Marco Rubio: “2 weeks ago this very evening, I had just finished my time as Presiding Officer over the Senate, and I made the decision…”

“2 weeks ago this very evening, I had just finished my time as Presiding Officer over the Senate, and I made the decision that early the next morning I would be returning to Florida instead of staying here the following day. The reason was that at that time and in that moment, the strongest storm ever recorded out of the Atlantic was bearing down first on the Caribbean and headed not just toward Florida but actually toward the city in which I live. Then the Nation and State watched over the next few days as that storm took its track. There has been a lot said about Hurricane Irma since that time. I have heard some say that it could have been worse, and I imagine in some particular instances perhaps that is true. Had that storm entered through Tampa Bay, FL, the loss would have been incalculable. Had it hit directly throughout the southeast coast, right through the major metropolitan areas of Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties, the economic costs would have been very significant. So it is possible that the storm could have had an even greater impact, but it is difficult to say that to the people who were impacted by it. It was a unique storm in a lot of different ways, like the sheer scope of it. One of the things that really perplexed people in Florida, including myself--we were thinking perhaps we should move our families to another part of the State.…”