Hurricane Ian was yesterday to hit South Carolina, with winds predicted by the US National Hurricane Center to pick up to 129kph, making it a Category 1 hurricane.
US President Joe Biden on Thursday said “our entire country hurts” along with the people of Florida after Ian flooded communities across the state, knocked out power, forced people into shelters and raised fears of a “substantial loss of life.”
Biden said the storm could end up as the “deadliest hurricane in Florida’s history.”
Photo: AFP
During a visit to the headquarters of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency, where he was briefed on federal response efforts, the president said: “The numbers are still unclear, but we’re hearing early reports of what may be substantial loss of life.”
Biden said he would visit the state and meet with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis when “conditions allow.”
The president said he would also visit Puerto Rico, a US territory that was slammed earlier this month by Hurricane Fiona.
“We know many families are hurting,” Biden said. “Our entire country hurts with them.”
He urged those affected by Ian to take seriously the warnings from local officials to remain indoors.
“Don’t go outside unless you have to,” Biden said. “The danger is real, to state the obvious. Please obey all warnings and direction from emergency officials.”
Biden and DeSantis spoke before the hurricane hit and again Thursday morning as the destruction began to come into focus.
Ian made landfall as one of the strongest hurricanes ever in the US. The storm flooded homes on Florida’s coasts, cut off the only bridge to a barrier island, destroyed a historic waterfront pier, and knocked out electricity to 2.67 million homes and businesses. At least one man was confirmed dead.
Biden declared a major disaster in parts of Florida early on Thursday at DeSantis’ request, freeing up additional federal assistance to state and local governments and individuals.
Biden said he also had talked with several Florida mayors and delivered the same message he shared with the governor about the US government’s commitment to helping with the cleanup and with rebuilding: “We are here.”
“We’re going to do everything we can to provide everything they need,” Biden said.
A study prepared immediately after the storm hit Florida showed that climate change added at least 10 percent more rain to Ian.
The study, which is not peer-reviewed, compared rainfall during the real storm with 20 computer-generated scenarios of a storm with Ian’s characteristics slamming into Florida in a world with no human-caused climate change.
“The real storm was 10 percent wetter than the storm that might have been,” said Lawrence Berkeley National Lab climate scientist Michael Wehner, a coauthor of the study.
A long-time rule of physics is that for every extra 1°C, the air in the atmosphere can hold 7 percent more water.
This week the ocean south of Florida was 0.8°C warmer than normal.
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