CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — President Trump arrived in Iowa on Tuesday to hear for himself about the devastation caused by a derecho storm system amid growing anger at delays in restoring power and delivering aid.
Trump met local officials and farmers around a table in a hangar at the airport, speaking afterward for about a half-hour. “All Americans are united in grief and prayer for the precious life that was lost,” he said. “We’ve come through for you and will always come through for Iowa.”
On hand were Republican Iowa Sens. Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley and GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds.
A day earlier, Trump signed an emergency declaration authorizing federal aid to help the relief effort, including funds for debris removal and utility repair.
After signing the order, Trump announced that he wanted to make a visit to the battleground state.
“I want to see the people,” he said. “I love the people of Iowa. They’ve been very loyal.”
On Tuesday, he claimed the declaration “was done in record time.”
Iowa backed Trump in 2016. However, his 9-point win over Hillary Clinton has dwindled to a narrow lead over Joe Biden, just 1 point, according to a recent poll, in a swing state seen as crucial to his chances of victory.
Cedar Rapids was added late on Monday evening to a scheduled campaign trip to Arizona, part of a tour designed to distract attention from the Democratic National Convention.
At least three people died in Iowa and one in Indiana, including a cyclist and a woman on her front porch who were hit by trees as the derecho storm system swept through the Midwest on Aug. 10.
The rare straight-line hurricane, named for the Spanish for “straight ahead,” devastated 10 million acres of cropland and left almost 500,000 Iowans without power.
Reynolds estimated that more than 8,000 homes were flattened or sustained severe damage.
By Monday evening, a reported 50,000 people had still not been reconnected to electricity services.
Critics of Reynolds said that she waited too long — six days — to ask the White House for a federal emergency to be declared and have taken to calling the disaster “Iowa’s Katrina.”
Rep. Abby Finkenauer, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, told the Washington Post: “The state and federal aid we needed immediately after the storm on Monday was delayed for days by a misunderstanding of this disaster and plain ignorance about the reality on the ground in communities across eastern Iowa.”
Vice President Mike Pence met farmers who lost crops during a visit to Des Moines last week as he made campaign appearances in the state.
