Biden says he has coordinated with governors, electric utilities on Hurricane Ida

© Reuters. U.S. President Joe Biden arrives for a virtual briefing with FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell on preparations for Hurricane Ida at the White House in Washington, U.S., August 28, 2021. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday said he has spoken to governors of states in the Gulf of Mexico region and has coordinated with electric utilities in preparation for Hurricane Ida, the powerful storm expected to make landfall late Sunday.

“We’ve prepositioned food, water, generators and other supplies in the area. Power restoration and mobile communications support teams are also en route. We’ve also closely coordinated with the electric utilities to restore power as soon as possible,” Biden said at a briefing with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Hurricane Ida intensified on Saturday and the reach of its winds expanded over warm Gulf of Mexico waters, prompting tens of thousands to jam Louisiana highways as they fled the seashore. Utilities were bringing in extra crews and equipment to deal with expected power losses from the storm.

Biden said FEMA deployed 500 emergency response personnel in Texas and Louisiana ahead of the storm, in addition to 2,000 FEMA workers already supporting the COVID response in the region.

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.