Biden surveys NY, NJ storm damage, talks climate change
MANVILLE, N.J. – Pointing accusingly at climate change, President Joe Biden toured deadly Northeast flood damage Tuesday and said he was thinking about the families who suffered “profound” losses from the powerful remnants of Hurricane Ida.
Biden was in New Jersey, and planned to visit New York City, to survey the aftermath and call for federal spending to fortify infrastructure to better defend people and property from future storms in the region and far beyond.
“Every part of the country, every part of the country is getting hit by extreme weather,” Biden said in a briefing at the Somerset County emergency management training center attended by federal, state and local officials, including New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.
Biden said the threat from wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding and other extreme weather must be dealt with in ways that will lessen the devastating effects of climate change.
“We can’t turn it back very much, but we can prevent it from getting worse,” he said.
Biden added that scientists have been warning for decades that this day would come and that urgent action was needed.
“We don’t have any more time,” he said.