President Donald Trump held a live hurricane briefing at the White House on Tuesday, urging Americans in the projected path of Hurricane Florence to prepare for the storm.
“Everybody should get out,” the president said to residents living in evacuation zones. “You have to listen to your local authorities.”
He added that the storm was predicted to be the biggest in decades.
“Things can change, but we doubt they will at this stage,” Trump said, about the projected storm. “It’s tremendously big and tremendously wet, tremendous amounts of water.”
The president met with FEMA Administrator Brock Long and DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in the Oval Office and spoke on camera about the preparations for the storm.
“The safety of American people is my absolute highest priority. We are sparing no expense,” Trump said on Tuesday.
The president canceled two planned political rallies this week, in anticipation of Hurricane Florence hitting the United States.
Chief Operating Officer of Trump’s campaign Michael Glassner announced the decision to cancel the Mississippi rally scheduled for Friday and the Missouri rally scheduled for Thursday.
“With Hurricane Florence on its way, we determined that this is the safest decision,” he wrote in a statement.
Trump has now freed up his schedule on Thursday and Friday to monitor the federal government’s response as the Category 4 hurricane is projected to hit the East Coast on Thursday.
Trump was also briefed Monday on the federal government’s storm preparations.
“We are absolutely totally prepared,” Trump said to reporters on Tuesday after visiting the 9/11 Flight 93 memorial in Pennsylvania.
The president has already approved emergency declarations for Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
He also spoke on the phone with South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, and Virginia Governor Ralph Northam.
“My people just informed me that this is one of the worst storms to hit the East Coast in many years,” he wrote on Twitter. “Also, looking like a direct hit on North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Please be prepared, be careful and be SAFE!”