Biden surveys Hurricane Milton destruction in Florida, pledges support

As he examined the state’s response to hurricanes Milton and Helene, US President Joe Biden promised to continue to support Florida’s affected communities.

During a news conference on Sunday, Biden said people had “lost family members]and] lost all their personal belongings” after the storms pummelled Florida over the past few weeks.

“Entire neighbourhoods were flooded and millions – millions – were without power”, he told reporters in St Pete Beach, a resort city on a barrier island just west of St Petersburg, on Florida’s west coast.

“Homeowners have taken a real beating in back-to-back storms and they’re heartbroken and exhausted, and their expenses are piling up”, Biden said.

At least 18 people were killed and more than 100 buildings were destroyed by Hurricane Milton last week, which slammed Florida with dangerous winds and torrential rain.

Milton struck just two weeks after Hurricane Helene, which carved a path inland and caused dangerous flash flooding and winds in several US states, including hard-hit North Carolina, made landfall in Florida in late September.

As Biden’s tour of Florida on Sunday came to an end, street corners were littered with debris, along with felled palm trees, and pastel-painted garage doors, as well as the smell of moldy building materials dwelt on the air.

Heaps of mattresses, siding, couches, microwave ovens, pillows and busted-up kitchen cabinets lined the roads, some still covered in large patches of sand, as the US president walked through with emergency responders. In the street, there was only one photo album.

During the news conference in St. Pete Beach, he said, “I know you’re worried about the debris removal, and it’s obvious why.” “There’s much more to do. We’re doing everything we can”.

According to the National Weather Service, river waters are expected to continue to rise in the Sanford area northeast of Orlando and around Tampa Bay.

About 75 percent of Florida’s power is back online, with full restoration expected by Tuesday evening, said Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, who travelled with Biden.

The state’s emergency operations center anticipates the opening of additional gasoline distribution centers on Sunday.

But five days after the storm hit, about 927, 000 customers still do not have power, according to the online tracker PowerOutage. us.

“It’s still a mess”, Liz Alpert, the mayor of Sarasota, a city south of Tampa, told ABC News’s This Week programme.

Alpert added, however, that “it’s been heartening to see all of the outpouring of support and help that people have been offering”.

On Sunday, Biden announced $612m in funding for six Department of Energy projects in hurricane-affected areas to bolster the region’s electric grid.

The Democratic president also reiterated that he wanted US lawmakers to go back to Washington, D.C., on recess until after the presidential election on November 5 to approve additional federal funding for post-hurricane relief.

St Pete Beach Mayor Adrian Petrila, speaking alongside Biden, echoed the call for help.

“We’re concerned about the future of our town”, Petrila said.

We require continued federal funding, as well as a “path forward” to ensure that our town, along with all other communities and all other cities that have been devastated in the same way, can emerge stronger than ever.

Just weeks before the election, Kamala Harris and her Republican challenger, former president Donald Trump, are expected to square off against one another in terms of the Biden administration’s response to the hurricanes.

Trump has accused Harris and Biden of not doing enough to withstand the storms.

“Many governors have done a good job, but the White House has responded horribly.” ]Harris’s] response has been absolutely terrible”, the ex-president said in an interview with FOX News, which aired on Sunday.

Trump has been criticized by the Biden-Harris administration for promoting falsehoods about the federal response.

Harris criticized those who she said were “not acting in the spirit of community” at a predominantly Black church in North Carolina on Sunday.

Without mentioning Trump by name, she said, “I am speaking of those who have been literally not telling the truth, lying about people who are working hard to help the people in need, and spreading disinformation.”

“The problem with this, beyond the obvious, is it’s making it harder, then, to get people life-saving information if they’re led to believe they cannot trust”, Harris said.

Source: Aljazeera