Biden surveys Hurricane Helene damage in Florida

President Joe Biden arrived in Florida on Thursday to survey damage to the state caused by Hurricane Helene last week — but Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, was not there to greet him.

The president is on a two-day tour of southeastern states ravaged by the storm, which took at least 200 lives as it ripped through the region. Hundreds more remain missing as emergency response personnel search across the devastated mountainous region for survivors.

Biden landed in Tallahassee shortly before noon, where he was greeted by Mayor John Dailey and other local officials. He then took a helicopter tour over the first site of the disaster in Perry, where Helene made landfall.

Aboard Marine One, the president flew towards Florida’s coast and briefly over the Gulf of Mexico before touring flooded coastal areas for roughly 45 minutes on his way to Perry.

The White House said that DeSantis was invited to join the president during his visit, but declined. Instead, DeSantis held another hurricane-related press event in the Tampa Bay area at roughly the same time.

The Florida governor told reporters that there was no particular reason why he was not with Biden in Tallahassee.

“No,” DeSantis said. “We had this planned.”

The disconnect between the governor and president is a departure from their collaboration in 2022, when Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida and brought the two men together to survey the storm damage. DeSantis also said he had missed a call from Biden after the storm hit and gave no indication he tried to call him back.

DeSantis and his administration have said that Florida has what it needs from the federal government to respond to the disaster caused by Helene, which has claimed the lives of at least 15 Floridians. Thousands remain without power in the Big Bend region nearly a week after the storm hit.

Georgia’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, has also chosen not to join Biden during his trip to that state’s disaster site later this afternoon.

Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau staff writers Alexandra Glorioso and Lawrence Mower contributed to this report.

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