Hillary Clinton said via Facebook that Edwards told her Friday that the best way to help was through contributions to the Red Cross or the Baton Rouge Area Foundation.
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Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who toured affected communities in East Baton Rouge Parish Friday, also remarked disapprovingly on the president’s vacation while in Louisiana. “They free up the interstate for him”.
“Mr. Trump! Thank you so much”.
“We knew you would be here for us!” another volunteer shouted. On Thursday Obama was caught playing golf with comedian Larry David. “This makes it all worthwhile”, said another woman.
Trump supporters, meanwhile, contrasted the visit with the fact that President Obama has not traveled to the area.
Trump took the visit as an opportunity to play interim president while Obama remained on vacation in Martha’s Vineyard.
“The president is welcome to visit whenever he wants to visit”, Edwards said, adding that he encouraged the president to wait to visit the state in order to avoid the additional strain on law enforcement a presidential visit could cause.
“We welcome (Trump) to (Louisiana), but not for a photo-op”. “Instead we hope he’ll consider volunteering or making a sizable donation to the LA Flood Relief Fund to help the victims of this storm”.
The trip that made for a pointed contrast to President Barack Obama and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, who both have yet to go, although Obama announced late Friday that he, too, would visit next week.
The flooding in Louisiana began a week ago. Television footage showed Pence and his wife speaking with officials after landing on the tarmac in Baton Rouge.
A man walks on the flooded street he lives on in Sorrento, Louisiana.
“We are one nation”. Graham has been especially supportive toward Trump, while trying to appear as if he is not supporting either candidate. “Working, building, restoring together”.
Trump’s visit comes as his campaign continued to shake up its top ranks.
The flooding in Louisiana has left 13 people dead and displaced thousands from their homes.
In the state, more than 70,000 residents had registered for individual assistance and more than 9,000 had filed flood insurance claims, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Schools, roads, government offices and businesses have been closed for days, and it remains unclear when some will reopen.
The first financial analysis of the disaster released Friday by the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, an economic development group, suggested that the flood impact may be greater than first thought. We’ve seen this story before in Louisiana, and we don’t deserve a sequel. People have even drawn parallels to President George W. Bush’s response in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Edwards also told Maddow that the President had called him early in this flooding crisis, declared a disaster as soon as Louisiana requested it, and deployed all of the resources requested by the state.
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“There’s not that much that wasn’t damaged in some of these parishes”, Fugate says, adding that FEMA is working on helping homeowners clean out and fix their homes as quickly as possible.
