Trump OKS disaster declaration

President hopes to visit storm-struck Florida ‘very soon’

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Sunday that

“we may have been a little bit lucky” after Hurricane Irma veered from its original course and headed along Florida’s west coast, instead of east. He also approved a disaster declaration for Florida, opening the way for federal aid.

Trump commented hours after the nearly 400-mile-wide storm blew ashore early Sunday in the Florida Keys, made landfall on Marco Island on the state’s west coast and was barreling toward Tampa, which hasn’t suffered a direct hit from a major hurricane in nearly 100 years.

“We may have been a little bit lucky in that it went on the west and it may not have been quite as destructive, but we’re going to see,” Trump said, addressing reporters after returning to the White House from Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland where he spent the weekend monitoring the storm.

“It’s going to play out over the next five or six hours,” said Trump, who was accompanied by his wife, Melania.

Trump deflected questions about the billions of dollars the government will be asked to spend to help communities in Florida and other affected states rebuild after Irma, saying that “right now we’re worried about lives, not cost.”

Trump on Friday signed a $15.3 billion measure to replenish accounts at the Federal Emergency Management Agency and speed federal aid to victims of Hurricane Harvey, which struck southeast Texas and neighboring Louisiana towns just three weeks ago.

The president made two trips to Texas after Harvey struck. He said Sunday that “we’re going to Florida very soon.”

Trump also spoke with the governors of Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee. Forecasters warned that after churning up Florida’s west coast, a weakened Irma could push into those states.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott said he also talked with Trump on Sunday.

Vice President Mike Pence and several Cabinet secretaries who were at Camp David for Trump’s storm briefing later visited FEMA headquarters.

Susan Walsh The Associated Press Vice President Mike Pence speaks with workers during a visit Sunday to the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Washington.