The floodwaters have damaged tens of thousands of homes, leaving many residents stranded or homeless. Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Obama on Friday directed his team to “coordinate with Louisiana officials to determine an appropriate time for him to visit” and they decided he would travel there on Tuesday.
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In announcing Mr Obama’s planned visit, the White House said the President would be “mindful of the impact that his travel has on first responders” and did not want to “interfere with ongoing recovery efforts”. The White House said he would talk to local officials about what more the federal government can do to assist in the recovery.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards’ office had said Trump had not called to discuss plans for his visit, but said the NY businessman was welcome to volunteer or make a sizable donation toward helping victims.
Mary Landrieu, former Democratic Louisiana senator, told CNN Friday she welcomed Trump’s visit because it helped call attention to the devastation in the state.
Friday, the motorized convoy of Donald Trump visited the Greenwell Springs Baptist Church, a hard-hit sector of the Parish of East Baton Rouge.
“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.
Obama opted to stay on Martha’s Vineyard, an island off the coast of MA, for the second of two weeks of vacation with his family as he did two years ago, when riots erupted in Ferguson, Missouri, during his annual trip.
“Typically by this point in a storm, I think Red Cross would be receiving a lot more donations; I think there would be more volunteers signing up”, Edwards said.
The Louisiana governor’s office said it was not informed of Trump’s visit.
President Obama earlier interrupted his vacation in Martha’s Vineyard to attend an upscale fundraiser for fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Meanwhile, sources in the White House said the president is being briefed about the situation regularly and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson visited the affected areas on Thursday, a Politico report said. “To move the president into a disaster area actually takes away some time from the response and the focus on” saving people.
Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards pleaded for aid for his state on Sunday, saying that after a week of devastating flooding, “we really need help”. She refuses to go, claiming the relief effort “can’t afford any distractions” but her “heart breaks for Louisiana”. For some, however, his failure swiftly to pay a visit himself has evoked comparisons to President George W Bush’s much-criticised response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when at first he viewed the flooded region from the comfort of Air Force One.
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“We’ve seen this story before in Louisiana, and we don’t deserve a sequel”.
