In Louisiana, Biden sees damage, gives out hugs
President Joe Biden on Friday surveyed the damage caused by Hurricane Ida in the New Orleans area, days after powerful winds and rains from the Category 4 storm devastated the Gulf Coast.
At a briefing at the St. John the Baptist Parish Emergency Operations Center in LaPlace — a community between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain that suffered sheared-off roofs and flooded homes Sunday — Biden spoke to the potential impacts of the “significant investment” the infrastructure bills he is seeking to push through Congress in rebuilding the storm-ravaged areas like the ones he would tour.
“Things have changed so drastically in terms of the environment,” Biden said. “You’ve already crossed a certain threshold. You can’t build back a road, a highway or a bridge to what it was before. You’ve got to build back to what it is now.”
The president pointed to the levee system around New Orleans, which was rebuilt in
the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, as an example of smart infrastructure investment, saying it was “a lot of money — but think about how much money it saved.”
He also mentioned his daughter, Ashley, who attended Tulane University in New Orleans, saying she had urged him to visit the state.
“I promise we’re going to have your back,” Biden said at the outset of a briefing by Louisiana officials.
Gov. John Bel Edwards and New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, both Democrats; and Sens. Bill Cassidy and John Neely Kennedy and Rep. Steve Scalise, all Republicans, were among those who greeted Biden at the airport.
Edwards said Biden has “been a tremendous partner,” adding that he intended to keep asking for help until the president said no.
“It seems to me we can save a whole lot of money, a whole lot of pain for our constituents, if we build back, rebuild it back in a better way,” Biden said. “I realize I’m selling as I’m talking.”
Cassidy later tweeted that in his conversation with Biden, “we spoke about the need for resiliency. We agreed putting power lines beneath the ground would have avoided all of this. The infrastructure bill has billions for grid resiliency.”
On a tour of a LaPlace neighborhood, Biden saw homes boarded up with plywood and covered in blue tarps, giant trees knocked sideways, off-kilter street signs and debris, walking the streets and telling residents, “I know you’re hurting, I know you’re hurting.”
He hugged people in the sweltering heat as they showed him the damage. They welcomed Biden’s presence, one of them drawing a sign with his last name and a heart for the dot on the “i.” They laughed and posed for selfies.
Biden pledged robust federal assistance to get people back on their feet and said the government already had distributed $100 million directly to people in the state in $500 checks to give them a first slice of critical help. Many people, he said, don’t know what help is available because they can’t get cellphone service.
The president then surveyed the damage from above in a helicopter, viewing other hard-hit communities including Lafitte, Grand Isle, Port Fourchon and Lafourche Parish.
POWER OUT FOR MANY
Ida — the fifth-strongest hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland based on wind speed — knocked out power for more than 1 million customers in the New Orleans area and left about 50 people dead nationally.
The Louisiana Department of Health on Friday reported an additional death — a 59-year-old man who was poisoned by carbon monoxide from a generator that was believed to be running in his home. Several deaths in the aftermath of the storm have been blamed on such poisoning, which can happen if generators are run improperly.
“The most dangerous part of a hurricane is after the storm,” said Deanna Rodriguez, Entergy New Orleans CEO, who warned people to be careful around generators. “Here it’s sadly happening again.”
More than 800,000 homes and businesses remained without power Friday evening across southeast Louisiana, according to the Public Service Commission. That’s about 36% of all utility customers statewide, though down from the peak of around 1.1 million five days ago.
Biden’s home state of Delaware, where he planned to spend the weekend after his trip to New Orleans, was among the states experiencing major flooding. Biden said Friday that his home was not damaged, as far as he knew, but noted the state itself was affected.
Biden’s focus on the natural disaster marked a shifting of crises, from those abroad — the United States’ complete withdrawal from Afghanistan this week — to those back home, offering the president slightly more comfortable terrain. But Biden has been eager to focus on a domestic infrastructure package, and Ida represents yet another emergency during the first year of his presidency.
Biden has deputized Cedric Richmond, a senior adviser and a former Louisiana congressman whose district included much of New Orleans, to oversee the relief effort, and Richmond accompanied him Friday. The president, who said he has been speaking regularly with governors from the affected states, has issued emergency declarations for Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey and New York, and noted Thursday that his administration has deployed about 250 generators.
