DeSantis moved his base camp from the Tampa Bay Rays stadium before Milton destroyed the roof

Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday the state had moved a 10,000-person base camp it had set up at the Tampa Bay Rays' stadium to help with storm recovery after it became clear that Hurricane Milton was a threat the structure would represent in St. Petersburg.

Ultimately, the Category 3 storm tore off large portions of Tropicana Field's roof, with videos and photos showing the shredded pieces blowing in the wind.

“When it became clear that there was going to be something of that magnitude within that distance, they redeployed them out of Tropicana,” DeSantis said at a news conference in Tallahassee. “There were no government assets located in the Tropicana field, I think Duke removed all of their assets as well.”

The roof, according to the Tampa Bay Rays media guide, was made of “six acres of clear Teflon-coated fiberglass and supported by 180 miles of cables connected by struts” and was “built to withstand winds of up to 110 mph.” “. ”

READ MORE: Milton leaves coast-to-coast path of damage in Florida, 4 dead. Three million without electricity

DeSantis said, “The roof is basically like a fabric.” He said the state “understood” that the stadium's roof was not built to withstand winds of more than 110 miles per hour, so state officials “accordingly “traded” and moved the stadium area from there.

The state's staging area was moved to Jacksonville around midnight Tuesday, DeSantis' press secretary Jeremy Redfern told the Herald/Times. Hurricane Milton made landfall Wednesday at 8:30 p.m.

DeSantis said the state has used the stadium as a “routine staging area” during storms, including Hurricane Helene last month.

The staging area at Tropicana Field was set up to accommodate 10,000 people to assist with debris removal and first responder operations following the storm.

Earlier this week, videos showed dozens of rows of empty green cots. The site was part of what the governor called “the largest storm mobilization in the history of the state of Florida” in the lead-up to Hurricane Milton.

DeSantis said the damage to the stadium will have “no major impact” on the state’s storm response.

“They are in the fight and will continue to be in the fight,” he said.