Fresh off the Republican National Convention, U.S. President Donald Trump is headed to Louisiana and Texas on Saturday to survey the damage after Hurricane Laura, a trip that allows him to use the trappings of his office to try to project empathy and leadership.
The president is making the trip two days after the Category 4 storm slammed the Gulf Coast, leaving at least 14 dead and wreaking havoc with severe winds and flooding. While the storm surge has receded and the cleanup effort has begun, hundreds of thousands remain without power or water, and they could for weeks or months as the hot summer stretches on.
'I was going to Texas. I was going to Louisiana, maybe Arkansas," he said. "But now, it turned out, we got a little bit lucky. It was very big, it was very powerful, but it passed quickly. " Other times, Trump has been a source of comfort. After a powerful tornado ripped through Alabama last year, killing nearly two dozen people, Trump spent time with families who'd lost loved ones, listening to their stories and hugging them.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has said Laura was the most powerful hurricane ever to strike his state, surpassing even Hurricane Katrina, which was a Category 3 when it hit in 2005. The storm toppled trees and damaged buildings as far north as central Arkansas, and more than 580,000 coastal residents evacuated in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
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