White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert said Monday that the government response to Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Louisiana was the most integrated response in U.S. history.
“I believe Harvey, as I said earlier, was the best integrated, unified joint federal/local/state response effort that our country has seen in its history,” Bossert said at the White House. “I continue to stand by that.”
Bossert said the coordination with Texas’ Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has helped officials at all levels help the hundreds of thousands of people who need help after the storm.
“Gov. Abbott continues to demonstrate leadership, and President Trump continues to work with him and direct his Cabinet to not lose focus on the people of Texas,” he said.
Bossert added that the government has also made an unprecedented effort to help people in Florida hit by Hurricane Irma. He said he spoke to the governors of the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, who thanked Trump for the help he’s brought so far.
“The mobilization of our military in response to the storms in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands is the largest ever mobilization of our military in a naval and marine operation, and we now have an Air Force carrier deployed in this effort,” he said. “This is the first ever as well.”
Bossert added that there would be the “largest ever mobilization of line-restoration workers” in Florida to help restore power to the more than 5 million people who lost it.
