WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Tuesday he is postponing a planned trip to Germany and Angola to remain at the White House to monitor Hurricane Milton, which is bearing down on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
“I just don’t think I can be out of the country at this time,” he said at the White House. Biden warned that Milton “could be one of the worst storms in 100 years,” and he’s working “to increase the size and presence” of the federal government’s response.
The president said people in the storm’s path should listen to local officials and evacuate.
“Kamala and I are keeping all of you in our prayers,” Biden said, referring to Vice President Kamala Harris.
It was not clear when Biden’s overseas trip might be rescheduled. He had promised to go to Africa during his term in office, which ends in January. He was also planning to host a summit on the war in Ukraine with dozens of allied nations at a U.S. military base in Germany.
The German government issued a statement saying “we very much regret the cancellation, but of course we understand due to the situation in Florida.”
Biden said he’s working to figure out new times to go to Africa and Germany in the limited that that he has left in his presidency.
“I’m still planning on visiting all the places I said I’d be,” he said.
Hurricane Milton weakened slightly Tuesday but remained a ferocious storm that could land a once-in-a-century direct hit on the populous Tampa Bay region with towering storm surges and turn debris from Helene’s recent devastation into projectiles.
Most of Florida’s west coast was under a hurricane or tropical storm warning as the storm and its 145 mph (230 kph) winds spun just off Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, creeping toward the state. With the storm expected to remain fairly strong as it crosses Florida, parts of the eastern coast were put under hurricane warnings early Tuesday. Milton’s center could come ashore Wednesday night in the Tampa Bay area, which has a population of more than 3.3 million people.
This year’s hurricane season has caused havoc for political calendars in the closing weeks of the presidential campaign. Less than two weeks ago, Harris, the Democratic nominee, cut short a West Coast trip to return to Washington after Helene made landfall. She later visited Georgia and North Carolina, where some of the worst damage took place.
Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, has also traveled through the Southeast, including two trips to Georgia.
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