President Trump promises to seek additional aid as he tours hurricane-ravaged areas
Trump promises to seek additional aid as he tours hurricane-ravaged areas
The whole town is gone:' Hurricane Michael wipes out Florida coastal community
Florida Gov. Rick Scott
warned residents that tropical storm Michael could become a Category 3
hurricane by the time it makes landfall on Florida's gulf coast.
President
Trump said Monday he would ask Congress for emergency disaster aid in
the aftermath of Hurricane Michael, as he and first lady Melania Trump
toured the devastation from the deadly storm that has left hundreds of
thousands without power in Florida and Georgia.
William
“Brock” Long, the Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator who
was traveling with Trump, did not give a specific dollar amount for the
needed aid, saying it was premature. Trump made the remarks at an
American Red Cross facility in Macon, Ga., after visiting
hurricane-ravaged areas on the Florida Panhandle earlier in the day.
“We
just left Florida, and the people there are thrilled with our people
and our talent,” Trump said in Macon. “What they were not thrilled with
was this hurricane.”
Congress approved
$1.68 billion in emergency aid after Hurricane Florence — funds that
were included in a broad reauthorization bill for the Federal Aviation
Administration earlier this month. FEMA’s disaster aid account contains
$31.7 billion, according to a spokeswoman for the Senate Appropriations
Committee.
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Trump and the first lady arrived at Eglin
Air Force Base in Okaloosa County, Fla., and later went to Warner
Robins, Ga. They were greeted by Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R), Rep. Matt
Gaetz (R-Fla.), Long and other officials.
“Rick
Scott, your governor, has done an incredible job, and all of your
people have been amazing — working with FEMA, working with the first
responders, and always law enforcement,” Trump said before boarding a
helicopter to survey the storm-damaged areas. He noted that the storm
was so strong that some homes had been washed away entirely.
“Some
of them have no trace of a home. You wouldn’t even know it,” Trump
said, adding that the government’s priority was to provide food, power
and safety to those affected.
Scott
thanked Trump, who he said had “come through and done exactly what he
said he was going to do.” Scott is in a tight Senate race against
Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson, who did not appear with the president
on Monday.
The
Trumps then flew over devastated parts of Mexico Beach and Panama City,
Fla. Mexico Beach is a tiny town that was nearly wiped out by the
storm; the president’s helicopter tour took him over the debris-filled
scene, which included thousands of uprooted trees, a toppled water tower
and homes torn off their foundations.
At a
FEMA aid distribution center in Lynn Haven, Fla., before handing out
water bottles alongside his wife, the president described the damage
caused by the storm that killed more than a dozen people after it made
landfall last week.
“These are massive trees that have
been just ripped out of the earth,” Trump said. “We’ve seen mostly
water. And water can be very damaging, and scary, when you see water
rising 14 or 15 feet. But nobody’s ever seen anything like this. This is
really incredible.”
Trump
noted that “we’re doing more than has probably ever been done,” and as
he introduced himself to a police officer, said: “In 30 days, you will
not recognize this place.”
Amid the heavy-duty
debris clearance and continued search-and-rescue operations going on in
Mexico Beach, residents stopped for a moment around midday as four
helicopters, two of them military, made a low and slow pass over the
demolished town.
Had the president opted for a ground tour of the hardest-hit areas, he would have found many supporters.
“It’s
very good he’s coming down here, but I’m most thankful he waited a few
days until search-and-rescue could do their thing,” David Childs of
Griffin, Ga., said as he boarded up his beachfront vacation home. “If
you see him, tell him the boys in 1B want to shake his hand.”
Jim
Ostman, a 27-year resident of the town who rode out the hurricane in
his condo, said that Trump was “absolutely doing enough for us.”
“I
see what’s happening here. What they’re doing is incredible; everything
is in a sequence and in line, and they’re following protocol,” he said,
adding that “every single carpenter I know has lost his tools and
truck, so help there would be nice.”
The helicopter route also took Trump near Tyndall Air Force Base, which was damaged by the storm.
After
the helicopter tour, the president, first lady, Scott and Homeland
Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen surveyed a street of damaged homes
in Lynn Haven. Trump shook hands and chatted with residents; he was
accompanied by Lynn Haven Mayor Margo Anderson.
Michael
made landfall on Wednesday as a Category 4 storm, tearing through parts
of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia. The storm has
killed at least 18 people, a number that officials say will probably
rise as emergency crews work to reach some of the hardest-hit areas.
Scott
noted on Sunday as he toured the area for a third day with Long that
“one of the most frustrating problems is telecommunications.”
Since
Thursday, 17,000 utility workers have arrived to rebuild and repair the
crippled infrastructure, and 2,000 cellphone company workers and 18,000
search-and-rescue personnel have arrived in the region, joining 4,000
Florida National Guard troops and multitudes of police officers and
firefighters.
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