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WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden headed to California Thursday to assess recovery efforts in the storm-battered state.
Biden is meeting with California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other officials and discuss whether additional federal help is needed.
“I’m on my way to Santa Clara, California to meet with business owners and residents impacted by storm devastation, survey damage, and reaffirm our commitment to support California as they recover,” Biden tweeted Thursday.
California has seen homes flooded, roofs torn off houses, levees breached, cars submerged and trees uprooted in recent weeks.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, who is travel with Biden after visiting California herself last weekend, said the state was hit with unprecedented storms and hurricane-strength winds.
“They felt like it was being hit by hurricane after hurricane,” Criswell told reporters during Thursday’s flight to California.
Video:Calif. weather calms but damage is extensive
The latest
- California has been battered by atmospheric river storms since late December, resulting in flooding, mudslides and landslides. At least 20 people have died.
- Biden declared an emergency exists in California last week, making federal funding available to multiple counties. More counties are expected to be included as damage assessment continues.
- Most counties had at least some damage from the staggering amount of rain and snow California received.
- Thousands of homes were seriously damaged and many roads remain closed.
- The cost of the damage is expect to exceed $1 billion.
- In early January, Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency throughout California to support the ongoing response.
What’s about to happen
Biden is visiting Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties where storms have caused severe floods and landslides. He’s accompanied by Criswell, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. More than 500 staff from FEMA and other federal agencies have been deployed to California to support response and recovery operations.
Trip is Biden’s third to California as president
Biden last visited the nation’s largest Democratic state in October as part of a West Coast swing to raise money and rally Democrats before the 2022 elections.
Biden also touted a bipartisan infrastructure package in Los Angeles and ordered a chicken quesadilla at a taco stand.
In his one other trip to California as president, Biden campaigned for Newsom ahead of the governor’s 2021 recall election.
Dig deeper: More coverage of flooding
Contributing: The Associated Press
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