Biden says he’ll travel to Florida Saturday to view Hurricane Idalia’s aftermath
President Joe Biden will visit Florida on Saturday morning to survey the federal response to Hurricane Idalia after the Category 3 storm devastated parts of the state’s Big Bend region.
“I am going to Florida Saturday morning,” he said.
Biden announced the trip while on a visit to the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Washington on Thursday. The White House said the president had pizza ordered for staff of the National Response Coordination Center at FEMA headquarters, who have been working around the clock in response to Idalia and the fires that ripped through Maui earlier this month.
It was not immediately clear whether Biden would visit Saturday with Gov. Ron DeSantis, who paused his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination to prepare for and respond to the storm.
At a briefing with reporters, Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall did not say whether the two would get together, but noted that they have met every other time the president has visited the state in the aftermath of a disaster.
“They are very collegial,” she said.
Biden and DeSantis spoke Thursday over the phone about the president’s signing of a major disaster declaration in the wake of Idalia.
The move allows for the reimbursement of debris removal and authorizes assistance to people affected by the storm in Citrus, Dixie, Hamilton, Lafayette, Levy, Suwannee and Taylor counties. According to DeSantis, additional counties may be approved in the coming days after the completion of ongoing damage assessments.
This story was originally published August 31, 2023 at 2:53 PM.
