Speaking from the Roosevelt Room on Wednesday, President Joe Biden urged Americans in the path of Hurricane Milton’s wrath to seek safer shelter hours before the storm was expected to make landfall in Florida later that evening or early Thursday morning. 

“At this point, evacuation is probably difficult so I encourage people to look for safer shelter,” Biden said. “Sometimes moving just a few miles can be the difference between life and death.” 

The president's comments came hours before the storm made landfall late Wednesday evening near Siesta Key, Florida.

Biden noted that his administration has already moved “thousands of federal personnel on the ground” to support response efforts and prepared tens of thousands of meals and liters of water for delivery. More than 1,000 Federal Emergency Management Agency responders are in place in Florida, with an additional 1,400 search and rescue personnel pre-staged, according to the White House. 

“Once the storm hits, we’re going to work with state officials to clear debris, restore power and do it as fast as possible,” Biden said. 

Biden’s remarks on Wednesday came hours after he was joined virtually by Vice President Kamala Harris to receive a briefing at the White House from federal officials on preparations for the storm. The president warned that Milton was “looking like the storm of the century” and acknowledged the hardship of experiencing “two historic storms in two weeks.” 

Many of those expected to be affected by Milton are recovering from Hurricane Helene, which made landfall in Florida nearly two weeks ago before tearing through much of the Southeast, hitting North Carolina and Georgia particularly hard, and killing more than 220 people thus far. 

Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, who joined the briefing from New York, warned that the storm is “expected to be of historic proportion.” 

“And many of you, I know, are tough and you’ve ridden out these hurricanes before. This one’s going to be different,” Harris said. “And so we ask you that by every measure, understand it’s going to be more dangerous, more deadly and more catastrophic.” 

The vice president added that she and Biden are “monitoring” behaviors of companies and individuals who may seek to “exploit people who are desperate for help through illegal fraud or price gouging, whether it be at the gas pump, the airport or the hotel counter.” 

Biden spent a significant amount of time on Wednesday aggressively pushing back on the “onslaught” of false claims around the government’s response to the storms that he asserted is being led by former President Donald Trump, his predecessor and Harris' 2024 rival for the White House. 

“Over the last few weeks, there’s been a reckless, irresponsible and relentless promotion of disinformation and outright lies that are disturbing people,” Biden said. “It’s undermining confidence in the incredible rescue and recovery work that has already been taken and will continue to be taken.” 

“Former President Trump has led the onslaught of lies,” he added. 

The president listed some of the claims that have been spreading without evidence, including that property of those who apply for assistance is being confiscated by the federal government, people who are impacted can only receive $750 in aid and FEMA money that should be going to recovery efforts has been used on migrants in the U.S. After listing each claim, Biden stated it “simply not true.” 

“Quite frankly, these lies are un-American and there’s simply no place for them, not now, not ever,” Biden added during his remarks Wednesday evening. 

Asked by reporters at the end of his remarks why he thought Trump was promoting much information, Biden said “I simply don’t know” before emphasizing that it is “un-American.” 

The White House has aggressively pushed back on falsehoods related to the storm, with efforts including launching an account on social news aggregator Reddit to attempt to combat misinformation.

Biden also specifically called out firebrand conservative Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for a post on X last week in which she insinuated that the federal government can control the weather. Biden called it “bizarre,” “beyond ridiculous” and “stupid.” 

Meanwhile, Biden on Wednesday also touted his administration’s handling of the storms thus far, noting that he “immediately approved” emergency declarations in Florida, which unlocks certain federal resources. 

He said he directed the Department of Defense to prepare to send active duty service members to the impacted areas to support recovery if Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis requests such aid. 

Among those who updated Biden and Harris during Wednesday’s briefing was the National Weather Service director Ken Graham and National Hurricane Center director Dr. Michael Brennan, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Deanne Criswell, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, who is set to travel to Florida Wednesday evening to help local officials respond to the storm. Criswell has been in North Carolina for days overseeing recovery efforts from Hurricane Helene, which ravaged the Southeast last week.

Biden said he and Criswell will be in “constant contact with state and local  officials in the hours ahead.” 

Earlier on Wednesday, Brennan told Biden and Harris during the briefing that conditions are going to “rapidly deteriorate” over the next few hours, particularly along the west coast of Florida.

“That’s where we’re expecting that devastating storm surge of as much as 10 to 15 feet above ground level,” he said. 

He noted Milton is expected to remain at hurricane intensity as it moves across Florida after making landfall.