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WASHINGTON—Subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal Workforce Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) announced a field hearing titled, “Weathering the Storm: Oversight of the Federal Response and Recovery Efforts in Southwestern Florida following Hurricane Ian.” Members will assess the effectiveness of the federal response to Hurricane Ian and identify areas for improvement in the federal disaster response. DATE: Thursday, August 10, 2023 TIME: 10:00 a.m. ET LOCATION: Lakes Regional Library, 15290 Bass Road, Fort Myers, Florida 33919

Recently, Hurricane Ian caused significant damage and flooding throughout Florida and the southeastern United States. During the response and reconstitution after the hurricane, first responders encountered numerous vehicle fires involving electric vehicles (EVs) that are powered by lithium-ion batteries. Subsequent investigations have revealed that the vehicle fires resulted from exposure of the lithium-ion batteries to salt water. Many vehicles had been susceptible to flooding. Saltwater exposure can significantly degrade lithium-ion batteries, causing a chemical reaction that creates an extreme fire risk. Review of vehicle registration records revealed there are over 7,000 EVs in Lee County, Fla., with potential for damage.

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FORT MYERS, Fla. - When Ian made landfall in Southwest Florida on Sept. 28, Robert Long rode out the Category 4 hurricane in a dinghy hooked up to his pickup truck. He spent more than 2 hours inside the small boat being battered by ferocious winds and stinging rain as floodwaters rose. Long said he watched the weather radar leading up to the storm, but that he was caught off-guard by how powerful Ian would be. "I figured I was going to lose power, maybe get a small branch through the roof of my house," he said. "I had no...

After surviving Hurricane Ian, some homes in Florida are facing a new danger: electric vehicles catching fire due to their batteries being corroded by the floods. State Rep. Bob Rommel and state Fire Marshal Jim Patronis have been particularly vocal about the threat of EV fires in the aftermath of the hurricane. “Electric vehicles are catching on fire due to electrical system failure caused by saltwater storm surge from Hurricane Ian, catching homes on fire, endangering first responders and FL families. I’m calling on EV companies to partner with us to find solutions. We must take action,” Patronis tweeted. In...

What Florida Needs to Recover From Hurricane IanReal Clear FloridaMarco Rubio10/13/22A few years ago, while visiting the National Hurricane Center, I asked the staff to describe a worst-case weather scenario for Florida. They described a high-category hurricane stalling off the coast and pummeling the western side of the state with storm surge. In other words, they described Hurricane Ian.Over the course of that storm, Florida suffered as much as $50 billion in property damage. Whole communities were destroyed. Islands were cut off. And the death toll, now exceeding 100, continues to rise. It’s the worst natural disaster to hit Florida...

President Joe Biden seems to have a habit of getting caught cursing on a hot mic. Last week, President Biden did it again during his visit to Florida. A hot mic picked up the president boasting, “No one f—- with a Biden.” Biden’s F-bomb followed his meeting with Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis to assess the devastation caused by Hurricane Ian.Not only was Joe Biden’s expletive-filled remark an insult to the dignity of the office of the President of the United States. It was also total fiction. Sadly, America’s adversaries and fair-weather friends alike have been putting the screws to...

Common sense logic is lost on the left. Media cranks apparently never learned science or critical thinking during journalism school. Hurricane season is upon Southeastern America and that means hair-on-fire hysteria from the media and the political left. After Hurricane Ian ravaged southwest coastal Florida, we have heard nothing but hype from the corporate media, eager to connect every hurricane to catastrophic global warming, climate change, or whatever excuse they are currently using to usher in the Green New Deal and tyrannical top-down control of all aspects of our lives. Hurricanes are not new and are a staple of southern...

In the wake of Hurricane Ian, Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis is expressing new concern over electric vehicles. He penned a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration sounding alarms on the dangerous mix of lithium batteries and storm surge. Patronis, whose duties include state Fire Marshal, said the administration needs to assess fire risks associated with saltwater on electric vehicles. In the meantime, he said fire teams need more support to deal with an “inevitable” increase in fires associated with electric-powered automobiles. He sent a copy of the letter to Rep. Frank Pallone, Chair of the House Energy...

