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| President of the United States of America, Joe Biden |
NEW YORK, Sept 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US President Joe Biden on Monday approved the declaration of a “great disaster” for several municipalities in New York and New Jersey in response to the damage caused by Hurricane Ida, which hit the northeast region of the country last week.
The decision will allow affected people to receive help from the federal government to find temporary housing, rebuild their homes and obtain low-cost loans to recover from the damage caused by the floods.
Federal funds will also be available to state and local governments to support reconstruction efforts, the White House explained in a statement.
The Biden administration had already approved emergency declarations for both states.
Joe Biden plans to visit New York and New Jersey on Tuesday to see Ida’s impact locally, where dozens of people have died and infrastructure has been damaged.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul thanked Biden for the response and stressed that this “great disaster” declaration will serve to give citizens the assistance they need and to rebuild the region.
Hochul, who on Sunday asked the Federal Government to take that decision, said that an initial assessment had already identified damage to at least 1,200 homes and damages of an additional 50 million dollars.
After hitting the southern United States as a hurricane and descending to the category of storm, the Ida landed on Wednesday in the northeast of the country, causing nearly 50 deaths.
New Jersey was the hardest-hit state, with 25 confirmed deaths and several people still missing, while New York recorded at least 17 deaths, many of which were people who drowned in illegal houses built in basements, particularly in the Queens neighborhood.
On Tuesday, Joe Biden will visit that neighborhood as well as the city of Manville, New Jersey, where there was the biggest flooding followed by serious fires in several buildings, presumably from gas leaks caused by the storm. — NNN-AGENCIES
