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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 16 OcTOber 2018

Trump marvels at hurricane damage, hears stories of struggle

still digging up peanuts, but chael struck the Panhandle
the problem is storing them — saying he couldn’t dis-
without electricity. appoint the thousands of
Trump tried to reassure the people who had been lin-
farmers, asking whether ing up for hours to see him.
they had insurance and Trump also held rallies in
promising that electricity Ohio and Kentucky before
would be restored soon. the Florida-Georgia visit.
“You’ll get it back,” Trump In Florida, the mood at the
told Rentz. FEMA aid distribution cen-
Trump still had politics on his ter seemed lighthearted
mind, despite the devasta- despite the surrounding
tion he was about to see. devastation, as Trump ban-
Before leaving the White tered with a crowd that
House, he tweeted about seemed more interested in
his rally crowds, claiming selfies with him than in the
they are bigger than ever bottled water he was offer-
before, including during ing in the heat and humid-
the 2016 election. ity.
“Never an empty seat in A woman carrying a tod-
these large venues,” he dler posed for a photo and
said. then told Trump he should
The president refused to come back for barbecue.
cancel a campaign rally Another woman thanked
in Erie, Pennsylvania, last the first lady for her anti-
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump tour a neighborhood affected by Hurricane Wednesday — the day Mi- bullying campaign.q
Michael, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018, in Lynn Haven, Fla. Florida Gov. Rick Scott is right.
Associated Press
Continued from Front Brock Long and Homeland president for, he’s come
Security Secretary Kirstjen through,” said Scott, the
Trump paused his election- Nielsen. Republican candidate for
season campaign blitz for Before visiting the city of U.S. Senate. “We still have
the visit, largely — but not Lynn Haven, Trump took a a lot of work to do. We’re
completely — putting poli- 55-minute helicopter tour still getting water out, get-
tics on the backburner for of the region to see how ting food out.”
the day. the local and state rescue Rollins was among many
Trump visited an aid distri- efforts were progressing. He people in the Panhandle
bution center, set up in a saw houses stripped of their who rode out the storm.
parking lot filled with boxes roofs, a water tower that Kayla Runyon, 22, said she
of diapers, piles of clothes had toppled to the ground evacuated to a hotel in
and bottled water. He and and 18-wheel trucks scat- Callaway with some rela-
the first lady handed out tered in a parking lot. tives.
bottles of water to residents Trump also saw the heavy “We watched out the win-
who came to see him and damage inflicted on Tyn- dow and we just watched
tell him their stories about dall Air Force Base. buildings be demolished,”
the storm. The president landed at an Runyon said. “Steel beams
“Somebody said it was airport near Panama City, started coming through the
like a very wide — ex- where power poles bowed hotel windows and through
tremely wide — tornado. toward the ground, pieces the walls. There were win-
... Beyond any winds that of metal roofing were scat- dows busting. We were
they’ve seen,” Trump said. tered about and pine trees scared. It was scary.”
“Look behind you. I mean, had been uprooted or Trump also surveyed storm
these massive trees are just were snapped in half. The damage in Georgia, where
ripped out of the earth. view during the drive in- the focus was on farmers
This is really incredible. This cluded houses smashed by whose crops were wiped
road — five hours ago, you trees, bent billboards and a out by the hurricane.
couldn’t ride on it.” demolished trailer park. At a farm in Macon, Kevin
Trump was joined by Flor- Power crews were working Rentz, a fourth-generation
ida Gov. Rick Scott, Fed- to restore power to thou- cotton and peanut farmer,
eral Emergency Manage- sands. told Trump he lost his entire
ment Agency director “Everything I’ve asked the cotton crop. Rentz said he’s