President Joe Biden provided an update today on how the federal government is helping Louisiana recover from Hurricane Ida. The president, who will tour the devastation Friday, says his administration is working on increasing the supply of gasoline.
“I directed the Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm to use all of the tools at her disposal including using the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to keep gas flowing to the pumps,” said Granholm.
Mr. Biden says to help utility companies assess the damage from the storm in order to restore the power, the FAA has authorized the use of surveillance drones and the Pentagon will provide satellite imagery.
“Drones and satellites can make the work faster by getting to the places that are most desperately in need, they can identify, where the lines are down, map the damage, help get the transmission lines back up in all of the parishes,” said Biden.
The President has also heard some insurance companies may deny coverage for additional living assistance expenses unless the homeowner was under a mandatory evacuation. Biden is asking insurance providers not to use technicalities to duck their responsibilities.
“Because the fact is, parishes in Louisiana like New Orleans and St. John’s issued a voluntary evacuation order at first and may not have enough time to make a mandatory one because the storm moved in so fast,” said Biden.
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