Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said Wednesday that President Trump has been “engaged” in meeting the state’s needs as Tropical Storm Harvey made landfall.
“Actually we’ve had two conversations now, and in both of them he was very gracious and obviously concerned about the people of our state,” the Democratic governor told Fox News. “He was here last year after record flooding in August and so he wanted to make sure that we had what we need. We appreciate the fact that he very quickly signed the emergency declaration that we had requested. I think we had submitted it late on Sunday evening [and] he signed it before 7 o’clock on Monday morning. So the president has been engaged.”
Mr. Edwards acknowledged there is still much more work to fix the damage the storm has already done to the state, including major flooding. He said Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price declaring a public health emergency will help the state aid residents with needed services such as mosquito spraying.
“That declaration will be very helpful,” Mr. Edwards said. “Thus far, we’ve had tremendous support from our federal partners and we appreciate it very much in Louisiana.”
Harvey has already made landfall in the state as it moves northeast from Texas, where the storm has caused tremendous damage.
• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.
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