U.S. President Donald Trump visited parts of Louisiana and Texas damaged by Hurricane Laura on Saturday. Those places had no electricity or water after the hurricane. At the same time, the cleanup is taking place in hot, humid conditions.
“One thing I know about the state is that it’s rebuilding very quickly,” Mr. Trump told a crowd. Those people included Louisiana Governor John Edwards, state members of Congress and federal disaster agency officials, but no local residents.
Fourteen people were killed when the category 4 storm struck early Thursday. Most of them die from carbon monoxide poisoning because they use their own generators inappropriately.
“That’s a huge number,” President Trump said. “But one can also think of how much worse it could have been.”
Mr. Trump arrived in Lake Charles, Louisiana, a city of about 80,000 residents. There was a severe storm. The Louisiana Department of Health says an estimated 220,000 people in that area are without water.
Lake Charles Mayor Michael Hunt says the water treatment plant suffered damage from the storm. He said it was too early to know when power would be restored.
After visiting Lake Charles, President Trump flew by helicopter to nearby Orange, Texas. It has more than 18,000 inhabitants. That area was the hardest hit in Texas. The local economy depends on chemical plants.
President Trump was greeted on his arrival by hundreds of supporters and governor Abbott. The governor said the region was lucky because Hurricane Laura was slightly tilted to the east, allowing the region to escape what meteorologists had forecast would be an “impossible” storm.
The day before he set off to visit, President Trump declared Louisiana a disaster area, making federal disaster relief funds available to five regions of the state directly in the path of Hurricane Laura.
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