WHITE HOUSE — During a briefing Friday on recovery efforts after Hurricane Milton at the White House, U.S. President Joe Biden again warned about the spread of “disgusting” and “dangerous” misinformation and disinformation about the federal government’s response to recent storms.
Responding to a reporter’s question, Biden said that misleading information hurts people who need the most help. “Widowers, people in hospitals, people who are by themselves and they don’t know, and they lose contact, and they get scared to death,” he said.
“We’re breaking through with it. We’re breaking through with the truth,” he said, noting that Republican governors and mayors have supported his call to stop the spread of disinformation.
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has been spreading disinformation about the government’s response, including that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, is limiting payouts to disaster survivors to $750, and that funding for Americans who are affected by the disaster was used up to provide housing for undocumented immigrants.
“I think those who have been spreading these lies to try to undermine the opposition are going to pay a price for it,” Biden said, adding that Trump is not solely to blame but has the “biggest mouth.”
Biden provided an update on the federal government’s response to hurricanes Milton and Helene flanked by his top aides, including Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. He was joined virtually by Vice President Kamala Harris from her campaign stop in Arizona.
Harris again warned companies against taking advantage of the storms to increase profit.
“Any company or individual that is using this crisis to jack up prices through illegal fraud or price gouging, whether it be at the gas pump, the airport or the hotel counter, we will be monitoring, and there will be a consequence,” she said.
Milton deaths
Authorities in Florida said Friday that Hurricane Milton was responsible for at least 16 deaths, and that more than 2 million people remained without power as evacuees returned to their homes to assess the damage and begin cleaning up from the storm.
As of midday Friday, the website poweroutage.us reported 2.3 million people remained without power. Late Thursday, Biden said more than 50,000 line workers and 1,000 federal personnel were on the ground to respond.
The storm made landfall late Wednesday near Siesta Key in Sarasota County as a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 205 kilometers per hour. It carved a path of destruction across central Florida, affecting many communities still cleaning up from Hurricane Helene two weeks earlier.
While the state’s western coast felt the direct hit from the storm, Milton also spawned tornados that affected the southeastern part of the state. Local media reported more than 19 tornadoes touched down even before the hurricane made landfall. Tornadoes are believed responsible for several deaths.
State government officials and the Florida National Guard reported more than 1,000 people were rescued since the storm made landfall.
The U.S. Coast Guard reported one of its aircrews rescued a man Wednesday clinging to a cooler floating in the Gulf of Mexico 48 kilometers off the Florida coast. It said the man was later taken to Tampa General Hospital for medical treatment.
State officials said while total damage assessments are still being made, the storm could have been much worse. The population center of Tampa was spared a direct hit, and the predicted record-setting storm surge did not materialize.
Meanwhile, scientists said climate change made Hurricane Milton stronger and more dangerous.
In a report issued Friday, the nonprofit group Weather Attribution said Milton went through an “explosive intensification” from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in 24 hours.
The group said the rapid intensification was driven and sustained by very high sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico.
Some information for this report came from Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
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