Hours after canceling a planned trip to Germany and Africa because of Hurricane Milton’s impending landfall in Florida, President Biden said he is staying in the United States to remain focused on the storm.
“This could be the worst storm in Florida in over a century,” the president said in a briefing Tuesday. “God willing it won’t be, but that’s what it’s looking like right now.”
With Hurricane Milton expected to be one of the worst hurricanes in 100 years in Florida, Biden said he is directing his team to do everything it can to save lives and communities before, during and after the extreme weather.
On Monday, he approved Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ request for an emergency declaration, enabling the Federal Emergency Management Agency to preposition ambulances, search and rescue teams and emergency food and water supplies before the hurricane hits.
Biden said he has spoken to all the political leaders in the area, including Tampa Mayor Jane Castor and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, to whom he said he has given his personal phone number.
“I’ve made it clear to them, they should reach out, including to me directly, with everything else they may need as they see the storm hits,” Biden said.
“I’ve told them, anything they ask for, they can get,” he said, adding that he’s gotten an overwhelmingly positive response from the predominantly Republican governors and mayors in states affected by Hurricane Helene who “have expressed their sincere gratitude for the work of FEMA and for the work of my entire administration.”
On Monday, FEMA said 7,000 emergency responders had been deployed and 14.9 million meals had been shipped to help Hurricane Helene survivors, along with 13.9 million liters of water, 157 generators and more than 505,000 tarps.
To help with Hurricane Milton, FEMA has already sent six incident management assistance teams, five urban search and rescue teams, three U.S. Coast Guard swift water rescue teams, four healthcare system assessment teams and two U.S. Army Corps of Engineers temporary power teams and debris experts, as well as wastewater experts from the Environmental Protection Agency.
It has also prepositioned 300 ambulances and 30 high water vehicles with ladders in Florida.
FEMA said it has 20 million meals and 40 million liters of water available to deploy if necessary in the response and recovery efforts for Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
“My priority is to increase the size and presence of our effort,” Biden said of FEMA’s response to Hurricane Helene, which caused 227 fatalities and billions in damage as it swept through six Southeastern states 11 days ago.
Biden said he expects it will take tens of billions of dollars to recover from the back-to-back hurricanes and pledged not to leave the affected areas until the job is done.
The president said he is in constant contact with National Weather Service Director Ken Grant about Hurricane Milton’s strength.
“He made clear to me just how dangerous this storm is,” Biden said, reiterating NWS reports that the hurricane’s winds had reached speeds of 180 miles per hour and could cause 15-foot storm surges on the coast of Florida.
Biden said Milton has the potential to not only enter Florida’s gulf coast as a hurricane but to exit the state as a hurricane on the Atlantic coast as well.
“I’ve encouraged everyone currently located in Hurricane Milton’s path to listen to local officials and follow the safety instructions,” Biden said. “If you’re under evacuation orders, you should evacuate now. Now. Now. You should have already evacuated. It’s a matter of life and death, and that’s not hyperbole.”