Biden to go to Florida and Puerto Rico after storms lash US

President Joe Biden will journey to Florida and Puerto Rico subsequent week to survey the harm from twin storms that devastated the 2 areas.

The president and first woman Jill Biden will journey to Florida on Wednesday, the White Home introduced. Biden had mentioned he needed to attend till his go to wouldn’t hinder rescue employees, who’re persevering with to seek for survivors and serving to restore energy and water to houses.

As many as 54 individuals are reported to have died within the mainland of the US within the storm, which hit Florida as a category-four hurricane with as much as 150 mile per hour winds.

Forty-seven of these deaths occurred in Florida, the vast majority of them in Lee County, which incorporates Fort Myers. A key bridge connecting Sanibel Island to the Florida mainland was severed, leaving residents stranded.

Within the wake of the storm, rescuers have labored to evaluate the dimensions of the huge devastation from the hurricane, the deadliest in Florida’s historical past.

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida known as the storm a “character-altering occasion”.

“Fort Myers Seashore not exists . . . Sanibel’s mainly flattened,” Rubio instructed ABC Information. The constructions that remained on Sanibel had been so broken by water they had been most likely inhabitable and must be razed, he mentioned. The individuals who had chosen to remain on Sanibel by way of the storm would now don’t have any alternative however to depart, he mentioned. He estimated it might take “a few years” to rebuild the bridge.

“There’s no solution to proceed their life there. There’s no solution to restore the ability. There’s no economic system there,” Rubio mentioned.

At the least 35 folks died in Lee County, the place officers waited till the day earlier than the storm hit to order a compulsory evacuation, after the hurricane’s path modified. Different coastal counties had ordered evacuations the day gone by.

On Sunday, Fort Myers mayor Kevin Anderson defended native officers’ actions.

“I feel the county acted appropriately. The factor is {that a} sure proportion of individuals won’t heed the warnings regardless,” Anderson instructed CBS’s Face The Nation.

Anderson mentioned Fort Myers residents had been beginning to see energy and water companies return. “We’ve crews which might be working 16 hours a day. They’ll work seven days per week till we get every little thing restored,” he mentioned.

Forward of their go to to Florida, the Bidens may even journey to Puerto Rico, which remains to be recovering from Hurricane Fiona greater than two weeks in the past.

Ten days after Fiona hit, tons of of 1000’s of residents on the island had been nonetheless with out energy. At the least 25 folks had been killed, in accordance with emergency companies.

Native officers have warned that restoration from the storm might be particularly extended, provided that the island is rebuilding from Hurricane Maria, which took out a lot of the area’s essential infrastructure when it hit virtually 5 years in the past.

In Cuba, protests have damaged out on the lack of electrical energy days after Hurricane Ian knocked out energy and destroyed houses.