President Joe Biden visited Louisiana on Friday to survey the damage from the Category 4 Hurricane Ida that passed through the state this week.
The president was joined by Democratic Gov. John Edwards along with Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy to get a firsthand look at downed power lines and damage done to homes and neighborhoods after severe flooding left much of Baton Rouge and New Orleans in dire straits.
“We’re not going to leave any community behind: rural, city, coastal, inland,” Biden said during a press conference in the town of LaPlace. “I promise we’re going to have your backs until this gets done.”
The president was also seen walking to the helicopter Marine One with a cheat sheet in his pants pocket featuring the photos and names of officials along with what appeared to be a script of remarks. The sheet included photos and the names of Jefferson Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng and New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, a Democrat who also welcomed the president on Friday.
NEARLY 60 DEAD FROM HURRICANE IDA SO FAR
The hurricane hit the coast of Louisiana on Sunday, bringing significant storm surges to coastal cities and caused over a million people to go without power on Monday morning. Crews were still working on getting power back to some localities in New Orleans and other southeast parts of the state as of Friday, according to Entergy.
Louisiana’s Department of Health announced Thursday nine residents have died from the storm so far, including three deaths in nursing homes currently under investigation.
The Northeast sustained even more fatalities as Ida rolled through with ravaging floodwaters and tornadoes on Wednesday, with at least 45 people reported dead from the leftover storm. More than half of these deaths, 23, occurred in New Jersey, according to Gov. Phil Murphy, while 13 were killed in New York City, according to multiple outlets.
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Biden is slated to spend the weekend at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, and has yet to announce plans to tour flood damage in New Jersey and New York.
