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LAPLACE, La. — Giant trees knocked sideways. Homes boarded up with plywood. Off-kilter thoroughfare signs.
Less than a week aft Hurricane Ida battered the Gulf Coast, President Joe Biden walked the streets of a hardhit Louisiana vicinity connected Friday and told section residents, “I cognize you’re hurting, I cognize you’re hurting.”
Biden pledged robust national assistance to get radical backmost connected their feet and said the authorities already had distributed $100 cardinal straight to individuals successful the authorities successful $500 checks to springiness them a archetypal portion of captious help. Many people, helium said, don’t cognize what assistance is disposable due to the fact that they can’t get cellphone service.
Residents welcomed Biden’s presence, 1 of them drafting a motion with his past sanction and a bosom for the dot connected the “i.” They laughed and posed for selfies.
More formally, Biden met with authorities and section officials successful LaPlace, a assemblage betwixt the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain that suffered large upwind and h2o harm and was near with sheared-off roofs and flooded homes.
“I committedness we’re going to person your back,” Biden said.
He besides took a flyover circuit of pummeled areas including Lafitte, Grand Isle, Port Fourchon and Lafourche Parish, wherever Parish President Archie Chaisson said 25% of the homes successful his assemblage of 100,000 were gone oregon had catastrophic damage.
The president aboriginal met privately with Gov. John Bel Edwards, House Republican Whip Steve Scalise, who is from Louisiana, and section officials including Chaisson.
The devastation was wide adjacent arsenic Air Force One approached New Orleans, with uprooted trees and bluish tarps covering shredded houses coming into view. The roadworthy to LaPlace exhibited power-line wood poles jutting from the crushed astatine unusual angles.
Trips to earthy catastrophe scenes person agelong been a diagnostic of U.S. presidencies, moments to show compassion and amusement the nationalist enactment during a crisis. They are besides opportunities to deed pause, nevertheless temporarily, from the governmental sniping that often dominates Washington.
In shirtsleeves and boots, Biden was welcomed astatine the airdrome by Edwards, a Democrat. Several Republicans, including Sen. Bill Cassidy and Rep. Scalise, were besides connected hand.
Edwards said Biden has “been a tremendous partner,” adding that helium intended to support asking for assistance until the president said no.
In the aftermath of Ida, Biden is focusing anew connected the menace posed by clime alteration and the imaginable that catastrophe portion visits whitethorn go a much regular diagnostic of the presidency. The tempest has killed astatine slightest 14 radical successful Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and astatine slightest 48 successful the Northeastern U.S.
The president has pointed to that demolition to telephone for greater nationalist resoluteness to face clime change. His $1 trillion infrastructure authorities intends to guarantee that captious networks connecting cities and states and the state arsenic a full tin withstand the flooding, whirlwinds and harm caused by progressively unsafe weather.
At Friday’s briefing with section officials, Biden insisted the infrastructure measure and an adjacent much expansive measurement aboriginal connected would much efficaciously hole the country.
“It seems to maine we tin prevention a full batch of money, a full batch of symptom for our constituents, if we physique back, rebuild it backmost successful a amended way,” Biden said. “I recognize I’m selling arsenic I’m talking.”
Sen. Cassidy tweeted aboriginal that successful his speech with Biden, “we spoke astir the request for resiliency. We agreed putting powerfulness lines beneath the crushed would person avoided each of this. The infrastructure measure has billions for grid resiliency.”
Past presidents person been defined successful portion by however they handled specified crises.
Seemingly casually, Donald Trump lobbed insubstantial towels to radical successful Puerto Rico aft a hurricane, generating scorn from critics but small harm to his governmental standing. Barack Obama hugged New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie successful 2012 aft Superstorm Sandy, a little respite from partisan tensions that had threatened the economy. George W. Bush fell retired of nationalist favour aft a mediocre and unprepared effect to Hurricane Katrina, which swamped New Orleans successful 2005.
Scientists accidental clime alteration increases the frequence of utmost upwind events — specified arsenic ample tropical storms, and the droughts and heatwaves that make conditions for immense wildfires. U.S. upwind officials precocious reported that July 2021 was the hottest period recorded successful 142 years of record-keeping.
Biden’s astir eight-month-old presidency has been shaped successful portion by perpetual crises. The president went to Texas successful February aft a acold wintertime tempest caused the state’s powerfulness grid to fail, and helium has intimately monitored the wildfires successful Western states.
Besides earthy disasters, the president has had to contend with a multitude of different challenges. He is searching for ways to rescue the 100-200 Americans stuck successful Afghanistan aft the longest warfare successful U.S. past ended a substance of days ago. He is besides confronting the delta variant of the coronavirus that has plunged the state into an autumn of uncertainty lone months aft helium declared independency from the illness astatine a July 4 solemnisation connected the White House lawn.
Ida was the fifth-most almighty tempest to onslaught the U.S. erstwhile it deed Louisiana connected Sunday with maximum winds of 150 mph (240 kph), apt causing tens of billions of dollars successful flood, upwind and different damage, including to the electrical grid. The storm’s remnants dropped devastating rainfall crossed parts of Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey connected Wednesday, causing important disruption to large cities.
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Associated Press writers Melinda Deslatte successful Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Christina Larson and Darlene Superville successful Washington contributed to this report.
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