by Brad Brooks and Brendan O’Brien
WASHINGTON/VENICE, Fla. (Reuters) – Joe Biden vowed on Thursday to travel to Florida as soon as conditions allow, the day after Hurricane Ian devastated the southwestern coast of the peninsula, where he led “historic” damage according to the governor of the southern state of the United States.
During a visit to the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), the American president said he feared “substantial human losses” in what “could be the deadliest hurricane in the history of the Florida”.
Joe Biden, Democrat, has spoken several times since Wednesday with Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican who could be one of his rivals in the 2024 presidential election, and who thanked him for the speed of the federal government response.
Joe Biden approved a declaration of natural disaster as early as Thursday morning to release federal funds for affected counties.
“The consequences caused by this storm are historic and the damage is just as much,” said Ron DeSantis at a press conference. “We have never seen such flooding, we have never seen a storm surge of such magnitude.”
Ian, then classified in category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson scale which has five, approached the west coast of Florida on Wednesday afternoon by the island of Cayo Costa, carrying winds that could blow up to 240 km/ h, accompanied by torrential rains.
Coastal villages, parks of mobile homes were submerged by water and electricity was cut in more than 2.6 million homes according to local operators.
Two deaths were reportedly caused by the hurricane, said Ron DeSantis, but it will still be necessary to wait for the intervention of the relief workers, in search of missing persons, to establish an assessment, he said. Twenty-eight helicopters are mobilized to find survivors. Two hospitals had to be evacuated due to the floods, and their patients evacuated to higher areas.
Sanibel Island, a popular tourist destination with sandy beaches, is in “destruction” after being swept away by a “biblical” wave that swept away roads and infrastructure, said Ron DeSantis.
The Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), Deanne Criswell, who will travel to Florida on Friday, told CNN that Fema was preparing to house thousands of displaced people for a long period.
“I can’t give you numbers yet but I can tell you it will be catastrophic,” she said.
Ian, now downgraded to a tropical storm with maximum winds of 100 km / h, crossed Florida on Thursday and was expected to reach the Atlantic coast in the afternoon, before moving up towards Georgia and North and South Carolina , said the US Hurricane Center (NHC).
(With Jarrett Renshaw in Washington, French version Jean-Stéphane Brosse, editing by Marc Angrand)