Florida Agricultural Commissioner Nikki Fried referred to President Joe Biden as "Brandon" in a tweet thanking him for his response to Hurricane Ian, using a nickname originally deployed by Biden's critics, but has been embraced by his supporters in recent months. "From all of us in Florida, thank you Brandon," Fried, a Democrat, tweeted Saturday. Biden's nickname stems from a NASCAR race last year, when driver Brandon Brown won the race and sportscaster Kelli Stavast, while interviewing Brown, thought the crowd was cheering "Let's go Brandon!" In actuality, the crowd was cheering "F*** Joe Biden." "Let's go Brandon" then became...

Polk County, Florida, Sheriff Grady Judd is telling residents of his county to protect their homes by shooting looters until they look “like grated cheese.” Grady told FOX News on Friday, “People have a right to be safe in their homes. They have a right for their property to be safe, even when part of their home may be torn away, and these looters, that’s unacceptable.” Grady went on to encourage Polk county residents to defend their property from looters and to make sure looters understand there could be a high price to pay for taking advantage of hurricane victims.

Hurricane Ian has already caused at least 34 deaths, and early numbers suggest that financial losses could hit $40 billion. But these numbers tell only part of the story. What they don’t reveal is how Ian will lead to growing inequality, and heighten racial disparities

As Hurricane Ian bore down on Florida, normally reliable computer forecast models couldn’t agree on where the killer storm would land. But government meteorologists are now figuring out what went wrong — and right. Much of the forecasting variation seems to be rooted in cool Canadian air that had weakened a batch of sunny weather over the East Coast. That weakening would allow Ian to turn eastward to Southwest Florida instead of north and west to the Panhandle hundreds of miles away. The major American computer forecast model -- one of several used by forecasters -- missed that and the...

Remember how Congress passed that bUiLd bAcK bEttEr infrastructure bill that was supposed to overhaul all our aging roads and bridges? I haven't seen a lot of rebuilt things, but I have seen a lot of politicians getting richer.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has taken a very public stance against looters in the aftermath of the devastating hurricane damage Ian left in its path. Last week, The Gateway Pundit reported on the Governor’s warning to looters, “We are a law and order state, and this is a law and order community. So do not think that you’re going to take advantage of people who’ve suffered misery.” The governor warned those seeking to “ransack people’s homes” that the state is heavily armed. “I can tell you in the state of Florida, you never know what may be lurking behind somebody’s...

Hurricane Ian “rapidly transformed from a relatively weak storm into a strong one, [a] phenomenon that has become more common” due to climate change. So reported the New York Times in its daily email newsletter. It also said, “Ian embodies several of the major hurricane trends in recent years, as the world copes with the effects of climate change. It’s a strong storm -- and strong storms are becoming more common in the Atlantic Ocean, as its surface water has warmed.” The prayers of a nation go out to the people in Florida devastated by Hurricane Ian, particularly those in...

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was pressed on comments from Vice President Kamala Harris that critics said suggested Hurricane Ian relief aid be delegated based on factors other than purely loss claims. Harris had said that "it is our lowest-income communities and our communities of color that are most impacted by these extreme conditions… We have to address this in a way that is about giving resources based on equity, understanding that we fight for equality, but we also need to fight for equity." On "Your World" Tuesday, Buttigieg was asked about those remarks as his own department seeks to help...

Florida's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis revealed how three of the looters were illegal immigrants 'who should not be in the US at all' 'These are people that are foreigners, they're illegally in our country, but not only that, they try to loot and ransack in the aftermath of a natural disaster,' he said In a warning to looters, Ron DeSantis said that Floridians would not be scared to evoke their Second Amendment rights if they caught an opportunist in their midst DeSantis has taken a similarly hard line when it comes to immigration Last month he was instrumental in sending...

MSNBC anchor Joy Ann Reid was widely ripped on social media, with many deeming a tweet of hers both “racist” and “pro-looting,” after the left-wing national correspondent suggested a warning to potential looters by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) resembled the sentiment of racists during the segregation era. Reid likened DeSantis to a segregationist on Saturday, after quoting segregation-era Miami Police Chief Walter E. Headley, who, in 1967, stated, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.”

Bush retweet-attacks Trump, backs Desantis, again.