Trump on the Panhandle’s deadly hurricane: ‘a little drizzle’

Hurricane Isaias has been downgraded again, this time by the president.

At his Daytona Beach rally on Friday, Trump said that “just yesterday”, at the request of Byron Donalds and Ashley Moody, he’d approved more money for the Panhandle. “They’re always looking for money,” he said, then acted out the ask: “Could we get $184 million in additional FEMA hurricane relief funding for the Florida Panhandle?” He wondered aloud what it is with the Panhandle (“I get 98 percent of the vote,” his number), and then: “I don’t even know what happened. What happened? It rained a little bit.” And, a beat later, “a little drizzle.”

The drizzle was Hurricane Isaias, a Category 2 storm that came ashore in the Panhandle on 9 October. Gov. Ron DeSantis confirmed six deaths in Florida, and about 450,000 homes and businesses lost power at the peak. Thursday’s approval added FEMA Individual Assistance, the money that goes straight to people for housing and repairs, for eight Panhandle counties. Earlier requests from Indiana, Nebraska, Kansas and Washington were still pending this week, the Washington Sun reports.

Donalds and Moody, he noted, called him twice.