In remarks Thursday at the White House, the president offered reassurances for those in the hard-hit communities while also acknowledging the challenging rebuilding task that awaits.
“My message to everyone affected is we’re all in this together,” Biden said. “The nation is here to help.”
He reiterated just how thoroughly Ida decimated parts of at least a half-dozen states, speaking of a storm surge and flooding, as well as reports of winds up to 170 mph, which caused “unimaginable damage.”
“We know that there’s much to be done in this response on our part,” he said. “We need to get power restored. We need to get more food, fuel and water deployed.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency prepositioned 3 million liters of water and 4.3 million meals in the Gulf Coast region before the storm hit to help expedite the recovery, he said.
The president said he had asked the Federal Communications Commission to work with the White House to ensure cellphone companies allow customers to use roaming services in affected areas where their particular carrier’s transmission may be damaged or out of service.
“Just think of the sons and the daughters and the moms and dads and loved ones trying to reach each other in the feeling of fear, or maybe something happened and it’s just because they can’t — the cellphone’s not working,” Biden said. “Think of the millions of people reaching out for help. This is important and it’s critical.”
Biden also implored private insurance companies to cover the hotel costs of residents who fled their homes for their safety, even if they were not specifically following an evacuation order.
“Don’t hide behind the fine print and technicality — do your job,” Biden said. “Keep your commitments to your communities that you insure. Do the right thing, and pay your policyholders what you owe them to cover the cost of temporary housing in the midst of a natural disaster.”
HEAT AND MISERY
Power should be restored to New Orleans by the middle of next week, utility officials said Friday, and sheriff’s deputies warned people returning to communities outside the city to be equipped like survivalists because of the lack of basic services.
Almost all lights in the city should be back on by Wednesday, according to Entergy, the company that provides power to New Orleans and much of southeast Louisiana in the storm’s path.
The utility issued a statement asking for patience and acknowledging the heat and misery. More than 25,000 workers from 40 states are trying to fix 14,000 damaged poles, more than 2,200 broken transformers and more than 150 destroyed transmission structures.
“Please know that thousands of employees and contractors are currently in the field working day and night to restore power. We will continue working until every community is restored,” said Rod West, a group president for utility operations.
The outlook was bleaker south and west of the city, where Ida’s fury fully struck. The sheriff’s office in Lafourche Parish cautioned returning residents about the difficult situation that awaited them — no power, no running water, little cellphone service and almost no gasoline.
“Residents can return to the parish outside of curfew times but are advised to come prepared with all provisions necessary to self-sustain,” deputies wrote on Facebook.
The utility offered no promises for when the lights will turn back on in the parishes outside New Orleans, some of which were battered for hours by winds of 100 mph or more.
SEEKING RELIEF
Some people could not wait for the power to return, and a second evacuation was underway. New Orleans and neighboring Jefferson Parish continue to help people find shelters or connect with family members outside the heavily damaged areas.
C.J. Conrady was at one of those centers Friday in Marrero with his brother and their mother. She was in a wheelchair after surgery just before Ida that left her with incisions all the way up her back. An intravenous line to give her antibiotics had fallen out the day before, and there was no refrigeration in their home to keep the insulin for her diabetes cold.
“We decided to tough it out and see if the power would come back on soon. It did not,” Conrady said.
Cantrell said that the New Orleans government on Friday started helping move residents of senior-citizen homes.
At the Renaissance Place home, dozens of people lined up to get on minibuses equipped with wheelchair lifts after city officials said they determined that conditions at the facility were not safe and evacuated it.
Reggie Brown, 68, who was waiting to join others on a bus, said residents, many in wheelchairs, have been stuck at the facility since Ida. He said elevators stopped working three days ago and garbage was piling up inside. The residents were being taken to a state-run shelter, the mayor’s office said.
“I’m getting on the last bus,” Brown said. “I’m able-bodied.”
Today, the city was to start providing daily transportation for other residents seeking to leave for public shelters, Cantrell said.
Gwen Warren was trying to get out on her own Friday, waiting for a bus to Alexandria or maybe farther north to Monroe. She stayed after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 knocked out power for weeks. But at 61, Warren said the stifling September weather was just too much.
“Any place the Lord blesses us to go out of this heat, where we’re able to get some food, get a hot bath and, you know, just some comfort, is fine,” she said.