Joe Biden is expected in Hawaii on Monday, following the disastrous fires that killed more than a hundred people two weeks ago on the island of Maui, where searches are continuing amid criticism from authorities for handling the drama.
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Few details were released about the course of his visit, but the president will meet families, emergency workers and local officials, the White House said. He is accompanied by his wife Jill Biden.
“He’s going to see the aftermath” of those fires and “feel the desolation in this community,” Deanne Criswell, chief of the Federal Agency for Natural Disaster Response (FEMA), told CNN on Sunday. “He will be able to reassure the people of Maui that the federal government is there to support them.”
The visit came after heavy criticism from Republican officials who said the president had remained silent given the scale of the disaster. He did not comment publicly when the toll increased significantly.
The White House, for its part, stressed that Joe Biden has remained in “close contact” with Hawaii Governor Josh Green and has been regularly briefed on the situation.
The President quickly declared Hawaii a state of natural disaster, allowing the state to deploy emergency aid.
More than 1,000 federal employees were present on Maui and about 50,000 meals were distributed by FEMA, the executive said.
The criticism also refers to the reaction of the local authorities.
The president’s visit comes just days after the resignation of the head of Maui’s crisis management agency, who is accused of failing to sound alarm sirens during the deadly fire that devastated the town of Lahaina (population 12,000) on the west coast of the island .
Stunned, some residents had thrown themselves into the sea to escape the flames.
“Would I have liked the sirens? Of course,” Gov. Josh Green said Sunday, explaining that “historically” they weren’t used for fires, but for tsunamis and hurricanes.
Faced with a rumbling sense of abandonment, Joe Biden must not repeat the mistakes of his predecessors. When these visits to the community are a must after a disaster, they also risk diverting relief efforts and can prove damaging to the president’s image.
A photo of President George W. Bush flying over Louisiana without landing after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 had become a symbol of disjointed government.
Donald Trump was filmed casually tossing paper towel rolls during a visit to Puerto Rico after a 2017 hurricane.
Currently, 114 deaths have been confirmed in Hawaii, the deadliest fire in the United States in more than a century. And the final balance could be much more difficult.
Around 1,000 people are still missing.
About 85% of the affected area was covered by “an army” of rescuers and sniffer dogs searching for bodies in the rubble, Josh Green said Sunday. In his opinion, covering the remaining 15% could take “weeks” because these are larger buildings that need to be cleared.
Only a few bodies have been identified so far.
An investigation into the cause of the fire has been launched. Some suspect the role of power lines.
Electric utility Hawaiian Electric is accused of failing to shut off power, making the situation worse as utility poles fell in strong winds.
Beyond human error, Josh Green named another culprit, citing the growing number of fires in the archipelago: “Let’s be clear, climate change is here, we’re right in the middle of it.”
According to scientists, the invasive vegetation that has developed on the island over several decades and is very drought-resistant but highly flammable also contributed to the rapid spread of the fires.