‘I’m committed to traveling to impacted areas as soon as possible, but I’ve been told that it would be disruptive if I did it right now,’ the president says.
President Joe Biden told the residents of states impacted by Hurricane Helene that federal agents “are not leaving until the job is done.”
“I’ve directed my team to provide every available resource as fast as possible to your communities, to rescue, recover, and to begin rebuilding,” he said during a press conference at the White House on Sept. 30.
“In addition to FEMA, [this] includes the Federal Communications Commission to help establish communications capability, the National Guard, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Department of Defense that can provide all the resources at its disposal to rescue and assist in clearing debris and delivering life-saving supplies.
“So far, that’s over 3,600 personnel deployed. That number is growing by the day.”
FEMA and the Small Business Administration are on-site for residents whose homes and businesses were “literally destroyed, washed or blown away,” according to the president, and federal search and rescue teams continue to work side by side with state and local partners to find all who remain missing.
“They’ll not rest until everyone’s accounted for,” the president said.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell is on the ground in Asheville, North Carolina, and she will stay there for the foreseeable future.
Biden said he spoke with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, county officials in the Big Bend region of Florida, and other leaders in South Carolina and Tennessee.
“I’m committed to traveling to impacted areas as soon as possible, but I’ve been told that it would be disruptive if I did it right now,” he said.
“We will not do that at the risk of diverting or delaying any of the response assets needed to deal with this crisis.”
Helene made landfall in Taylor County, Florida, on the evening of Sept. 26 as a strong Category 4 hurricane, and its wave of destruction included a record-setting storm surge down Florida’s west coast, record rainfall in Georgia, and catastrophic flooding and landslides in western North Carolina and Appalachia.
At least 10 states suffered damage directly related to Hurricane Helene. More than 100 people are reported dead, and more than 600 are unaccounted for.
Helene is not just a catastrophic storm, Biden said, it’s a history-making storm.
The president approved emergency declarations from Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Alabama.
He then approved additional disaster declaration requests from Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina to pay for debris removal and provide direct financial assistance to survivors.
He said he expects FEMA to need supplemental funding approved by Congress but did not say how much that would be.
When asked if he would call Congress back for a special session to allow that supplemental, he said he may have to make that request but that no decisions had been made yet.