The next 48 hours will be critical from a "life-safety standard" as the massive Hurricane Laura continues its advance, acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said Thursday.
"We are not out of the woods yet," said Wolf, who President Donald Trump has nominated to fill the secretary slot permanently, said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "What we are most concerned about is that flash flooding, the wind gusts, and the power outages as the storm continues to move north in Louisiana."
FEMA had already placed supplies and teams in Texas, Alabama, and Louisiana to respond to the storm, and Customs and Border Patrol assets are ready to respond, along with the Department of Defense, said Wolf.
The secretary also talked about the situation in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where the president has said he's ready to deploy the National Guard in response to worsening violence after police shot Jacob Blake in the back on Sunday.
"I think the president has been very clear from the onset which is we need to address the violent activity, so, again, peaceful protesting, First Amendment rights, I think everyone is very much in support of that," said Wolf. "The president has been very clear, when state and local authorities need to do their job and when they can't, then if they want to call the federal government, the president is willing to send in assets as we've done in Wisconsin. We will continue to do that to other parts of the country as well."
Meanwhile, Wolf said he's honored to have been nominated, and commented that when people say law and order are on Trump's watch, he as the head of the DHS notes that the matter starts with local and state officials, with a federal response as a backup, but Trump has made it clear that the government is ready to help.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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