Rick Scott: Hurricane Storm Surges Getting Worse, ‘Climate Is Clearly Changing’

Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) said Friday on CNN’s “Inside Politics” that the changing climate is causing hurricanes to become more severe when discussing the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

Host Dana Bash said, “This storm was 420 miles wide at one point, which appears to be part of a trend where storms are simply bigger than they once were, perhaps because of the changing climate. What are your thoughts on that?”

Scott said, “Who knows but you’re right. Irma was bigger than our state. This was gigantic. And do you know, the other thing that it seems like what’s happening, is the storm surge is getting worse. We had over ten foot of storm surge.”

He continued, “Don’t just think about the wind, think about the water. In Florida now, most of what you die from is water and not from wind. So what’s happening is, is the water coming in and just floods in, and then sucks everything out, including you if you stayed around.”

Scott added, “So you’re right. Something is — who knows what the reason is, but something is changing, massive storms, massive storm surge. So we’ve got to figure this out, but here’s — here are the positives. We’re going to do it. We’re going to build more resiliently. We’re going to come back. I live in the most wonderful state, with wonderful people that are very resilient.”

Bash said, “When you say something’s going on, isn’t it pretty obvious that the climate is changing, and that is changing the size of these storms and making them as big as you just described?”

Scott said, “Absolutely something’s changing. The climate is clearly changing.”

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