President Joe Biden will travel to southwest Florida on Wednesday to view damage from Hurricane Ian, meet with local people impacted by the storm and receive an update on recovery from federal and state officials, including Republican Governor Ron Desantis.
In Fort Myers, DeSantis will give Biden an operational update on Florida’s recovery, along with Federal Emergency Management Administrator Deanne Criswell and other state and local officials.
The president will also meet with local residents and business owners. And he’ll thank “federal, state and local officials working around the clock to provide life saving-assistance, restore power, distribute food and water, removing [sic] debris and begin rebuilding efforts,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday.
President Biden has so far approved a declaration that allows FEMA to cover 100% of recovery costs, including individual assistance in many counties, through Oct. 23. Learn more here.
DeSantis on Tuesday gave an update on the state’s recovery, confirming that the state was setting up a FEMA recovery center in Fort Myers in the coming days.
He also announced that the bridge to Pine Island would be patched this week to restore access to Florida’s main coast. The island was one of the areas most impacted by Hurricane Ian’s 150 mph winds and record storm surge.
Officials are now working to secure a contractor to restore the Sanibel Island causeway, DeSantis said, and he predicted he’d visit the island Wednesday in addition to meeting Biden.
“Folks need all the help they can get,” DeSantis said from Fort Myers, noting first lady Casey DeSantis’ work to raise relief money for the state.
Asked about the president and governor’s political differences, Jean-Pierre said it would not be a focus of Wednesday’s trip.
“There will be plenty of time to discuss differences between the president and the governor, but now is not the time,” she said. “He’s going to be listening to the people who live there who have lost so much.”
The two men also set politics aside last year when Biden traveled to Florida after the deadly building collapse in Surfside.
Biden first traveled to Puerto Rico on Monday to survey damage from Hurricane Fiona, commiting federal support for the island for the long haul.
