going as fast as we can,” she said, according to the News Service, which reported that about 450,000 homes and businesses lost power after Isaias first hit.¹

Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Jared Perdue said he expected President Donald Trump to approve the state’s disaster request. “We’re very situated and ready to receive the assistance from FEMA,” he said, according to the News Service.¹

The governor’s office said in a release the same day that the division had asked Trump for a major disaster declaration covering Public Assistance for 15 counties and Individual Assistance for residents of eight, Santa Rosa and Escambia among them. The release also announced a partnership with Emergency RV to provide temporary shelter for displaced residents, with priority for those whose homes were most heavily damaged.³

What the records do not show

• SignalData did not review a full video or transcript of the news conference; quotes come from the News Service of Florida and WEAR.
• The governor’s Oct. 16 release does not mention the exchange with residents.
• Neither report identifies the residents who spoke. WEAR’s report, the only one of the two that includes the governor’s “pre-staged” remark, offers no evidence for or against it.
• No public record reviewed shows what the governor’s office or the Department of Education told the Santa Rosa school district about reopening dates.