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Who would’ve thought that you
would be coming to Vermont
because a hurricane hit. First
off, hats off to the local officials
and also to the National
Weather Service issuing the
flash flood advisories and
talking to folks. There was loss
of life, but it could’ve been
much worse if people hadn’t
heeded those evacuation
orders. What’s really different
about this, when you’ve got big
rivers flooding, we know usually
days to weeks in advance. With
flash flooding, it is literally how
much rain is falling, issuing
those advisories, getting people
to safety. And we always talk
about disasters are local, but
you’re not by yourself. The
Governor and his team, the
National Guard here in
Vermont, all of the people
working to support local
officials; but also, at the
Governor’s request, the
President had declared an
Emergency Declaration. That’s
the first step in providing
assistance. Right now focused
on, as the Governor says, life
safety and life sustaining
missions. We are also
beginning to do the damage
assessments to determine what
other assistance will be
required, and we’ll be working
with Governor and his team as
we go literally road by road,
washout by washout to look at
the damages and the homes
impacted. But our
commitment, on behalf of the
President, is to work with the
Governor’s team through this
most critical phase. The first 72
hours, we know, is really the
most important time frame to
make sure we’re stable and
then we’ll begin working with
the Governor and his team on
what available assistance may
be needed to assist in recovery.
Thank you.