President Donald Trump delivered a message to any Florida residents currently in the path of Hurricane Michael bearing down on the state’s panhandle area, in an Oval Office appearance Wednesday morning.
“I say God bless you all,” the president said.
Trump lamented that “some of the areas are very poor” and that it’s “not easy for a person without the necessary money to leave. What we have done is we have sent buses … we are doing a lot of different things to try and remove people from the area … It is very tough for them to leave.”
The president noted that he was considering a planned campaign rally in Pennsylvania for Wednesday evening and that he would visit the affected area as soon as possible, likely Sunday or Monday. Trump also noted his concern that Hurricane Michael would continue into North Carolina and South Carolina, which was affected weeks prior by its own hurricane.
Hurricane Michael is currently a Category 4 storm and has made contact with the Florida coast.
“This is the worst storm that our Florida Panhandle has seen in a century,” Florida Governor Rick Scott said.
The National Weather Service added “this will be a catastrophic event the likes of which this region has never seen.”