Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his running mate Mike Pence visited flood-ravaged Louisiana on Friday, comforting devastated homeowners and criticizing President Barack Obama for continuing his vacation instead of visiting the region.
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The White House said Friday that Obama plans to travel to Baton Rouge on Tuesday.
The White House also says the president, while in Martha’s Vineyard, received updates on Louisiana’s flood devastation from U.S. Department of Homeland Secretary Jeh Johnson and Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate, both of whom made separate trips to Louisiana.
In a statement issued Friday, White House officials said they coordinated with local authorities in Louisiana to determine an appropriate time for the president to visit the state and together decided on August 23 as the date for the visit. Additional details will be announced in the coming days. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump visited on Friday.
“The current flooding in Louisiana is the worst natural disaster to strike the United States since Superstorm Sandy”, Brad Kieserman, vice president for Disaster Services Operations and Logistics for the Red Cross, said in a statement.
They ended the trip in St. Amant in Ascension Parish, where Trump saw photos of the flooding, briefly helped unload a truck of supplies for and told National Guard members they were doing good work.
Despite mounting pressure, the White House said Obama was unlikely to break from a New England vacation to survey the damage in Louisiana.
Jimmy Morgan, 79, and his wife Olive shared a few moments with Trump outside their badly-damaged Denham Springs, La., home.
“I just don’t know what we’ll do”, the man told Trump.
In a statement posted on Facebook, Clinton urged her supporters to donate to the relief efforts. He said he “saw strength” and “spirit” and that “they will overcome”.
“The flooding there is more extensive than anyone expected – more than 40,000 homes have been damaged and more than 100,000 people have been affected”.
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“The very best way this team can help is to make sure Louisianans have the resources they need”, she said. It gives her small relief that her neighborhood will be among the first to see debris picked up next week, as the hard-hit capital city of Baton Rouge switches from search-and-recovery to rebuilding.
