Hurricane Idalia causes massive oak tree to fall on DeSantis mansion

As Hurricane Idalia wreaks havoc in the Florida area, the heads of state are impacted as well. According to a report from CBS News, a 100-year-old tree oak fell on Governor Ron DeSantis’ mansion in Tallahassee, Florida while he was away hosting press conferences for updates on the very hurricane that did damage to his own home, ironically. During the scare, Casey DeSantis and their three children were inside, but no one was reported to have been injured. 

The governor and GOP candidate for president re-located with his family to the mansion in 2019, upon election to office. The original structure was built in 1907 and rebuilt in 1955 to fix structural issues.

“Our prayers are with everyone impacted by the storm,” Mrs. DeSantis wrote to X after the event, sharing a photo of the fallen tree.

During an afternoon press conference, reporters asked DeSantis about what happened and he relayed information from his wife, who phoned to tell him all about it. “I guess it’s a really ancient oak tree split in half,” he said. “And part of it fell. I don’t know that it fell on the residence per se. It was a little bit off to the side. So that’s going to be cleared  . . . If they do cut down the whole tree, that’s just going to be more room for my kids to hit baseballs in. And so in some respects for us, even though the tree was nice, we’ll probably make do and be quite all right.”