President Biden tours hurricane damage in Florida and Georgia

KEATON BEACH — President Joe Biden stopped in North Florida for a whirlwind visit to meet with local leaders and residents reeling from the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene last week.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Taylor County Emergency Management Director John Louk showed the president a FEMA map during a roadside briefing past toppled trees and remains of destroyed houses.

They detailed Helen’s catastrophic wind speeds in Florida and how the storm wreaked destruction across the natural coastline, up into northern Florida and across South Georgia.

Preliminary damage estimates total a little more than $50 million on Taylor County’s coastline alone, said Andrew Morgan, public information officer for the county’s emergency management agency.

About 250 to 300 homes on the county’s coast have been destroyed or are uninhabitable, he said.

Florida continues to recover from the Category 4 storm, which left at least 19 people dead, including at least 12 in Pinellas County, hundreds of miles from where the storm made landfall. In the Southeast, the death toll topped 200 as North Carolina’s power and water needs became more urgent for hundreds of thousands of residents.

On Thursday morning, the President arrived at Tallahassee International Airport aboard Air Force One, then departed aboard Marine One to visit ground zero of Helen’s landing.

Bill Collins, a Keaton Beach resident, was on his neighbor’s porch when the motorcade arrived and said he was happy to see the president making a stop in Taylor County.

“That’s what he’s supposed to do. He’s supposed to go through and at least see with his own eyes,” Collins said.

He hopes Biden will unlock more federal aid for Helen-affected states, including North Carolina and Tennessee.

“We’re not the only ones,” he told the USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida. “We are all in this together.”

In an article on X, Senator Scott said he would introduce an appropriations bill to fund FEMA, USDA and SBA for Helen’s recovery efforts.

“In my meeting with President Biden, I emphasized that the federal government’s response to hurricanes over the past two years has left too many Floridians, especially our farmers, suffering and with unmet needs – and this needs to be fixed NOW,” Scott wrote.

He also criticized the federal government’s response to Hurricanes Ian, Idalia and Debby.

“I will fight like hell to provide disaster relief to our state and ensure transparent debris removal guidance for our local communities, and I urged the federal officials present today to give the priority to Floridians and all Americans in doing the same,” he said. .

During the briefing with the president, Louk said that although some houses are still standing, they advise residents to inspect their homes for structural damage.

Biden, who wore a baseball cap and aviator sunglasses, spent time speaking with Taylor County first responders, including Sheriff Wayne Padgett.

“He was very nice, he shook all of our hands,” Morgan said.

Biden even sang “Happy Birthday” to one of the first responders.

“He was very supportive of what we were doing,” Morgan added.

The entire visit to Taylor County lasted no more than two hours.

Biden then returned to Perry Airport and boarded Marine One to head to Valdosta, Georgia.

Governor Ron DeSantis did not accompany the president on this visit. He also took the plunge when Biden arrived in Florida after last year’s Hurricane Idalia, although he met with him after Hurricane Ian in 2022.

“No, it’s just that we planned for this,” DeSantis said, when asked if there was a reason he didn’t accompany Biden on Thursday. DeSantis spoke from Ana Maria Island in Manatee County, more than 200 miles from where Biden visited.

He held a press conference to announce three executive orders related to Helen’s recovery: the waiver of local government rental date requirements; allow supervisors of elections affected by Hélène to set up alternative polling stations; and streamline port and supply chain operations to mitigate the effects of the port strike and move needed supplies into the state to facilitate recovery efforts.

Before Thursday’s devastating tour of Florida and Georgia, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre briefed in-flight reporters en route to the Tallahassee airport. She trumpeted that the Biden administration would cover 100% of the costs associated “with things like debris removal, first responders, search and rescue, shelter and mass feeding operations.”

“Nevertheless, we know there is still work to do,” she said. “And we will be here, doing this work, for as long as it takes.”

Ana Goñi-Lessanstate watchdog reporter for the USA TODAY Network – Florida, can be reached at [email protected].