President Trump will spend Saturday touring the damage Hurricane Laura left behind in Louisiana and Texas as the storm system moves northeast.
“The massive Category 4 storm peaked Thursday as it hammered the Gulf Coast, leaving tens of thousands without power and at least 14 dead,” according to Fox News.
Officials said about half of those deaths were the result of carbon monoxide poisoning from the unsafe operation of generators.
In a tweet Friday, Judd Deere, deputy assistant to the president, said Trump declared that “a major disaster exists in the State of Louisiana and ordered Federal aid to supplement State, tribal, and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by Hurricane Laura.”
Saturday morning, Judd shared a photo of Air Force One after it touched down in Lake Charles, Louisiana:
In a statement Friday, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) thanked President Trump for granting his request for assistance:
I appreciate President Trump’s quick action on my request for a Major Disaster Declaration, which will pave the way for getting aid to individuals and communities impacted by Hurricane Laura in Louisiana. The devastation and damage stretch from Southwest Louisiana all the way through North Louisiana, with more than a half a million power outages remaining, tens of thousands of people displaced from their homes and, sadly, at least 10 lives lost.
The storm destroyed about 8,000 homes in Texas and Louisiana, and more than 14,000 people sought shelter with the Red Cross and other agencies, according to NBC News.
Lake Charles was one of the hardest-hit areas, and resident Betheny Agosto told CBS News she rode out the storm in her closet.
“There was four of us, it was like a jigsaw puzzle in this closet. We were on top of each other, just holding each other crying,” she recalled.
Michele and Eric Trahan said their home was ripped in two and the roof was “now sitting behind the house.”
“I walked out this morning… and there was a rainbow – and I thought, ‘This is going to be okay,'” Michele told reporters.