A flurry of Floridian lawmakers and local leaders gathered in Seminole County Thursday and encouraged residents to start hurricane season preparations ahead of any threat from a potential storm.
The 2025 Atlantic hurricane season will run between June 1 and November 30, and forecasters expect an “above-normal” period with anywhere from 13 to 19 named storms. Last year’s season spawned 18 named storms, and it was the first season since 2019 to feature multiple Category 5 hurricanes.
Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Scott urged Floridians to rely more on themselves when it came to preparations. His stop in Sanford came after he made similar visits to Naples, Miami and Clearwater. He said the state will be ready to help should a storm hit but encouraged residents to stock up on supplies like water and gasoline.
“We’re going to try to make sure you have everything, but it’s your job to get ready,” he said.
A sales tax holiday on hurricane supplies usually coincides with the start of hurricane season, but a stall in the Florida Legislature’s session has left the tax-free period in limbo.
Other Republican officials like U.S. Rep. Cory Mills and U.S. Rep. Randy Fine echoed Scott’s sentiment. Both congressmen represent districts where the Federal Emergency Management Agency provided aid in response to last year’s hurricane season.
FEMA paid out more than $1 billion in federal disaster assistance to homeowners and renters in the state last year after Hurricanes Debby, Heline and Milton.
Preparation recommendations come as the scope of FEMA’s future assistance ability is in question. As a part of President Donald Trump and his administration’s federal budget reductions, the agency will go into the season with about 2,000 less full-time employees than it had at the beginning of the year. It currently employs more than 20,000 people, although that figure includes part-time workers.
And President Trump’s 2026 budget proposal called for a $646 million cut to FEMA. The agency also no longer provides the Building Resilient Infrastructure Program, among other initiatives.
Sen. Scott said Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem told him FEMA would be ready, but he still wants Floridians to turn to and rely on local and state governments.
“FEMA is a check writing organization,” he said. “They don’t show up with a whole bunch of water. They write a check to somebody to show up with stuff.”
On Wednesday, North Carolina’s request for FEMA to match the state’s funds for Hurricane Helene cleanup was denied. The agency rescinded its strategic plan last week with the goal of developing a new plan in the summer, although the plan is more tied to the agency’s objectives than to any specific disaster plans.
Seminole County Commissioner Andria Herr said that storms had become harder to prepare for, and so residents should set an example and start the process now.
“You are training the next generation,” she said.
If extra grocery purchases do not fit into someone’s budget, officials also recommend residents update evacuation routes and insurance information as ways to prepare.
