President Donald Trump is spending his time coordinating the federal response to Hurricane Florence as it bears down on the U.S. East Coast.
Trump received an emergency preparedness update Thursday morning, White House deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters said in an update. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivered a later update saying “this morning the President spoke with Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Mayor Bill Saffo of Wilmington, NC. The President offered his support and reiterated the federal government’s willingness to help with whatever is needed.”
Trump and his re-election campaign have canceled two rallies he was scheduled to hold in order to prepare for the coming hurricane out of the White House. The president has continually urged citizens in the effected zones to evacuate on the advice of authorities.
Trump retweeted a morning warning from the Federal Emergency Management Agency warning citizens in effected zones that the storm surge from Florence will reach deadly levels.
Storm surge is deadly. Anyone in an evacuation zone in the Carolinas and Virginia must leave NOW if they haven’t yet. #Florence https://t.co/m3BKPoX5q4
— FEMA (@fema) September 13, 2018
The National Hurricane Center issued a similar warning that despite Florence slowing down slightly, the effects of storm surge and rainfall will still be catastrophic. (RELATED: Trump Says New Puerto Rico Death Numbers Are Bogus, Done By Democrats)
A life-threatening storm surge is expected from #Florence, particularly along the North Carolina coast between Cape Fear and Cape Lookout, including western Pamlico Sound and the Pamlico and Neuse Rivers. Water levels are already quickly rising in these areas @NHC_Surge pic.twitter.com/wyxrp20CGJ
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) September 13, 2018