The President of the United States, Joe Biden, who was in Florida this Sunday for the second time in less than a week, announced federal government aid of over 600 million dollars for the impacts of hurricanes Helene and Milton.
“Today in Florida, I announced $612 million for new network projects to support communities affected by hurricanes Helene and Milton,” wrote the president on the social network X.
He added that "this financing will make the electrical system of the affected region stronger and more resilient by placing underground lines and introducing cutting-edge technologies to reduce the frequency and duration of power outages as extreme weather events become more common."
The figure will not be exclusive to Florida, as it also takes into account other territories affected by meteorological phenomena such as Georgia and North Carolina, reminded the Telemundo network.
In St. Pete Beach, a barrier island located off the city of St. Petersburg, where Biden gave a speech, he indicated that nearly 100 million dollars will be allocated to improve Florida's electrical system.
"Fortunately, the impact of the storm was not as devastating as we anticipated," stated the leader, who did declare that "for some people it was catastrophic," referring to the loss of lives and materials.
According to a report from NBC News, the number of fatalities caused by Hurricane Milton last week has risen to 24.
Analysts agree that Biden's visit to the St. Petersburg area gives him another opportunity to pressure House Speaker, Republican Mike Johnson, to get Congress to approve more support funds before the elections on November 5.
Another point is that the Executive is facing Donald Trump's false claims questioning federal aid.
Recently, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had to come out to debunk a conspiracy theory that circulated online and was spread by politicians like former President Trump, which claimed that the money allocated to the agency was being spent to help undocumented immigrants in the United States, thus, it did not have the necessary resources to assist the victims of the hurricane.
"This is false. Money designated for disaster response is not being diverted. FEMA's efforts in disaster response and individual assistance are funded through the Disaster Relief Fund, which is dedicated to this purpose. Money from the Disaster Relief Fund has not been diverted to other unrelated efforts," they said from FEMA.
For her part, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate for the White House, was in Greenville, North Carolina, where she attended a religious service and also held a campaign event.
Hurricane Milton left in Florida, in addition to the deceased, numerous damages caused not only by severe flooding and its winds but also by the 19 confirmed tornadoes, nine of which were in the southern part of the state, that preceded the landfall of the phenomenon.
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