Assessing the damage
President promises to ask Congress for disaster aid in visit
LYNN HAVEN, Fla. — Michael Rollins shook President Donald Trump’s hand Monday at the front door of his hurricane-ravaged home in the Florida Panhandle, saying he decided to ride out the storm because he didn’t have anywhere else to go.
“I knew I had made my commitment to stay with my animals,” Rollins told Trump, standing by a massive pine tree down on the front lawn.
The president, along with first lady Melania Trump, listened to stories of survival and struggle as he surveyed the wreckage of Hurricane Michael.
Michael made landfall Wednesday as a Category 4 storm, tearing through parts of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia.
The storm has killed at least 17 people, a number that officials say is likely to rise as emergency crews work to reach some of the hardest-hit areas.
There was just one confirmed death in Mexico Beach, the town of about 1,000 people that was
nearly wiped off the map in a direct hit from the hurricane and its 155 mph winds.
Trump paused his election-season campaign blitz Monday for the visit, largely — but not completely — putting politics on the back burner for the day.
Trump visited an aid distribution center, set up in a parking lot filled with boxes of diapers, piles of clothes and bottled water. He and the first lady handed out bottles of water to residents who came to see him and tell him their stories about the storm.
“Somebody said it was like a very wide — extremely wide — tornado. Beyond any winds that they’ve seen,” Trump said. “Look behind you. I mean, these massive trees are just ripped out of the Earth. This is really incredible. This road — five hours ago, you couldn’t ride on it.”
Trump was joined by Florida Gov. Rick Scott, Federal
Emergency Management Agency director Brock Long and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.
Trump said he would ask Congress for emergency disaster aid.
Long did not give a specific dollar amount for the needed aid, saying it was premature.
Trump made the remarks at an American Red Cross facility in Macon, Ga. “We just left Florida and the people there are thrilled with our people and our talent,” Trump said. “What they were not thrilled with was this hurricane.”
Before visiting the city of Lynn Haven, Fla., Trump took a 55-minute helicopter tour of the region to see how the local and state rescue efforts were progressing.
He saw houses stripped of their roofs, a water tower that had toppled to the ground and 18-wheel trucks scattered in a parking lot.
Trump also saw the heavy damage inflicted on Tyndall Air Force Base.
The president landed at
an airport near Panama City, where power poles bowed toward the ground, pieces of metal roofing were scattered about and pine trees had been uprooted or were snapped in half. The view during the drive included houses smashed by trees, bent billboards and a demolished trailer park.
Crews were working to restore power to thousands.
“Everything I’ve asked the president for, he’s come through,” said Scott, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate. “We still have a lot of work to do. We’re still getting water out, getting food out.”
Some in the affected area were lukewarm about Trump’s visit.
About 5 miles from a neighborhood Trump visited, Sheila Vann, 57, sat on a cooler in her garage, taking a break from cleaning up. The hurricane tore off much of her roof in Panama City, and most of her ceiling collapsed.
“You want to see the president?” Vann asked her husband, Joseph, with a dismissive
tone. “I ain’t got time, unless he wants to help clean up.”
Trump also surveyed storm damage in Georgia, where the focus was on farmers whose crops were wiped out by the hurricane. At a farm in Macon, Kevin Rentz, a fourth-generation cotton and peanut farmer, told Trump he lost his entire cotton crop. Rentz said he’s still digging up peanuts, but the problem is storing them without electricity.
Trump tried to reassure the farmers, promising that electricity would be restored soon. “You’ll get it back,” Trump told Rentz.
Many in Florida and Georgia supported the president’s decision to visit the disaster zones.
“It’s very good he’s coming down here, but I’m most thankful he waited a few days until search and rescue could do their thing,” said David Childs of Griffin, Ga., as he boarded up his beachfront vacation home.