President Biden Tours Hurricane-Ravaged Florida And Meets With Ron DeSantis

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Photo: Getty Images

President Joe Biden met with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as the two got a first-hand look at some of the destruction caused by Hurricane Ian.

President Biden and his wife, First Lady Jill Biden, flew over the devastation in Fort Myers in a helicopter and then met with DeSantis and Republican Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott in Fisherman's Wharf.

Biden and DeSantis then surveyed the damage, stopping to speak with and console residents who lost everything when Ian slammed into the Florida coast as a monster Category 4 storm.

"Jill and I have had you all in our prayers, and I mean that sincerely. And we're here today because we wanted to tell you in person that we're thinking of you, and we're not leaving, we're not leaving until this gets done. I promise you that," Biden said during a press conference. "It's gonna take years for everything to get squared away in the state of Florida, to fully recover and rebuild."

DeSantis said that he was shocked by the extent of the damage when he was finally able to see it in person.

"You can go over it in a helicopter, and you see damage, but it does not do it justice until you are actually on the ground, and you see concrete utility poles sawed off right in half, massive power lines everywhere, massive amounts of debris," he said.

President Biden vowed that the federal government would continue to provide aid to help rebuild the communities that were destroyed by the storm.

"We have a long road ahead of us, rebuilding entire communities from the ground up," Biden said. "I want the people of Florida to know — you have my commitment and America's commitment that we're not going to leave."


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