FL State Rep. Rayner: “The ability to evacuate is a privilege"

More than 64,000 people in Lee Country, Florida were still without power Saturday. On September 28, 2022, Hurricane Ian careened out of the Gulf of Mexico and slammed into Florida killing more than 100 people and leaving thousands of others displaced. “We knew that this storm was going to hit west Florida,” says Florida State Rep. Michele Rayner. “We need to ask tough questions of the county as to how they did not evacuate people sooner...We are able to get information to whomever we need to get information to.” Rayner says she’s been worried that poor or middle class families would be forgotten after the storm. “From day one, when I viewed this storm had hit...I had talked about making sure that this recovery is just.” Rayner says that the government needs to make sure that people who “can’t afford to miss a paycheck” are just as well taken care of as “folks who are on the high end of the economic spectrum.”Oct. 8, 2022