President Donald Trump warned Thursday that Hurricane Irma could be bigger and more powerful than the storm that swept over Texas and Louisiana – but said state and federal officials are prepared.
‘We think we’re as well-prepared as you can possibly be,’ Trump said. ‘Florida is as well-prepared as you can be for something like this,’ he added moments later.
Trump said the storm could turn and head east but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.
‘We are with the people of Florida,’ he declared.
President Donald Trump warned Thursday that Hurricane Irma could be bigger and more powerful than the storm that swept over Texas and Louisiana – but state and federal officials are prepared
The president commented on the storm during an Oval Office photo op with the Emir of Kuwait.
‘We are very concerned. We are working very hard,’ Trump said. ‘This is something that is probably bigger, not as much water, but much more power than Harvey.’
Trump noted that the U.S. Virgin Islands were hit hard by the hurricane. He has issued a disaster declaration for the the U.S. territory, allowing federal funds to flow there for rescue and recovery.
‘They are still finding out damage,’ the president said, because communication is difficult.
‘But it’s been hit very, very hard,’ Trump added.
The president also spoke about Florida, where his own array of golf properties looked lie within Irma’s likely path.
Dutch Interior Minister Ronald Plasterk said he briefly had contact with Saint Martin’s prime minister but communications are sporadic. He said nine patients at a hospital in the country had been evacuated by Dutch military helicopter.
Astonishing images show the scale of the destruction on the island of St. Maarten in the aftermath of a direct hit by Category 5 Hurricane Irma
‘Florida is as well-prepared as you can be for something like this. Now it’s just a question of what happens. It’s the largest hurricane they’re going to see coming out of the Atlantic, and the winds are the strongest, most importantly. This is the real problem.
Is in the days before and after Hurricane Harvey, Trump talked up the monster storm.
‘The winds are the strongest that they’ve ever seen from in a hurricane coming from that region. So we’re with everybody in Florida, we’re working very hard. We have tremendous talent and really tremendously brave people to be there, and hopefully it’s going to work out alright. We’ll see over the next few hours.’
Trump said FEMA is doing an incredible job and shown great bravery.
‘But certainly we’re being hit with a lot of hurricanes. We’ve never had a thing like this, where, you’ve been hit by Harvey, which was about as bad as it gets certainly from the standpoint of a water dump. And then you got hit with Irma, and then there’s one right behind Irma. I guess you probably know. A smaller one, but nevertheless right behind.’
Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach also could sustain damage, with the storm likely to pass over the property on Sunday.
‘We’ll see what happens. We’ll know in a very short period of time, but looks like it could be something that would be not good. Believe me, not good,’ Trump said in the Oval Office.
‘We had the congressional leaders with us today and we have a lot to discuss, including the fact that there is a new and seems to be record-breaking hurricane heading right toward Florida and Puerto Rico and other places,’ Trump said Wednesday morning as he sat down with lawmakers.
Trump tweeted earlier Wednesday. ‘Watching Hurricane closely. My team, which has done, and is doing, such a good job in Texas, is already in Florida,’ he wrote.
He added: ‘No rest for the weary!’
In another tweet, he wrote, ‘Hurricane looks like largest ever recorded in the Atlantic!’