President Joe Biden on Thursday declared a major disaster in Florida and approved federal disaster assistance for the state following widespread devastation caused by Hurricane Ian, Politico reports.
Florida currently has about 5,000 National Guard troops working on recovery efforts and about 40,000 state workers on standby to fix power outages. The disaster declaration will allow the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, to provide assistance and supplies to survivors, as well as funding for debris removal and emergency measures for the next 30 days.
After making the declaration, Biden spoke with Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday morning to discuss federal support for Florida. "The president and governor are committed to continued close coordination," during their conversation, according to White House officials.
DeSantis said at a press conference that morning that the storm "changed the character of a significant part of our state. And this is going to require not just emergency response now in the days or weeks ahead — this is going to require years of efforts to be able to rebuild and come back."
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell is set to visit Florida on Friday to "check-in" on the recovery efforts and determine where to focus support.
Criswell said on MSNBC on Thursday that "we have some reports on fatalities" in Florida’s Lee County. She added that "Lee County was basically ground zero for the impacts that were seen from Hurricane Ian," which will "have catastrophic impacts to that area."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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