“but to place much of Florida in a formal state of emergency when it’s not even raining cheapens the phrase “state of emergency” and conditions people not to believe what they actually see.”
You missed the point. Florida Statute 501.160 provides for protections against price gouging under a declared state of emergency. That’s the law. DeSantis did the right thing by declaring an emergency because preps for a hurricane start a week before expected landfall. This is when generators, for instance, become sold out and unscrupulous dealers charge 3-5 times the going rates, gas stations jack prices 3 fold, but not under a declared emergency. As it is, right now, I just saw a gas station jack their prices a $1/gallon to $5.45 for diesel. Yeah, I reported them.
That is, if retailers are prohibited from raising prices on the rapidly decreasing volume of critical goods, there soon would be none left as people buy up these precious goods even faster than their immediate need requires them to do. By raising the price in response to the often incredible demand, people would buy less of a specific item and, although at a much higher temporary price, these critical goods would still be available. I think that's a better situation than to not have these critical goods available at any price. (Note that if the retailer raises the price too much, people won't buy them and the lack of demand will force the price back down.
We saw the effects of panic buying during the toilet paper debacle in the early phase of the Fauci Flu, and the unavailability of generators during the deliberate electrical grid shutdowns during the wildfires a few years ago out here in California.
Just something to consider ... a different perspective.
Great post after monitoring hundreds of storms since the 50’s I know you are right.