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He United States’s presidentJoe Biden, toured part of northwest Florida this Saturday, one of the areas most affected by the powerful hurricane idaliaand extended the promise that the federal government will maintain its support and will not abandon the victims “until the job is finished.”
“If there is something that your state needs, I am ready to mobilize that support,” Biden said from the town of Live Oak, in a message addressed to both Florida and the southeastern states of the United States, impacted by the passage of idaliawhich entered this state on Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane and continued through Georgia and the Carolinas.
Shortly after his arrival in Florida, the president and his wife, first lady Jill Biden, They did an aerial reconnaissance of the areas where idalia produced a greater impact, and in which the work of restoring power and collecting debris continues to this day.
The president was then informed by federal and state officials about the recovery tasks that have been undertaken, and heard testimonies from residents of this town who have seen their houses damaged or destroyed because of Idalia, today located on the Atlantic and converted into a post-tropical cyclone.
Biden expressed confidence that the United States Congress will act to approve the allocation of 4 billion additional dollars that the White House requested Friday in order to deal with recent natural disasters that have hit the country, including the fires in Hawaii and Hurricane idalia.
“No one intelligent can deny the impact of the climate crisis anymore, just look around the nation and the world: historic floods, intense droughts, extreme heat, deadly wildfires“, stated the president in a press conference held in front of a house cut down by a fallen tree.
Biden took advantage of the meeting with the press men to address the residents of Jacksonvillewhere a week ago three African-American people were shot dead by a young white man, who later took his own life, in what has been described as a terrorist attack with racist overtones.
“Hate will not prevail in the United States, racism will not prevail in the United States,” he said.
Ron DeSantis ‘absent’ during Biden’s visit to Florida
During his visit to Florida, Biden was accompanied by Florida Senator Rick Scott, but not by state governor Ron DeSantis, who is running in the Republican primaries to choose the candidate in the 2024 presidential election and during his campaign has provided harsh criticism of the Democrat, who will seek re-election.
Asked about it by journalists, Biden stepped forward and pointed out that he was not “disappointed” by the absence of DeSantis (“he may have had a good reason”) and that both he and the Federal Disaster Management Agency (FEMA) , in English) have been in permanent coordination with the state government.
On Friday, DeSantis spokesman Jeremy Redfern said the governor was not planning to meet with the president, arguing that “in these rural communities, and so soon after impact, the security preparations alone necessary to organize a Such a meeting would put an end to ongoing recovery efforts.”
In response to this, this Saturday both the spokesperson for the White HouseKarine Jean-Pierre, like FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell, told reporters who accompanied the president’s entourage that Biden’s team remained in “close coordination” with DeSantis’ teamas well as with state and local officials, regarding the details of today’s visit.
Criswell added that search and rescue efforts have been completed, with one death from the hurricane, and that the priority now is restoring power, especially in counties like Suwannee, where Live Oak sits, and that Much of it remains dark.
The governor’s office reported today that 90 percent of homes and units impacted by the storm already have power and that there are currently 57,696 customers without supply and where the operators are working.
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